Old Don cemetery. Graves of witches and sorcerers

15.02.2019

Cemetery Vagankovsky arose in 1771 after the plague. Then ordinary citizens were buried on it, and today famous people are interred. Vasily Surikov, Vladimir Dal, Sergei Yesenin, Vladimir Vysotsky, Andrei Mironov, Alexander Abdulov found their last refuge here. Many stories and mystical legends are associated with this place. So, for example, on the grave of Yesenin, Galina Besnislavskaya committed suicide here. Employees of the Vagankovsky cemetery claim that her ghost still walks around the area.

st. Sergei Makeev, 15

Novodevichy is another famous cemetery in the capital. Anton Chekhov, Konstantin Stanislavsky, Dmitry Shostakovich, Fyodor Chaliapin, Vera Mukhina, Mikhail Bulgakov are buried here. In 1931, the reburial of the remains of Nikolai Gogol took place, which gave rise to a number of rumors. Eyewitnesses claimed that the writer's skull was turned on its side, hence the legend that the author of "Dead Souls" was probably mistakenly buried alive while he was in lethargy. Another one misterious story associated with the grave of Velimir Khlebnikov, which is decorated with a Polovtsian stone woman. Since the 1970s, the sculpture has become covered with inexplicable red spots that resembled blood. They disappeared during the rain.

pr-d Luzhnetsky, 2

The old capital cemetery traces its history from late XVI II century. Its first name is German: mainly Catholics and Lutherans were buried here. On the territory you can find a lot of interesting crypts. So, here is the mausoleum of Dr. Alexander Auvers, where people often come to ask for help in various everyday affairs, the tomb of Louise Simon-Demanche (mistress of the playwright Alexander Sukhovo-Kobylin), whose spirit, according to eyewitnesses, wanders among the graves. The last refuge of Nikolai Kelkh, for unknown reasons, attracts people interested in black magic.

st. Cash, d. 1

The Armenian cemetery was founded in early XIX century at the request of the Armenian community. Perhaps the most famous grave here belongs to the philanthropist Nikolai Tarasov. The monument, created by sculptor Nikolai Andreev, reproduces the scene of the suicide of an oilman. He committed suicide after his mistress Olga Gribova committed suicide. The same, in turn, did not want to live after the suicide of her other lover - Nikolai Zhuravlev, who had lost his cards shortly before. Gribova even asked Tarasov for money, but he, of course, did not give anything. There are legends that the ghost of the philanthropist still roams the cemetery and distributes coins to the poor, trying to somehow calm his conscience.

st. Sergei Makeev, 12

Like many Moscow cemeteries, Danilovskoe was founded by Catherine II after the plague. Famous football players, artists, actors, writers are buried here. They say that in the alleys you can meet your own double, which, as you know, is an unkind sign: looking at yourself as a ghost leads to inevitable death in three days.

pr-d 4th Roschinsky, vl. thirty

with the Necropolis Kremlin wall and its center - Lenin's Mausoleum - many mystical stories. They say that on Red Square and the territory of the Kremlin one can periodically see ghostly state, party and military figures. One of these meetings was once described by Nicholas II. The last Russian emperor claimed that on the eve of the coronation, Ivan the Terrible appeared in him. As we remember, after that there was a tragedy on Khodynka, and therefore the visits of Ivan Vasilyevich are considered as an omen of trouble. Another frequent guest from the next world is Vladimir Lenin.

Red Square

  • In past in the cathedrals and churches of the Kremlin buried rulers and members of their families.
  • The Archangel Cathedral in the Kremlin is the burial place of many Russians rulers of the XIV-XVII centuries.
  • After the 1917 revolution Red Square became the burial place of revolutionaries, communist party leaders and generals.
  • The most famous burial complexes in the Kremlin are and Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
  • Novodevichy, Vagankovskoye, Vvedenskoye cemeteries and others represent special interest because many famous people are buried there.
  • Some gravestones - real works of art.

Traditionally, a gloomy halo surrounds the old cemeteries. Sometimes they are presented as spaces torn from our world, the world of the living. Various cults or legends often arise around individual graves and burial sites. Necropolises are often of interest to those who are looking for traces of famous historical figures or favorite writers or actors. And in themselves, cemeteries are special monuments of their era: they are single spaces that have their own internal logic, and often sacred meaning. For example, the Vvedenskoye cemetery was originally a special cemetery for Catholics and Lutherans, and the necropolis of the Donskoy Monastery was created for representatives of the noble noble families. It is interesting, but when visiting the main sights of Moscow, in any case, you will not be able to pass by the burial places. For example, it is impossible not to see the Mausoleum and graves near the Kremlin wall on Red Square, to miss the tombstones of Moscow princes and tsars in the Archangel Cathedral of the Kremlin, or not to notice the inner necropolis during a tour of the Novodevichy Convent.

Naturally, cemeteries in Moscow exist as long as people live in this place. Buried the dead first and in cemeteries near parish churches and monasteries, but most of these necropolises have not survived or have come down to our time only as archaeological sites. From the middle of the 17th century, the authorities began to limit burials within the city in order to avoid epidemics. Such decrees made exceptions for the nobility, who were buried in monastic necropolises. The validity of such a ban was clearly manifested in 1771, when a terrible plague broke out, which came, as expected, on the shoulders of the Russian army that fought against the Turks. In the 18th century, the cemetery in Maryina Roshcha was adapted for the first city cemetery (liquidated in Soviet time), several more cemeteries were opened in the suburbs. One of the most famous cemeteries of this period was Vagankovsky.

