Hugo Chavez: Funeral For Venezuelan President

How Will Chavez's Body Be Embalmed?

Updated: 10:22am UK, Friday 08 March 2013

Venezuela's acting head of state has decreed that their former leader Hugo Chavez's body will be embalmed and displayed forever inside a glass tomb for anyone to visit and pay their respects.

It is nothing new. The process has been undergone by other leaders including the Russian revolutionary Lenin, Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong and the Vietnamese war president Ho Chi Minh.

Most recently, the last leader to undergo the treatment of permanently preserving their body for display was former North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il after he died in 2011.

While Mr Chavez might not have been a communist in the traditional sense, he will join the ranks of other hard left leaders whose bodies have been preserved for their populations to continue loving and admiring.

The Russians were the first to perfect the permanent embalming process for display when Vladimir Lenin was preserved to go on display after his death in 1924.

While traditional embalming, using formaldehyde, is designed to preserve a body until a funeral takes place, permanent embalming requires a stronger solution to stop decay altogether.

Traditional embalming carried out by funeral parlours involves delaying decomposition, so watered down formaldehyde is used to replace drained blood.

But for permanent preservation, the process has to be considerably more thorough.

Major blood vessels and veins are opened, the blood is completely removed and the vascular system is pumped full of a solution that preserves but does not destroy the tissue.

Although the exact composition is not known, it is suspected to be a mix of concentrated alcohol, glycerol and formalin, which kills off all the bacteria inside the body and effectively 'pickles' it from the inside.

A pinkish tint is given to the formalin to give the body a realistic look and to stop it looking like other pickled products, which usually appear washed out.

Because the hair falls out, a permanent wig has to be created. Other cosmetic features may then also be added, like permanent make-up, to make the face appear more lifelike.

The atmosphere around the body has to be kept at a constant level of temperature and humidity. If it gets too hot, the alcohol used can evaporate.

The glass case that contains it has to be sealed to prevent mould and fungal spores getting at the preserved tissue and also some types of fly, which can live off embalming fluids.

It is not known whether the Venezuelans will attempt to preserve Mr Chavez's body themselves, or whether it will be sent to one of the countries where the art is already practised.

Although the Russians were pioneers, the Chinese have also become experts, preserving their own Chairman Mao and also Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh.

All those who are permanently preserved, have to go for an annual 'conditioning' session during which the fluids that stop them decaying are replaced.

Venezuela's Vice President Nicolas Maduro said on Thursday that Mr Chavez's body would be forever displayed inside a glass tomb at a military museum not far from the presidential palace from where he ruled for 14 years.

"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. Just like Ho Chi Minh. Just like Lenin. Just like Mao Zedong," Mr Maduro said.

Mr Maduro said Mr Chavez's body would be held in a "crystal urn" at the Museum of the Revolution, a stone's throw from Miraflores presidential palace, but that first the body would lie in state for "at least" seven days at the museum.

The announcement came after two emotional days following the leaders' death in which Mr Chavez's supporters compared him to Jesus Christ, and accused his national and international critics of subversion.

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