ThePantheon (Russian:Пантеон), officially also called theMonument to the Eternal Glory of the Great People of the Soviet Land (Russian:Памятник вечной славы великих людей Советской страны), was a project to construct amonumental memorialtomb inMoscow,Soviet Union. The tomb was planned to serve as the final resting place for prominentcommunist figures along with the remains of Communists who had been buried at theKremlin Wall Necropolis. According to the plan,Vladimir Lenin's embalmed body would be transferred fromLenin's Mausoleum to the new Pantheon.
The decision to build the Pantheon was taken by theCentral Committee of the CPSU andCouncil of Ministers in a joint decision of March 6, 1953, the day followingJoseph Stalin's death.[1] It was decided that the Pantheon would be built in Moscow, but its location was not further specified. A likely location would probably have been opposite theKremlin, on the Sophie quay by theMoscow River.[2] The project was partly inspired by thePanthéon in Paris, and the idea was to transfer all the remains buried at the Kremlin Wall Necropolis,[3] and convert the Lenin Mausoleum into a monumentaltribune overlookingRed Square. According to the decision, the Pantheon would be accessible to broad masses of visitors.
The decision to build the Pantheon was never executed. Its fate may be connected with the turning point ofStalinist architectural projects after Stalin's death, and with the official condemnation of Joseph Stalin, whose body was removed from the Lenin Mausoleum[4] on October 31, 1961, and buried next to theKremlin Wall at theKremlin Wall Necropolis. The decision of 1953 was further invalidated on December 4, 1974, when the Ministerial Council of theRussian SFSR decided to formally protect the historical monuments of the Lenin Mausoleum and the Kremlin Wall Necropolis.
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