The 1930s became an important and very tragic milestone in the history of Moscow necropolises. At this time, the peak of the atheistic campaign of the Bolshevik government falls, the victims of which were not only many churches, but also cemeteries. many graves famous figures cultures with tombstones were transferred to new places, but most of the burial places at monasteries and churches, including family burials of noblemen and merchants, were destroyed and built up.

The Soviet era left behind several interesting ritual complexes. We are talking about the burial places of the party and military elite and scientists and artists on Red Square, as well as the "elite" Vagankovsky and Novodevichy cemeteries.

Necropolises of the Moscow Kremlin and the Mausoleum of V. Lenin

Address: Moscow Kremlin, Red Square

Several burial complexes belonging to different eras are located in the Moscow Kremlin at once. Since 1264, the Moscow fortress became the residence of local princes. The rulers and members of their families were buried in the necropolises of the Kremlin churches. So there were ancestral princely tombs. Orthodox hierarchs were also honored to be buried in these churches.

The earliest tomb of Russian rulers is Archangel Cathedral of the Kremlin. Here rest the Moscow princes, beginning with Grand Duke Ivan Kalita, who died in 1340. Dmitry Donskoy (d. 1389), the winner of the Tatar Khan Mamai, is also buried here; Grand Duke Ivan III the Great (d. 1505), who made Moscow the center of the unification of Russian lands; Ivan IV the Terrible (d. 1584), the first Russian tsar and one of the legendary figures in Russian history; Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich (d. 1645), the first Romanov on the throne; Alexei Mikhailovich (d. 1676), the most significant Russian ruler of the 17th century. The last representative of the royal dynasty buried in the cathedral and in Moscow in general was Emperor Peter II, who died in 1730. The crypt of the cathedral also contains the sarcophagi of women from the Rurik and Romanov families, who were brought here from the Ascension Monastery in the Kremlin, which was demolished in 1928.

The tomb of church rulers in the Kremlin was Assumption Cathedral. Among the 20 primates buried here are the names of Metropolitan Philip II of Moscow (d. 1569), a critic of Tsar Ivan the Terrible, who was killed on his orders; Patriarch Hermogenes (d. 1612), starved to death by the occupying Poles for refusing to cooperate; Patriarch Philaret (d. 1633), powerful head of the Romanov dynasty, father of Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich. In other Kremlin churches, you can also find tombstones once influential people.

In 1917, the cult of the martyrs of the revolution replaced the cult of tsars and patriarchs. Already on November 10, 1917, immediately after the end of the bloody battles in Moscow, on Red Square near Kremlin wall 238 revolutionaries participating in the uprising were buried. Until 1927, several more mass graves revolutionaries. Party leaders and generals were honored with separate graves. In one of these graves lie the remains of I. Stalin, taken out of the Mausoleum in 1961. Soviet military leaders and heroes are buried near the Kremlin wall civil war 1917-1922 M. Frunze, K. Voroshilov, S. Budyonny, the first Chekist F. Dzerzhinsky, statesman M. Kalinin, general secretaries of the CPSU L. Brezhnev, Yu. Andropov, K. Chernenko and other representatives of the Soviet elite. The Kremlin wall itself also became a burial site. Urns with ashes after cremation were placed in it, and the place of "burial" was covered with a memorial slab.

In addition to the power elite, here you can see the graves of prominent scientists: academician A. Karpinsky (1847–1936), geologist and first president of the USSR Academy of Sciences; Academician I. Kurchatov (1903–1906), founder of the Soviet atomic bomb; designer Academician S. Korolev (1907–1966), the “father” of Soviet cosmonautics; designer M. Keldysh (1911–1978). It is impossible not to mention the name of the writer M. Gorky (1868–1936) resting in the Kremlin wall.

In addition, the necropolis near the Kremlin wall became the last refuge for several foreign figures of the international communist movement, who ended up in Soviet Russia. Among them was the American journalist John Reid (1887–1920), an eyewitness October revolution and author of Ten Days That Shook the World; German communist and fighter for women's rights Clara Zetkin (1857-1933) and others.

The logical center of the burial complex on Red Square is. After the death of V.I. Lenin, it was decided to save his body and place it in a specially built tomb. The mausoleum was originally designed by A. Shchusev, and its final version was completed in 1930. The shape of the mausoleum refers to Egyptian pyramids, hinting that before us is the temple of the religion of the future world.

Another famous burial near the Moscow Kremlin is Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Alexander Garden. This memorial Complex repeats the tradition of the Parisian monument to the Unknown Soldier under triumphal arch. The monument is dedicated to all those who died during the Great Patriotic War soldiers, "whose name is unknown, but the feat is immortal." The remains of a nameless soldier from one of the mass graves of the Moscow region are buried here. This laconic monument is also the center of a military cult, in the center of which is a reverent attitude towards the fallen soldiers.

Necropolis of Novodevichy Convent and Novodevichy Cemetery

Novodevichy Convent (necropolis). Novodevichy proezd, 1

Cemetery: Luzhnetsky proezd, 2

The Novodevichy Convent was founded in 1524 by Grand Duke Vasily III of Moscow. The monastery complex dates back to the 16th-17th centuries and is a unique monument of ancient Russian architectural style and Naryshkin baroque.

