For two centuries, almost all Russian emperors, from Peter I to Alexander III, were buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral.
The tombstones of the kings were repeatedly remade and replaced with new ones, due to their dilapidation and unsightly appearance. Stone was replaced by marble, gray Karelian marble gave way to white Italian, etc. The royal tomb survived two large-scale replacements of tombstones: in the 1770s (during the rebuilding of the Cathedral) and in 1865.
Initially, tombstones made of white alabaster stone were placed over the burial places in the cathedral. In the 1770s, during the restoration of the cathedral, they were replaced with others made of gray Karelian marble.
In 1865, by decree of Alexander II, 15 tombstones were replaced with new ones at once. It must be assumed that the tombstones of the last seven emperors and their wives were remade.
The tombstones on the graves of Alexander II and his wife were in turn replaced by Alexander III in 1887, less than a decade after their deaths.
Thus, all the royal tombstones in the Peter and Paul Cathedral are replicas of the second half of the 19th century.
There are no graves in the Peter and Paul Cathedral:
- Peter 2 (who died in Moscow and was buried in the Archangel Cathedral of the Kremlin)
- John VI Antonovich, who was killed in the Shlisselburg fortress.
In the autumn of 1921, the then government again needed gold and jewelry.
Orders, pectoral crosses, rings, gold buttons from uniforms, silver vessels in which the entrails of the dead were stored - all this, in the eyes of the Bolsheviks, was subject to expropriation. Precious wreaths and ancient icons that once adorned the royal tombstones had already been taken away in an unknown direction by the Provisional Government.
Under the pretext of helping the starving Volga region, the tombs of all Russian emperors and empresses, from Peter I to Alexander III, inclusive, were opened.
This action gave rise to many rumors about the fate of the remains. According to one version, the remains of the kings were transferred to oak coffins and taken to the crematorium, which had been established shortly before and soon closed.
Naturally, the exhumation was by no means carried out in the interests of historical science. Values were described and confiscated "in favor of the starving."
Eyewitness accounts of this outrageous action contain some important details.
These memoirs - oral, transmitted from other people's words - were once collected by L. Lyubimov and later supplemented by the historian N. Eidelman for his book "The First Decembrist". The act of exhumation, which was signed by all members of the commission, has not yet been found.
Who was found?
In the memoirs, they report finding the remains of all the kings and queens, except for Alexander I. Alexander's coffin is completely empty, only at the very bottom "a little dust". Some of the members of the commission recall on this occasion the legend of the elder Fyodor Kuzmich, I have my own explanation for the loss of Alexander.
Others contain minimal bones and clothing. Paul's skull is allegedly split into several pieces. Others report that Paul was embalmed, covered with a wax mask, which was swollen in places and they even saw a grimace of horror on Paul's face.
At the same time, without exception, all eyewitnesses noted the perfect preservation of Peter I.
The emperor was dressed in a green uniform and leather boots and looked like himself, as he was depicted in the paintings.
These days, the opening of the grave of Alexander III, carried out at the initiative of the church, is expected. A genetic examination will be carried out to identify the remains of his son, Nicholas II. Whether it will come to the revision of all the royal remains is not yet known.
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Half a century ago, because of these disputes, they even opened the tombs of the king and his son.
"AiF" decided to remember what came of it and what other famous tombs were opened.
Ivan groznyj and his son Ivan rest in the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin - the tomb of the Russian tsars. The decision to open the graves in 1963 was achieved by a well-known scientist Mikhail Gerasimov.
Was Grozny poisoned?
The official protocol says that when they began to move a heavy slab from the king's sarcophagus, it "broke in two like a piece of ice." The incident was reminiscent of the one that happened when Gerasimov in June 1941 participated in the excavation of the grave Tamerlane in Samarkand. On the morning of June 21, 1941, they began to remove a massive slab from the burial place of Tamerlane, but it suddenly split, and the lighting devices installed there went out in the mausoleum. Allegedly, on the day of the opening of the grave of Tamerlane, scientists were given the words of local elders that this should not be done - a war would begin. The war really began the next day, June 22. In fairness, we note: the prophecy was talked about retroactively, decades after the opening of the tomb.
Sculptural reproduction of the head of Tsar Ivan the Terrible. Reconstruction of a skull from a burial in the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. Sculptor M.M. Gerasimov. Photo: www.globallookpress.com
The expedition of scientists to Samarkand was widely covered in the press. What cannot be said about the opening of the tombs in the Archangel Cathedral. Gerasimov specifically discussed with colleagues: "The work should not be pompous and noisy." When the scientists nevertheless came to shoot television, nothing came of it (see “Flipping through the AiF file”).
