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Comment by Jolijn | Hacker News Reader

It seems like a bit of a Ship of Theseus. Even at this point I wonder how much of what you see of his face can be said to be 'original'. But still people visit, as if Lenin is still there.

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I wouldn't be surprised if nothing you can see on the exhibit is "original". First, they clearly admit in the article that they focus "on preserving the body's physical form—its look, shape, weight, color, limb flexibility and suppleness—but not necessarily its original biological matter. After 145 years, it's quite possible that everything was substituted. Second, Russia has a long tradition of creating a PR-pumped image of healthy, almost immortal leaders. That could be a natural part of such cult practices.

Lenin died 1924, he was born 145 years ago.

>Second, Russia has a long tradition of creating a PR-pumped image of healthy, almost immortal leaders.

Well, North Korea probably yes. But I haven't noticed such tradition in Russia.

Perhaps the immortality part was an exaggeration, but I was thinking about the way the Kremlin avoids admitting any health problems of the leaders. That happened in case of Yeltsin and allegedly in case of Putin's absence in March this year. Recently there was an interesting article about this "health PR" dating the tradition back to the USSR era, but I can't find it right now.

This is hardly unique to Russia - after all, FDR avoided being photographed from the waist down and wore special braces when standing and Kennedy had many secret health problems. I think this is more a fact of projecting an image of power in any society.

People still go there to visit because it still is as much Lenin you can get!

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