Necropolis Nov dress monastery- one of the two best-preserved noble cemeteries in Moscow. True, there are no burials older than the 19th century here. This cemetery makes it possible to pass in silence past the rows of old tombstones stopping before familiar names. The tombstones themselves are real monuments of antiquity, among which there are works of art. For example, the headstone of the hero of the Battle of Borodino, General V. Timofeev (1783–1850), is distinguished, decorated with coats of arms and a bas-relief bust of the deceased. The names of those buried here can tell a lot to those who are interested in Russian history: the commander of the First World War, General A. Brusilov (1853–1926); hero of the Patriotic War and poet D. Davydov (1784–1839); writer M. Zagoskin (1789–1852); participants in the unsuccessful "noble revolution" in December 1825, among them one of the leaders of the conspiracy, Prince S.P. Trubetskoy (1790–1860); historian M. Pogodin (1800–1875); Phil osof V. Solovyov (1853–1900) and many others.

At the beginning of the 20th century, there was no place left in the monastery cemetery, so a new one was opened outside its walls. Novodevichy cemetery. In the 1930s, the graves of prominent cultural figures were transferred here from the destroyed cemeteries of the capital. So, here was the grave of one of the largest Russian writers N. Gogol (1809-1852), transferred from the Danilov Monastery. It now bears a replica of the original monument, which was replaced in 1952. The grave of the brilliant landscape painter I. Levitan (1860–1900) was moved from the Dorogomilovsky Jewish cemetery. Entrepreneurs brothers Sergey (1834–1892) and Pavel (1832–1898) Tretyakov, who created Tretyakov Gallery, one of the most significant world collections of Russian painting. Their ashes also came here from D anilov monastery.

In Soviet times, the Novodevichy Cemetery was reserved for the nomenklatura and cultural elite. Now a walk along Novodevichy is an acquaintance with the world of “Red Moscow”. Here pass before the eyes the names of the people who determined the appearance Soviet Union both in politics and in art. One of the most famous burials is the grave of N. Khrushchev. He is the only one general secretary CPSU, not buried in Red Square. At the time of his death, he was in disgrace, and his ashes ended up in the second-ranking nomenclature cemetery.

Donskoy Monastery: Donskaya Square, 1 – 3

Cemetery of the Donskoy Monastery: Donskaya st., 1

The ritual complexes around the Donskoy Monastery have a similar history to the Novodevichy Convent and the cemetery. - a well-preserved burial place of the Moscow nobility. Among the resting here are many famous people. So, 61 heroes of the Patriotic War of 1812 are buried here. We can also mention the itinerant artist V. Perov (1834–1882), the creator of aerodynamics N. Zhukovsky (1847–1921), and the historian V. Klyuchevsky (1841–1911). In 2005, the remains of leaders of the White anti-Bolshevik movement, General A. Denikin (1872–1947) and philosopher I. Ilyin (1883–1954), were brought here from abroad. And in 2008, the Nobel laureate writer A. Solzhenitsyn (1918–2008) found his last refuge here. The monastery cemetery is actually a museum under open sky and provided with plans indicating the names of the buried and information tablets in Russian.

Vvedenskoe Cemetery

Address: st. Cash, 1

There were several cemeteries for non-Christians in Moscow. All of them are interesting as monuments of the ritual culture of other confessions. But you should pay special attention Vvedensky cemetery. Its appearance is also associated with the epidemic of 1771. The cemetery is located in the Lefortovo district, which borders on the German Quarter, where foreigners have settled since the 16th century. Initially, only Catholics and Lutherans were buried here, but in the 19th century the cemetery lost its “specialization”. The most famous historical names in this cemetery are Franz Lefort and Patrick Gordon, foreigners in the service of Tsar Peter I. Their remains were transferred here in the 19th century from the demolished Lutheran church in the German settlement. Also buried at the Vvedensky cemetery are the families of a number of German manufacturers, the artists Victor (1848–1926) and Apollinaris (1856–1933) Vasnetsov, the writer M. Prishvin (1873–1954), pilots of the French Normandie-Niemen air regiment.

Ever since the 18th century, this cemetery has been surrounded by mystical spirit. Echoes of those beliefs are still alive today. For example, a kind of place of pilgrimage is the mausoleum of the Erlanger manufacturers by F. Schechtel. Visitors to the cemetery constantly paint the walls of this crypt with their requests addressed to God. The answer to the question of how the mausoleum of a German family became a place of worship turns out to be unexpectedly simple: inside the crypt there is a mosaic panel "Christ the Sower", made according to a sketch by K. Petrov-Vodkin. The theme of this mosaic refers to professional field activities of the Erlanger family - flour milling. The Erlanger Mausoleum is an object of cultural heritage of federal significance.

Cemetery Vagankovsky

Address: st. Sergei Makeev, 15

Wrote on February 24th, 2016

More

Moscow on the bones
Photographer Sergey Karpov and journalist Alexei Sochnev studied what is now in the places where cemeteries used to be

Correspondent of "Russian Planet" Alexey Sochnev and photographer Sergey Karpov invite you for a walk through several former cemeteries of Moscow.


Gokhran building on the site of the former Armenian cemetery in Fili


In the old days, the dead in Moscow were buried at churches and monasteries, and for those who died a violent death, wanderers and non-believers, there were miserable houses, which were also called skidelnitsa or pustules. By the end of the 17th century, there were more than 300 growing cemeteries near churches in Moscow, and there were four known squalid houses. Skidelnitsy were the places where clay was taken from ("skidel" - earthenware). When the place was worked out, Jews and Christians used the pit to bury wanderers, foreigners and the poor, who died in the war or died from pestilence.