Opening of the grave of Tamerlane. 1941 Photo: Public Domain
Inside the tomb of Tsar Ivan the Terrible turned out to be a simple monastic burial - shortly before his death, the sovereign accepted the great schema with the name And she. Conducting chemical and toxicological studies of the remains showed a multiple excess of mercury in the bones of Ivan Vasilyevich and his son Ivan, while the other son of the tsar had Fedora, whose grave was also opened, the mercury did not exceed the natural level. Experts did not rule out that the tsar and his eldest son Ivan could have been poisoned. But the version that Grozny killed his son with a blow to the head with a staff has not been proven.
White stone sarcophagi of Tsarevich Ioann Ioannovich and the Tsar of All Rus' and the Grand Duke of Moscow Fyodor Ioannovich. Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. Photo: RIA Novosti / G. Shcherbakov
The results of the work in the royal tomb of the Archangel Cathedral were strictly recorded. And the details of what happened in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg now have to be restored bit by bit. This cathedral is another tomb of Russian sovereigns, where burials began with Peter I. In the 20s. 20th century during the campaign to confiscate church valuables, they were also opened. Here is what the professor wrote V. Kasursky: “Not so long ago, the opening of the royal tombs was carried out. The opening of the tomb of Peter I made a particularly strong impression. Peter's body was well preserved ... He had a large golden cross on his chest, which weighed a lot. Seizures were made from the tombs... The tomb Alexander I empty." Member of the Grabbe Academy of Arts, who was present at the opening of the royal graves in 1921, said: “Peter I lay in the coffin as if alive. The Red Army soldier who had helped during the autopsy recoiled in horror. The tomb of Alexander I turned out to be empty.”
Experts explain the possible preservation of the remains of Peter I by the fact that the emperor, after his death, was embalmed and buried only six years after his death - when the Peter and Paul Cathedral was erected.
The emperor has become an old man?
And the fact that the tomb of Emperor Alexander I turned out to be empty speaks in favor of the version that the autocrat staged his death. The sudden death of the Tsar-Liberator Alexander I in 1825 immediately gave rise to a wave of mistrust. The emperor was 48 years old, he was distinguished by excellent health. Alexander I fell ill while returning from the Crimea. Upon arrival in Taganrog, he fell ill with a fever. And soon they reported that the sovereign had died. An amazing fact - the Empress was not at the memorial service for her deceased husband in the Taganrog Cathedral. She also did not accompany the funeral procession to Moscow, and then to St. Petersburg for the funeral.
The ground for various kinds of assumptions was the fact that the body of the emperor was not shown to the people. In Moscow, due to fears of popular unrest, troops were drawn to the Kremlin, where the coffin was set up for farewell in the Archangel Cathedral. However, the farewell was not popular. The coffin was opened at night only for the closest - those who were initiated into the secret of the emperor. It is believed that he could decide to leave the throne because of remorse associated with the death of his father Paul I. Alexander I did not kill him directly, but, knowing about the impending coup, did not prevent a bloody outcome. As retribution for a grave sin, he took the death of his two young daughters. He decided to "die" to the world and consecrate himself to God. There is a lot of evidence that Alexander I is the elder Fyodor Kuzmich, who appeared in Siberia after the imaginary death of the emperor. Already in our time, the ROC canonized the elder as the righteous Theodore of Tomsk as part of the Cathedral of Siberian Saints. The last argument in favor of the fact that the emperor and the elder are one person could now be the official opening of the grave of Alexander I, but so far this has not been discussed.But in 2015, the burial of Alexander III in the Peter and Paul Cathedral was opened in order to conduct a genetic examination. The remains from the royal tomb were planned to be compared with those found in the Sverdlovsk region and attributed to his son, Emperor Nicholas II. So far, the results of the investigation have not been reported.
Leafing through the "AiF" binders
Galina Lebedinskaya for many years she headed the laboratory of plastic reconstruction of the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the Russian Academy of Sciences. In 1999, she told our journalist about the oddities that happened in the laboratory when she had to restore the appearance of Ivan the Terrible from his skull.
Galina Lebedinskaya. Photo: / Eduard Kudryavitsky
The grave of the tsar and his sons was opened in 1963. Ivan the Terrible was buried in monastic attire, his skeleton was well preserved, but the skull of Ivan's son literally crumbled into crumbs before our eyes. Therefore, it was not possible to answer the question: was the prince really killed by a blow of a staff to the temple?
When they began to restore the image of the king, documentary filmmakers arrived at the laboratory. From that moment, some inexplicable things began to happen. First, Jupiter exploded at the filmmakers, then the film caught fire. The photographer asked to pose with the skull of the king - the flash burned out.
A few days later, the lights suddenly went out in the laboratory. Employees lit a candle and for fun (then everyone was atheist) began to call the spirit of the great king of all Rus'. Suddenly the candle fell, went out, and at the same time the front door slammed loudly. It was as if the soul of the disturbed king had burst out. Everyone was very scared.
