Today's building made of granite and Labrador stone was preceded by two provisional mausoleums made of oak. The first of these was erected in January 1924, a few days after Lenin's death, and had a simple cube shape at a height of three meters; a second temporary arrangement was set up in the spring of 1924. The current building was erected between 1929 and 1930. From the outside it has the shape of a multi-tiered pyramid, which should underline the character of the mausoleum as a monumental burial place based on ancient models. The author of the design was the renowned architect Alexei Shtusev, who also had the two previous mausoleums built.