If there were too many corpses, they were piled into huge pits with ice, without burying, without burial, left until spring. The bodies were kept until Semik (Thursday in the seventh week after Easter), when the bodies were interred. A lot of people, onlookers, beggars and mourners came to the wretched houses for the ritual. Those gathered dug graves, pulled the accumulated dead bodies out of the pit, clothed them in shrouds, put them in coffins and buried them in the ground. Others at that moment sang memorial services and prayed for the repose of all those buried. A commemoration was held right there, passing the bowl from hand to hand. Due to the effects of the weather, some of the corpses rotted, hence the alternative name for the place - pustules.

There were four known squalid houses in Moscow. One at the intersection of Prechistenka and Dead Lane (now it is Prechistensky Lane). The second miserable house was located behind the Serpukhov Gates, where Tsarevich Dimitri, the son of Ivan IV (or False Dmitry), was buried. The third is behind Taganka, in its place the Bozhedomsky Monastery (aka Pokrovsky) was built. The oldest, the fourth miserable house, was on the Samoteka River at the Exaltation of the Cross Monastery. In 1934, the church was demolished, and Kalininsky Prospekt (now Vozdvizhenka Street) passed in its place. In 1979, when an underground passage was being built across the avenue, the cultural layer with ancient coffins was opened. They were raked into a heap by an excavator, taken to a landfill and burned.

Tsars Mikhail Fedorovich and Alexei Mikhailovich were the first to prohibit burial within the Kremlin: during heavy rains and floods, cadaveric poison from church cemeteries and squalid houses got into drinking water, caused diseases, and increased mortality. A ban on burial within the entire city was issued in October 1723 by Peter I. However, Moscow was in no hurry to execute his decrees: Muscovites considered the tsar the Antichrist, who was fighting against traditions Orthodox people, and continued to bury near the churches.

Following Peter, the fight against cemeteries was continued by Empress Elizaveta Petrovna. She was concerned not only with the health of the population, but also with aesthetics: the graves spoiled the landscape on the way from the palace on the Yauza to the Kremlin. They were ordered to be razed to the ground, and tombstones to be used for the construction of new and repair of old churches. To close the remaining Moscow cemeteries and shabby houses, it was decided to open a city-wide cemetery outside the city. To select a place, a special committee was formed from authoritative Moscow priests and the chief architect of Moscow, Prince Dmitry Ukhtomsky.

The place was chosen appropriately: at the new miserable houses near Maryina Grove, near the ancient German cemetery outside the city limits. In 1732, a barn for storage was moved here from the Church of John the Warrior dead bodies, and then in 1750 they built a wooden church of St. Lazarus of the Four Days. So the city cemetery became known as Lazarevsky. Muscovites did not like it, they considered it a cursed place for unrepentant sinners. This attitude towards him persisted until the famous plague epidemic of 1771 (then, due to the danger of the spread of the disease, the Senate finally forbade burial within the city, and for the dead on hastily Eight cemeteries were created outside of Moscow). And Lazarevskoye, which turned out to be the only cemetery in Moscow inside the Kamer-Kollezhsky Val, became prestigious. In the 19th century, merchants, clergy, military and artists were already buried on it. In the west of Moscow, a huge Dorogomilovskoye cemetery was laid out. Borean (Jewish-Karaite) and Armenian cemeteries are located next to it. Semyonovskoye and Military cemeteries appeared in the East, Bratskoye in the north of Moscow, in the southeast - Kozhukhovskoye, more than 40 graveyards in total.

After the revolution in 1920–1930, the Bolsheviks, as part of the fight against religious cults and death as such, abolished cemeteries everywhere and introduced the tradition of opening them in their place. educational establishments, parks and football fields. After the expansion of Moscow in the 1950s, cemeteries in the villages attached to the capital fell under the ice rink. From some cemeteries, relatives are allowed to transport the remains to permitted places, from others, the remains are raked up by an excavator and sent to last way to a suburban landfill.


2. Cemetery of the Simonov Monastery

The Palace of Culture and other facilities of the ZIL enterprise were built on the site of an impressive cemetery at the Simonov Monastery. The decision to disband the churchyard and the religious center was made in 1930. Most of the dead were never reburied. Elements of the necropolis can still be found near the surviving Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Here, tombstones are lined up, which were previously used as a curb stone. The Palace of Creativity itself, in connection with the reconstruction of the factory territory, was recently reformatted into the ZIL Cultural Center. Representatives of the Russian nobility are buried under the ZIL buildings. For example, Golovins, Durasovs, Muravyovs, Naryshkins, Tatishchevs, Shakhovskys and many others.


3. Kozhukhovskoe cemetery

The Kozhukhovsky cemetery was created in 1771 during the rampage of the plague. Then the disease claimed 40-70 lives per day, thousands of people died. The cemetery operated until 1935, when it was decided to close it and remove the burials. Now its territory is occupied by school No. 2056 (Petra Romanova Street, house 16) and the school grounds. Exactly eight cholera cemeteries were found on old maps of Moscow. Now in their place are residential buildings (for example, building 3 building 5 and 3 building 6 on Bolshaya Cherkizovskaya Street), office buildings or even one of the oldest enterprises that are part of the structure of Roscosmos, the VNIIEM corporation.


4. Lublin Cemetery

A relatively large cemetery in the city of Lublino, the former district center Moscow region southeast of the capital. It existed since 1635, it was located between the current Sportivny proezd, house 3, and house 5 (building 3) along Krasnodonskaya street.