Recently, the public has been excited by the question of reburial of the alleged royal remains - this time the holy Tsarevich Alexy and the holy Grand Duchess Mary. Supporters of the authenticity and, accordingly, the burial of these remains refer to the so-called. a note by Y. Yurovsky, according to which the bodies of the executed members were not destroyed, but buried in the Porosenkov Log near Yekaterinburg. Opponents of the identity of the found remains also have their own arguments.
But in connection with these disputes, the question arises of another dark historical secret of the twentieth century.
However, let us first recall the wild campaign to destroy royal monuments, which began in 1918 with a monument to a terrorist killed in the Kremlin - then V.I. Lenin himself threw the rope over the cross, and then urged his comrades to pull its ends and quickly overthrow the hated monument to him.
Through the efforts of the Bolsheviks on the territory of the Soviet Union, all monuments to the liberator Tsar Alexander ΙΙ were destroyed. Only the one that turned out to be standing on already foreign territory survived - in Finland. As for his son Alexander ΙΙΙ, the only surviving monument to him, created by P. Trubetskoy, was left rather as a ... historical curiosity.
Even a number of monuments to Peter the Great were destroyed, in particular the monument depicting him as a master shipbuilder. Those monuments to royal people that were not demolished (the Bronze Horseman, monuments to Nicholas I, Catherine II) were preserved only at the insistence of the most sensible representatives of the intelligentsia and because of their artistic value.
All icons and lampadas were removed from the royal graves, placed in boxes and sent to Moscow.
The looting of the royal graves in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg also belongs to barbaric actions. By 1917, there were more than a thousand wreaths on the walls of the cathedral, columns and at the graves. Almost every grave and near it were icons and lamps. On the tombstones of Peter I, Alexander I, Nicholas I and Alexander II lay gold, silver and bronze medals, stamped on the occasion of various anniversaries. In September-October 1917, by order of the Provisional Government, all icons and lamps, gold, silver and bronze medals from the graves, gold, silver and porcelain wreaths were removed, placed in boxes and sent to Moscow. The further fate of the exported cathedral valuables is unknown.
But the looting didn't end there. Documents on the opening of the royal tombs have not been preserved, but a number of memoirs have come down to us, testifying to this.
Here are the words of Professor V.K. Krasusky (Koltushi near St. Petersburg):
“Peter had a large golden cross on his chest… Valuables were seized from the royal tombs”
“While still a student, I arrived in Leningrad in 1925 to my aunt Anna Adamovna Krasuskaya, an honored worker of science, professor of anatomy at the Scientific Institute. P.F. Lesgaft. In one of my conversations with A.A. Krasuskaya told me the following: “Not so long ago, the opening of the royal tombs was carried out. The opening of the tomb of Peter I made a particularly strong impression. Peter's body is well preserved. He really is very similar to the Peter, who is depicted in the drawings. On his chest he had a large golden cross, which weighed a lot. Values were confiscated from the royal tombs.”
Knowing A.A. Krasuskaya as a very serious scientist and person, I cannot admit the thought that everything she told me was based only on rumors. She could only say what she knew well about the opening of the tombs.
And here is what Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor V.I. Angeleyko (Kharkov) L.D. Lyubimov:
“I had a comrade Valentin Shmit in my gymnasium. His father F.I. Schmit headed the department of art history at Kharkov University, then moved to work at Leningrad University. In 1927 I visited my friend and learned from him that in 1921 his father had taken part in the commission on the graves of the Peter and Paul Cathedral, and in his presence the graves of the Peter and Paul Cathedral were opened. The commission did not find the body in the grave of Alexander I. He also told me that the body of Peter I was very well preserved.
And here are the memoirs of D. Adamovich (Moscow):
“The tomb of Alexander I turned out to be empty: there is no coffin, no body”
“According to the late professor of history N.M. Korobov ... I know the following. A member of the Grabbe Academy of Arts, who was present at the opening of the royal graves in Petrograd in 1921, told him that Peter I was very well preserved and lay in the coffin as if alive. The Red Army soldier who had helped during the autopsy recoiled in horror. The tomb of Alexander I was empty.
The story of the writer Nadezhda Pavlovich deserves attention. Information about the opening of the royal tombs was given to her by Uritsky's nephew Boris Kaplun:
“On that day, Boris was excited: he had just taken part in the opening of the royal tombs with a detachment of Red Army soldiers. "For what?" we asked. - "To check the rumor that royal treasures are hidden in the royal coffins." At that time, there were cases when, imitating old romantic stories, some people arranged fictitious funerals in order to get hidden wealth “out of the ground” at the right time.
“So what, did you find it?” “No, they didn't. Peter the Great was preserved better than others - he had a diamond ring on his finger, which we thought to take off for the museum, but did not dare” .
