Hugo Chávez, and 7 other perfectly preserved dead world leaders you can visit

Traditions aren’t traditions if they’re not a little weird, right?

“We have decided to prepare the body of our ‘Comandante President,’ to embalm it so that it remains open for all time for the people,” Venezuelan Vice President Nicolás Maduro declared on Thursday, in announcing plans to preserve Hugo Chávez’s body and showcase it in a glass tomb at a military museum near the presidential palace. “Just like Ho Chi Minh. Just like Lenin. Just like Mao Zedong.”

In fact, it turns out Maduro was missing a few names. The practice of embalming national (mainly communist) leaders and boxing their bodies in glass for posterity may have gone out of vogue with the end of the Cold War, but Chávez still has distinguished company. Here are the most notable members of the exclusive club: 

Vladimir Lenin, Russia

Died: Jan. 21, 1924

Call him a trendsetter. Lenin was the first communist revolutionary to be encased in glass upon his death, and his body is now on display in Moscow’s Red Square at Lenin’s Mausoleum, commonly known as Lenin’s Tomb. But that might not last forever given public opposition to the memorial. In 2011, for instance, a member of the ruling United Russia party created a website where people could vote on whether to bury the former Soviet leader (the vary majority of respondents voted in favor of burial).

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Mao Zedong, China

Died: Sept. 9, 1976

The founder of the People’s Republic of China ruled the nation from its establishment in 1949 until his death. Though he reportedly wished to be cremated, the chairman’s mausoleum went under construction immediately after Mao died and was completed by the following May.

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Kim Il Sung, North Korea

Died: July 8, 1994

Like his neighbor to the north, Kim Il Sung ruled the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea from its inception in 1948 until the day he died. Draped in a Workers Party of Korea flag, his body is on display at Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, also known as the Kim Il Sung Mausoleum.

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Kim Jong Il, North Korea

Died: Dec. 17, 2011

Kim Jong Il, who led North Korea from his father’s death in 1994 until his own demise nearly two decades later, was put on display in the same shrine that houses his father. Dennis Rodman visited the remains of both former leaders during his recent trip to North Korea. 

AFP/Getty Images

Ho Chi Minh, North Vietnam

Died: Sept. 2, 1969

The communist revolutionary established the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in 1945 at Ba Dinh Square, where his body now rests. The Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum was inspired by Lenin’s Mausoleum in Moscow, and his body is watched over by an honor guard.

Hoang Dinh Nam/AFP/Getty Images

Ferdinand Marcos, the Philippines

Died: Sept. 28, 1989

Marcos was president of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986, but died in exile in Hawaii. Nonetheless, his remains were returned home in 1993, and his body was put on display inside the Marcos Museum and Mausoleum in the city of Batac. This week, the mortician who embalmed Marco offered some advice (and his services) to Venezuela. “They must not delay” choosing an embalmer,” he told AFP, adding that he would not use resin to preserve Chávez as was done with Lenin. 

Jay Directo/AFP/Getty Images

Pope John XXIII, The Vatican

Died: June 3, 1963

Angelo Roncalli led the Catholic Church from 1958 until his death, and his body is now on display at St. Peter’s Basilica. He was known for forging better relations with other religions, and was beatified on September 3, 2000. In 2001, the BBC reported that Vatican officials had found the pontiff’s bodily remarkably well-preserved when they opened his coffin after nearly four decades as part of an effort to transfer his remains from a Vatican crypt. His body was soon put on display in St. Peter’s Square, with the pope’s face covered in a thin layer of wax.

Of course, we could go further back in time. You could always visit King Tut.

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