The cemetery was closed for burials in 1939 and demolished in the early 1960s, after the annexation of the city of Lyublino to Moscow. School No. 335 (Sportivny proezd, building 3A) and a football field are now located on the cemetery itself. Despite the fact that this cemetery was demolished relatively recently, Sergei Anikin, a native of Lyublino, in a conversation with the RP assured that he did not even suspect its existence. Here, in the Yuzhnoportovy district of the South-Eastern district, there used to be an Old Believer cemetery. It was located between houses 3 (building 10) and 3 (building 13) along Melnikova street.


5. Cemetery of Yurlovo village

The village of Yurlovo was located in the north of Moscow near the right tributary of the Yauza, the Cheremyanka River. It was adjacent to the villages of Podushkino, Saburovo, Kozeevo, Chernevo, Medvedkovo and Bibirevo. In 1960 villages and villages became part of Moscow. The territories of Saburovo, Podushkino, Bibirevo and Yurlovo are now part of the Bibirevo district. The cemetery of the former village of Yurlovo, when it became part of Moscow, was built up. Now in its place stands house 10 on Prishvin Street, in it, among other things, there is a judicial section No. 86.

In the north of Moscow, there were two more cemeteries: Bratskoye and the cemetery of the village of Sokol. The fraternal cemetery was located in the area of ​​​​the current Sokol metro station on the lands of the former village of Vsekhsvyatsky. It was opened by order of the City Duma in early 1915 for the burial of Muscovites who died on the fronts of the First World War or who died in Moscow hospitals from wounds. About 18 thousand soldiers, officers, doctors, sisters of mercy and pilots were buried there. In 1925, the cemetery was closed for burials, and in 1932, almost all the tombstones were demolished, and a park was created in its central part. In the park behind the cinema "Leningrad" there is a monument on the grave of the student Schlichter. In 2004, the park was transformed into the Memorial and Park Complex of the Heroes of the First World War, a number of monuments were erected and a chapel was opened in memory of the dead.

In the east of the village of Sokol and the Fraternal Cemetery, there was another ordinary city cemetery. Now Chapaevsky Park has been laid out in its place.

Not all cemeteries were as lucky as the cemetery of the Sokol district, where they installed commemorative signs. For many years, city defenders from the Arkhnadzor organization have been trying to get the Moscow authorities to decide to build a war memorial in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bSokolina Gora (Eastern Administrative District). There used to be a huge Semyonovskoye cemetery. By the way, it was the only "non-plague" of the pre-revolutionary cemeteries, and after 1812, part of the territory of the cemetery was specially allocated for the burials of heroes and participants in wars. Soldiers, officers and veterans of both the Patriotic War of 1812 and subsequent wars, up to the First World War, who died from wounds in the nearby Lefortovo military hospital, were buried there. For the victims of this war, on the southern outskirts of the cemetery, a special area was even allocated, where all the graves and inscriptions on the gravestones were decorated according to a single model, and the crosses were in the same form. Semyonovskoye cemetery was called a cemetery military glory Russia.

In the spring of 1935 the cemetery was closed for burials. Relatives were allowed to move the remains of the deceased. They were partially transferred to the nearest - Preobrazhenskoe cemetery, but most of them remained in place. The Moscow City Council decided on the early liquidation of a part of the cemetery with a size of 4.2 hectares, "caused by the state necessity in connection with the cutting of land to the territory of plant No. 24."

At the site of military graves, there is now FSUE MMPP Salyut and multi-storey residential buildings. The pit at the cemetery for the future plant was dug by students. One of them, Emil Kardin, recalls: “At the factory we were warmly welcomed, given shovels and taken ... to the cemetery. It began right behind the fence and was lost somewhere in the green distance ... They dug diligently, trying to suppress their inner confusion. Shovels crushed coffins. Together with the earth, bones, skulls, pieces of decayed fabric fell into the wheelbarrow. Sometimes treasures were found in coffins - glass jars with jewels and gold coins. We called a policeman who was on duty nearby and handed over the find to him ... Sometimes the remains lay in two or three layers.

Now the cemetery is built up, Semyonovsky Proezd passed right through it and tram rails, dividing it into two unequal parts, of which only the northern, smaller, remained unbuilt - it is there that now there is a square with the Resurrection Church and several tombstones miraculously preserved. Skulls, bones and even coffins are found every year during the beautification of the square.


6. Cheryomushkinskoye cemetery

The house of a graduate student and student of Moscow State University, the famous DAS on Shvernik Street - the largest dormitory of Moscow University, and in the past the "House of New Life" by architect Osterman - is located at the intersection of Bolshaya Cheryomushkinskaya Street and Shvernik Street. Cheryomushkinskoye cemetery was near the DAS, where parking lot No. 3 is now. “I lived at DAS in 2002-2003, and despite the fact that students love horror stories, no one mentioned the cemetery. Most likely, they simply did not know about him, ”Mila Dubrovina, a former student of Moscow State University, told the Russian Planet.


7. Troparevsky cemetery

The Troparevsky cemetery was located in the pre-existing village of Troparevo in the southwest of Moscow. Now on the site of the necropolis there is a complex of the Russian medical university them. Pirogova (street Ostrovityanova, building 1). By the way, this is not the only medical institution on the site of the churchyard: the Praktika medical center on 3rd Mytishchinskaya Street stands on the site of a cholera cemetery.