It is not completely clear whether all the graves were opened, and most importantly, the problem arises: in what condition, after the looting of the 1920s, are the remains of Russian emperors in their graves? For all its complexity and delicacy, this question requires a calm and professional answer and solution.
He founded the fortress, calling it St. Petersburg, in the name of his heavenly patron. This summer, along with other buildings, a wooden church was laid, which was named in honor of the saints and Paul. After the Poltava victory in 1709, St. Petersburg began to be built up with magnificent buildings, because now it is the capital of the Russian State.
dynasty necropolis
The Peter and Paul Cathedral is an outstanding architectural monument of the early 18th century, it is widely known, and the sparkling gold spire is one of the symbols of the city. But not everyone is aware that the cathedral is the burial place of the Russian Imperial House. , , as well as all subsequent crowned heads of the dynasty.
But contemporaries perceived the cathedral primarily as a crypt of the Romanov dynasty, only those sacraments that were dedicated to these sad events took place in it, baptisms and weddings were not held. The design of the mourning ceremonies was carried out by the best architects and artists of St. Petersburg. Unfortunately, only contemporaries of the events could see the funeral processions, after all the decoration was dismantled and the temple took its usual form.
Traditionally, not only embalmed bodies were buried in hermetically sealed coffins in the cathedral, but also internal organs laid out in vessels. The day before the official ceremony, they were placed at the bottom of the grave. At this procedure, as a rule, only the members of the "Sad Commission" who were involved in organizing the funeral, and the clergy were present.
From the history of the cathedral
In 1712, on the birthday of the city, in front of many high-ranking persons, he laid the first stone of the cathedral on the site of a wooden church. The temple was consecrated in 1733. It is designed in the Baroque style and is one of the majestic monuments of architecture. The cathedral is a rectangular building located from west to east, a drum with a dome rises above its eastern part, and a bell tower with a gilded spire of 122.5 meters rises from the western side, which is still the tallest building in St. Petersburg. Since 1858, the temple has been called "Peter and Paul". In the second photo you see the interior of the cathedral where Peter the Great is buried.
Under the leadership of the king, the cathedral was built very quickly. Domenico Trezzini - a Swiss engineer - was appointed architect, he was given the best craftsmen. After 8 years, the construction of the cathedral was completed from the outside. Clocks with chimes were brought from Holland, they were purchased for a huge amount of money - 45,000 rubles. After 3 years, a gilded spire was installed. The iconostasis, the work on which Peter I laid on the shoulders of the architect Zarudny, was made for 4 years. Under his leadership, the artists Ivanov and Telega worked on the drawings.
Where is Emperor Peter the Great buried?
Most likely, already at the beginning of construction, the king, following the example of Constantine - the first Christian emperor - wanted to turn the cathedral into the tomb of his dynasty. Before the construction of the cathedral, all the tsars were buried in the Archangel Cathedral of the Kremlin (Boris Godunov rests in
For two centuries, the Peter and Paul Cathedral, where Peter 1 is buried, was the burial place of almost all emperors before Alexander III and many family relatives, only John VI was buried elsewhere. The very first in 1708, still in a wooden church, was laid to rest at the age of one and a half years, Catherine, daughter of Peter 1.
Celebrity graves. Peter I and his descendants
Before the completion of construction, other burials were made in the cathedral. In the summer, in 1715, the remains of the daughters of Peter the Great, Natalia and Margarita, were brought here. In winter - the queen Marfa Matveevna (Apraksina), who was the wife of the king. In 1717, the son of Peter 1, Pavel, was buried, the following year, the soul of the eldest son of Peter 1, Alexei Petrovich, from his first wife Lopukhina, who was executed by order of his father for anti-state activities, rested. 5 years later, in 1723, Maria Alekseevna was buried here - the disgraced graves of Tsarevich Alexei and Tsarina Marfa Matveevna are located under the bell tower in the chapel of St. Catherine. The grave where Peter 1 is buried is pictured below.
It was here, in the unfinished cathedral, on March 8, 1725, that the body of Emperor Peter the Great, who had fallen asleep forever (January 28), was placed. According to the project of D. Trizini, a temporary wooden church was built inside the cathedral, and the deceased Peter the Great and his daughter Natalia, who died on March 4, were transferred there with a magnificent ceremony.
The tightly closed coffin, where Peter 1 was buried, was installed on a hearse lined with gold fabric, under a canopy. In the summer of 1727, a coffin was placed there with his dead wife, Empress Catherine 1.
Dust to earth
Empress Anna Ioannovna in May 1731 ordered that the ashes of the spouses be buried in the earth. The burial took place with a special ceremony on May 29. Among those present were persons from the Admiralty, generals, collegiate ranks. When the coffins were placed in a specially designated place at the Imperial Cemetery, 51 volleys were fired from the fortress.
