Vladmir Lenin may have been dead for 90 years , but his corpse looks better than the day he passed . This is the claim made by his embalmers , who have developed experimental techniques to maintain the look and feel of the communist revolutionary 's body . They brag that their technique has been the result of almost a century of fine-tuning , creating a science that has benefited real-world medical applications . Scroll down for video . Vladmir Lenin may have been dead for 90 years , but his corpse looks better than the day he passed . This is the claim made by his embalmers , who have developed experimental techniques to maintain the look and feel of the communist revolutionary 's body . Pictured is his body in 1997 . The gruesome job is the responsibility of a team known as the 'Mausoleum group ' which , at its peak , involved 200 scientists working in a lab dedicated to the former leader 's corpse . According to a detailed report by Jeremy Hsu in Scientific American , the Russians prefer to preserve the body 's shape , weight , colour and flexibility , rather than biological tissue . 'They have to substitute occasional parts of skin and flesh with plastics and other materials , ' Alexei Yurchak , professor of social anthropology at the University of California , Berkeley told Mr Hsu . 'That makes it dramatically different from everything in the past , such as mummification . ' Yurchak has published a paper on this project in the journal Representations , along with a book , 'Everything Was Forever , until It Was No More : The Last Soviet Generation . ' The Bolshevik leader 's remains were embalmed on Stalin 's orders when he died aged 53 in 1924 and kept on display in Moscow apart from a period in the Second World War . The revolutionary 's body is on public display in a mausoleum on Moscow 's Red Square more than two decades after the break-up of the former USSR . Vladmir Lenin was behind the Bolshevik take-over of power in Russia in 1917 . He was also the architect and first head of the USSR . Born in Simbirsk , he was expelled from university for his radical policies while studying law . This prompted him to move to St Petersburg , where he became a revolutionary . He was arrested and exiled to Siberia . He later spent most of his time in western Europe , where he became the leader of the 'Bolshevik ' faction of the Russian Social Democratic Worker 's Party . In 1917 , Lenin returned to Russia where he led what was to be known as the October Revolution . Around three years of civil war followed in which millions died . In 1918 , Lenin survived an assassination attempt , but was severely wounded . In 1922 he suffered a stroke from which he never fully recovered . But this year Russian officials closed Red Square so that scientists could prepare the body for public display during Lenin 's 145th birthday anniversary – which took place yesterday . In his book , Yurchak describes how a mild bleach is often used to deal with occasional fungus stains on Lenin 's face . One such stain that appeared on Lenin 's cheek had the embalmers worried for their lives when they were unable to remove it . 'They might have even killed us , ' Ilya Zbarsky , who managed to bleach away the mould , told Jewish World Review . 'The atmosphere of fear and terror was there for us scientists , just as it was for everyone in the society . ' The skin is studied each week using precision instruments that can measure moisture , colour and contour to look for signs of dehydration . Every two years and the body is immersed in a bath of glycerol and potassium acetate for 30 days – a technique which scientists say could make the body last for centuries . While Lenin 's blood , bodily fluids and internal organs were removed , his eyebrows , moustache and goatee are his own . A material made of paraffin , glycerin and carotene is used to replace most of Lenin 's skin . Vladmir Lenin was behind the Bolshevik take-over of power in Russia in 1917 . He was also the architect and first head of the USSR . He is pictured here in 1918 , six years before his death . Some of the techniques have had real-world medical applications , according to Scientific American . For instance , one technique inspired technology used to keeping the blood moving through donor kidneys during transplantation . The Bolshevik leader 's remains were embalmed on Stalin 's orders when he died aged 53 in 1924 and kept on display in Moscow apart from a period in the Second World War . In 2012 , Russia was edging towards a historic decision to bury the embalmed corpse of the founder of the Soviet Union . The former culture minister Vladimir Medinsky said it was 'absurd ' that Lenin had not been laid to rest 88 years after his death . Calling for him to be buried in a normal grave , as Lenin himself had requested , Medinsky said : 'Maybe something would change for the better in our lives then . ' Putin has repeatedly postponed a decision on burial , arguing that Lenin remained an icon for many elderly Russians . The revolutionary 's body is on public display in a mausoleum on Moscow 's Red Square more than two decades after the break-up of the former USSR .
Embalmers substitute parts of flesh with plastics and other materials . A mild bleach is often used to deal with fungus stains on Lenin 's face . The body is covered in glycerol and potassium acetate every 2 years . At one time , 200 scientists were working to help preserve Lenin 's body .