8. Cemetery at the Alekseevsky convent and almshouse. I.N. Geer

The main income of the monastery was brought by the monastery cemetery, which was opened in 1842 and quickly turned into one of the most prestigious Moscow churchyards. Always decorated with flowers, it was famous for its many chapels of all styles: cast iron, forged, with casting. Not every Moscow cemetery could be compared with Alekseevsky in terms of the number of dead celebrities. Here were the graves of the historians Bartenev and Shakhov, the publicist and publisher of Moskovskie Vedomosti Katkov, the poet Zhemchuzhnikov (one of the founders of Kozma Prutkov), the memoirist Vigel, the architect Kaminsky, the sculptor Ramazanov - the author of the sculptures of the Anichkov Bridge, the high reliefs of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior and the death mask of Gogol, artists Zaryanko and Pryanishnikov, physicist Lebedev, founder of the Shanyavsky People's University, philanthropist Nadezhda von Meck, Moscow police chiefs Ogarev and Vlasovsky, psychiatrist Korsakov - one of the founders of the Central Police Hospital for the Mentally Ill (Serbsky Research Institute of General and Forensic Psychiatry). In the cemetery were the tombs of the merchants Kotovs (works by Vasnetsov) and Alekseevs, Stanislavsky's parents, the family crypts of the confectioners Abrikosovs (in Soviet times, their factory was renamed in honor of the revolutionary Babaev); Perlov, Olovyanishnikov, Shustov, who produced the best cognac in Moscow; the founder of the New Athos Monastery, Hieromonk Arseny. Well-known Russian writers, acquaintances of Pushkin, rested here: for example, Veltman, historian of the Moscow Kremlin and director of the Armory, and Khlyustin, nephew of Count Tolstoy. The fate of the Alekseevsky Monastery and the cemetery was decided by the General Plan for the Socialist Reconstruction of Moscow in 1935. According to the plan, the main Ilyich Avenue was laid through this area, stretching from Izmailovo (where the Stalin stadium was planned) to the Lenin Hills through the Palace of Soviets square. The appointment of Prospekt Ilyich obliged "to carry out proper monumental development on it," which meant to remove temples and graves from sight. Since the Alekseevsky cemetery was class alien, no transfer of graves was carried out. Tombstones and granite went to curbstone and facing tiles, marble to gravel. A children's park was arranged on the site of the cemetery, and a house of pioneers was built in the church of St. Alexis. Now there is a football field on the site of the cemetery, the same children's park, some houses along Verkhnyaya Krasnoselskaya Street, in part former cemetery passes Gavrikov street.


9. Shelepikhinsky cemetery

Kindergarten No. 1929 was built on the site of the Shelepikhinsky cemetery. Researcher historical memory, necrosociologist, founder of the blog "Archaeology of Russian Death" Sergey Mokhov believes that the practice of building up old cemeteries is not considered blasphemous. “In Europe, about the same thing happens with cemeteries. Only by the 21st century did the importance of the ethical side of burials begin to be attached. All pompous European cemeteries began to be created in the era of romanticism - in late XVIII- the beginning of the 19th century. Philippe Aries, in his book Man in the Face of Death, talks in detail about this transformation of attitudes towards death. A medieval European cemetery is most often a grave into which bodies were dumped without any coffins; these places were not marked on the maps. So by by and large all old European cities, like Moscow, stand on the bones,” Mokhov told Russian Planet.


10. Armenian cemetery

To this day, only one ancient Armenian cemetery has existed near Vagankovsky, but the maps indicate that there was another one - in Fili. It was located between the current house 14 (building 4) along 1812 street and houses 16 (building 12) and 16 (building 1) along Kutuzovsky passage. Now there is a building of Gokhran - Fund precious metals And precious stones Russia. The cemetery was closed to burials in 1956. In 1957, the relatives of the deceased were offered to rebury the graves within a year in an expedited manner, since according to the project, a subway tunnel from the Kutuzovskaya station to the Fili station was supposed to pass through the territory of the cemetery. A year later, the project was rejected, and the tracks went a little closer to the banks of the Moscow River along the open section of the Filevsko-Arbatskaya line. As a result, only every fifth grave was reburied. In the 1970s, during the construction of the Gokhran, many graves were opened, and the soil, along with the coffins, was taken to the Brateev dump. Higher from the bank of the Moskva River, mass graves of soldiers, allegedly brought from the Battle of Borodino, were opened. Further along the shore, excavators uncovered quarry burials, where human remains were buried interspersed with animal bones (a slaughterhouse is indicated on old maps not far from the cemetery) and sprinkled with lime. Judging by the remains of the form, which eyewitnesses saw, soldiers of Napoleon's army were buried with cattle.


11. Cemetery of the villages of Kolomenskoye and Novinki

In 1988, the Moscow Secondary School of Physics and Mathematics No. 1170 at MEPhI (now Lyceum No. 1523) was founded in the district, which is located at 21 Klenovy Boulevard, right on the site of the cemetery of two villages - Kolomenskoye and Novinki. Lyceum graduate Olga Zaveleva told Russian Planet that neither she nor any of her classmates knew that their school was built on the site of a cemetery. Most likely, lyceum teachers are not aware of this historical material.


