Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, the man who is directly related to the Russian Revolution still rest in the center of Moscow, at its main square and is protected by the same service that protects most important people in the state. Behind Lenin's mausoleum a mid-size temple is located, where "prominent Soviet leaders are buried – some in the soil (traditionally) and some in the form of dust, immured into the Kremlin's. The idea of a tomb in the middle of the capital city does not surprise anyone. It is generally acceptable to perform concerts there, to ice skate to the music, or to cheer and shout at New Year's Eve. However, the idea of mausoleum itself on the other hand...
No matter what anyone says, soviet Russia was a highly atheist state. So much so that during the World War 2, when there was a need "open" the Orthodox Church to the Soviet people (as well as other important Russian attribute – officer's rank). This church had to be literally re-created "from scratch" simply because there was nothing left of it at 40-s (which is not surprising). This is what comrade Lenin wrote in the early days of Soviet power: “In accordance with the decision of All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars, it is highly recommended to liquidate the religious facilities and priests. The priests are to be arrested as counter-revolutionaries and ruthlessly shot anywhere. And as much as possible. Churches should be closed. The premises of temples should be sealed and turned into warehouses.
By the way, what is this building? Oh yes, Ziggurat. It was built just as Ziggurat should be - a stepped tower in a form of rectangular cross section, shrine on top, and the teraphim - inside. To clarify what teraphim is (quoting Wikipedia): "in modern occultism — a certain «disgraceful thing», a «collector» of magic powers at the base of which mummified remains might lie. Sometimes, Lenin's mausoleum located on Red Square is referred to as teraphim” – well, not bad for confirmed atheists. Apparently, they did worship someone.
Photo: Crowds queuing outside Lenin's tomb by the Kremlin Wall, Red Square, Moscow. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images). 1928
Next, on the websites that deal with the interpretations of Lenin's mausoleum you can find strange discussions about delusional bio-energy, psychic practices, Chaldeans of Babylon and Aztec priests. Further, all of them write in unison about a "strange niche with inner beaked corner, some kind of lateral spine (does not exist in other corners)” where magical energy is collected or radiates – opinions differ here.
The intriguing thing is that such niche really does exist – in the right exterior corner in the mausoleum (if you stand facing it). Moreover, it is the only one looking like this – the rest of the corners are completely conventional. Just look at this picture:
Photo: Lenin's Mausoleum also known as Lenin's Tomb, situated in the Red Square in Moscow.
Why it's there – no one really knows. From an architectural standpoint, this is an asymmetrical. One could refer to "Hanlon's razor" that states the following "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity" – "Soviet geniuses" built God knows what. There is saying that all things built by Soviets" were, to say the least, not safe or even dangerous. However, in this case the above-mentioned explanation does not really cut it. The mausoleum was designed not by a Soviet but by an acclaimed Russian architect Alexey Shchusev. Shchusev was a diligent student of old Russian art, and in 1897 he graduated from Imperial Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg. For his final thesis Shchusev received a gold medal and continued his studies abroad (small note: Alexey Shchusev did not attempt to design any type of Ziggurats, although he designed a lot, and concentrated mainly on a simple, perceivable and relevant neo-Russian style that was a domestic version of Art.
So yes, the purpose of mausoleum is not clear, and there is no explanation as to why – at least in open sources. Nevertheless, some details can definitely be noted, such as: the item is facing a) north (so what?); b) facing strictly the direction from whence the visitors were forced to come during the weekdays and thousands of workers and soldiers during national festivities. It is hard to estimate the exact number of people that passed through the mausoleum – around seventy million to one hundred million people, or more. As long as I remember myself during the rein of the Soviet government, the queues to mausoleum were always extremely long. Like an enormously long snake, the queue reached Alexander Gardens. To be honest, queue that long was observed in Moscow only during the 80's, when Gorbachev, riding the wave of "Perestroika" opened the first McDonald's in Soviet Union at the Pushkin Square (by the way, it was a Canadian branch, not an American one).