12. Jewish-Karaite cemetery

In 1788, the Moscow community of Belarusian Jews received a plot for the cemetery. From then until the revolution, the cemetery expanded towards the region. During the First World War, not only Jewish citizens were buried at the cemetery, but also Jewish refugees from areas occupied by hostilities, as well as soldiers of the Jewish faith who died in the city's hospitals. The Jewish-Karaite cemetery, or, as it was also called, Boreiskoye, bordered on Dorogomilovsky - they were separated only by a wooden fence. The fate of them, too, has developed in a neighborly way. In the early 1930s, the burials were stopped, the fences and part of the tombstones were demolished and dismantled by the population. In 1932, the Jewish community was allocated a territory near the village of Vostryakovo, where relatives were able to rebury the remains of their relatives. The exhumation was carried out at the expense of relatives, and the transportation of coffins was carried out centrally at the expense of the state - in cars and carts. According to eyewitnesses, only every fifth grave was moved to a new place, and in Boreisky, despite the ban, they continued to bury until the 1940s - the beginning of mass residential and industrial development of the area. In 1948, the remaining graves were dismantled and the church of St. Elizabeth at the Dorogomilovsky cemetery was demolished. Reburials from the Dorogomilovsky cemetery continued until the early 1950s. Local historian Igor Sergeyev recalls that the boys at that time ran to the construction site in the hope of finding skulls with gold crowns and getting rich. Russian soldiers who died of wounds after the Battle of Borodino were buried at the Dorogomilovsky cemetery. At the Jewish cemetery there were, for example, the graves of the genre painter Asknazia, director of the Institute of Phthisiology, Professor Vermel, a well-known publicist and public figure Iollos, who was killed in 1907 by the Black Hundreds, the artist Levitan, large Russian entrepreneurs Polyakov. Since the mid-1950s, Dorogomilovo has been built up and acquired the form that has been preserved to this day. On the site of the cemeteries, houses were built for the party elite: Brezhnev, Andropov, Suslov and others lived in them. In one of the houses, the Kiev cinema was opened, now it is the Petr Fomenko Theater Studio. Relatively recently, when the Bagration bridge was being built and a foundation pit was being dug on the right bank, bones and fragments of tombstones were constantly found in the excavator bucket.


13. Lazarevsky cemetery

Find the territory of the most ancient and one of the most large cemeteries Moscow, Lazarevsky, easily. Most of it was located on the site of the current children's sports park "Festivalny", on its territory you can still find the remains of cemetery slabs. Part of the cemetery belongs to the fenced area of ​​the church in the very center of the park. Sushchevsky Val passes along its northern part, there is also the KVN Planet (in the past, the Havana cinema) and a whole block of residential buildings. In the east, the Olympic Avenue runs along the cemetery, and there are several residential buildings on it. We have already outlined the history of the creation of the cemetery above. The Lazarevsky cemetery existed until 1934. It was the largest in Moscow until 1917. In total, there were about 50 thousand burials on it. In 1932, the cemetery temple was cordoned off and closed by the police, the property was confiscated, the building was transferred to the plant as a hostel for workers. The cemetery was closed for burials in 1934, and in 1936 its destruction began: some of the graves were dug up by bulldozers, the latter were leveled in the post-war years. Only those graves whose relatives wanted to move the remains were moved to other cemeteries. On the cleared place, a children's park was laid out to them. Dzerzhinsky and the dance floor. The dismantling was carried out negligently, so people had to dance surrounded by tombstones, which were torn down only in 1953 during a subbotnik.

According to the recollections of the priests of the cemetery church, there were even skulls lying around in the park, with which the workers sometimes played football. Only the church has survived to this day. A local resident told Russian Planet that only visitors do not know about the cemetery: “It was very old, and people used to go for walks with dogs even before the park appeared. It doesn't bother anyone here." She is sure that all the graves were moved, but immediately reported that there were two gravestones left in the park, and told how to find them. Buried at the Lazarevsky Cemetery: a family famous actor Forces of Sandunov (remembered for his baths); physician Semyon Zybelin, historian and Moscow expert Ivan Kondratiev; aviator Mukhin, architect Nikolai Nikitin, meteorologist Mikhail Spassky, artist Vasnetsov, Belinsky's wife, Dostoevsky's mother and others. Here were the tombs of the boyars of the Kolychev family, the princes Golitsyn, Obolensky, representatives of other noble families, relatives of St. Ignatius Brianchaninov; many clergy and monks. Among them are the diocesan confessor Alexander Stefanovsky, deacon of Lefortovsky cadet corps Mitrofan Protopopov, Rector of the Church of St. Nicholas on Maroseyka, St. rights. Alexy Mechev and others.

Abandoned cemeteries always inspire melancholy and leave an unpleasant aftertaste. It's tragic to know that human life forgotten and, it turns out, that even in life a person was not needed. Photos of abandoned cemeteries should serve as a reproach to the living, while for the most part photos of abandoned cemeteries cause mean dry responses of weak indignation or even leave many indifferent. Abandoned cemeteries eventually acquire the status of "useless" and - as a consequence of the disappeared cemeteries. We will say a few words about these. The fact that cemeteries are disappearing, I believe, is even beneficial for some, although, of course, this can also be recognized as a natural process: life is not eternal, and neither is death. The abandoned cemeteries of Moscow are a whole layer of culture that should be protected as historical monument However, there is also an ambiguous attitude towards monuments in our country. The history of churchyards in Rus' is long. They were buried both at monasteries and in the Kremlin itself, and in Moscow in the 17th century there were about three hundred necropolises. Of course, if they survived, many of the living would not have enough space. In 1771, the taboo on the burials of the plague in the city came out, and at the same time Danilovskoe, Kalitnikovskoe, Pyatnitskoe, Rogozhskoe and many others were opened, including those that would disappear after: Dorogomilovskoe, Semenovskoe, etc. In the time following the Revolution, there was powerful push to the renewal of Moscow, in connection with which it became necessary to equip the territory of the city. The liquidation of the cemetery then began with the monastic necropolises of Alekseevsky, Danilov, Perervinsky, Simonov and a number of others, and Vorontsovskoye, Butyrskoye, Vladykinskoye, Deguninskoye and other subsequently destroyed and abandoned cemeteries were partially affected. The remains of famous people were transferred to Novodevichy, Vostryakovskoye, Vagankovskoye, graves ordinary people compared to the ground. In the 60s, the Khovrinsky, Zyuzinsky, Yurlovsky cemeteries were destroyed, in the place of which there are now sleeping areas. Nowadays, things are better with the destruction of cemeteries: this is prohibited by current legislation, although this rule is not extended to the abandoned cemeteries of Moscow, such cemeteries seem to be isolated from the city, and their fate can be anything. Among the most famous abandoned and destroyed cemeteries are Filevskoye, Semenovskoye, Lazarevskoye and some others.

Filevskoye cemetery

Burials on it stopped back in 1956, and relatives were given the opportunity to rebury the remains of their loved ones. A small period was allocated for this - a year, and as a result, only one of the five graves was moved. The project to build a tunnel, which was planned to be made at this place, was rejected. They returned to this place in 1970, when the Goskhran was being built. The remaining graves were then taken to a landfill near Brateev. Abandoned graves lay in rows parallel to the Moskva River. Among the graves came across people of different social status, obviously different income and position. Whole centuries of Russian history were opened up by excavators, and then covered with rubble and leveled with the ground. There were also skeletons on which survived military uniform, presumably during the Patriotic War of 1812. However, the status of the defenders of the motherland did not affect the verdict on these ashes.

Semyonovskoye cemetery

Semyonovskoye is not an abandoned cemetery, however, its destruction did not have a clear need, as in the case of the planned tunnel under the metro and the Filevsky churchyard. The place of the cemetery is Izmailovskoye highway, 2. Initially, the church of the cemetery was converted into an office, and by 1935 they announced the cessation of burials. In 1966, the cemetery no longer existed at all. In the church building for a long time there were production compartments, and a square was laid out on the site of the cemetery. Partially, the territory was given to the Salyut plant.

Fraternal cemetery

In the area of ​​​​the current Sokol metro station, there were lands that in 1915 were given for the burial of the defenders of the fatherland who fell on the fronts or died in hospitals. Fifteen years later, the territory was reduced, and after another twenty, the cemetery was completely liquidated, laying a park on the site. The surviving monument to the student Schlichter and the installed commemorative signs in honor of the dead remind of the cemetery.

Lazarevsky cemetery

Lazarevskoye was the largest and first city cemetery in Moscow since 1658. The story of death begins in 1917. In 1932, the authorities announced the liquidation of the church and the confiscation of property, and already in 1936 the cemetery was completely closed. The park on the site of the cemetery was opened in 1938 for the holiday of spring and labor, where Soviet teenagers, according to eyewitnesses, played football with human skulls. In 1991, the temple of the Descent of the Holy Spirit was restored.

Biryulyovskoye cemetery

In 1962, burials at the Biryulevsky cemetery were stopped, followed by the complete liquidation of the churchyard in 1978. The relatives were offered to transport the graves to Khovanskoye, and the place occupied by the cemetery was occupied by a large grove, where to this day there are slabs of monuments and broken fences.

Simonovskoe cemetery

In the area of ​​Avtozavodskaya metro station, near the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary near the Simonov Monastery, there are slabs from graves, reminiscent of the once-existing cemetery. The Simonovskoye cemetery was closed in 1923 and destroyed in 1931 in order to expand the territory during the construction of the recreation center of the ZIL plant.

Mazilovskoye cemetery

The development of the Fili-Mazilovo district required the demolition of the village of Mazilovo, during which the Mazilovskoye cemetery, which was located at the intersection of Oleko Dundich and Pivchenskaya. Graves from the cemetery were transferred to Khimki.

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Ancient necropolises allow us to learn the history of our people, to study the features cultural property past eras, pay tribute to our ancestors.

Cemetery Vagankovsky. From time immemorial in Rus' it was customary to establish cemeteries near the walls of existing monasteries, temples, and churches. Only in 1657 a decree was issued banning burials near the Kremlin and allocating special plots for churchyards. In 1723, Peter I allowed only the upper class to be buried within the city. And in 1771, during the plague epidemic, the Vagankovskoye cemetery appeared for the burial of the dead in Moscow, which today has become the last shelter of the most famous and famous figures of Russia. The Decembrists Frolov A.F. are buried here. and Bobrischev-Pushkin P.S., great actor and the bard Vysotsky V.V., the famous artist Surikov V.I., the talented director Chukhrai G.N., the wonderful Russian poet Yesenin S.A. and many others.

Today, the Vagankovskoye cemetery is a place where visitors come from all over the world to honor the memory of great people, admire the ancient architecture, try to understand the essence of life, leisurely strolling along the shady alleys of the necropolis.

Novodevichy cemetery. The history of the necropolis began at the end of the 16th century, when they began to bury its abbess, nuns and novices near the Novodevichy Convent. In 1898, the territory of the cemetery was planned out by the famous architect I.P. Mashkov and enlarged. Today, this part of the necropolis is called the Old Novodevichy Cemetery, and the lands annexed in 1949 are commonly called the New Novodevichy Cemetery. The last expansion was in 1970, so the Newest Novodevichy Cemetery appeared. Currently, there are more than 26,000 graves in the cemetery. Among the oldest burials: the remains of the daughter of Ivan the Terrible, the daughter of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich.

Here you can see marble monuments to Chekhov A.P., Tolstoy A.N., Molotov V.M., Gorbacheva R.M., Yeltsin B.N. The ashes of Chaliapin F.I., Gogol N.V., Levitan I.I. were transferred to the cemetery. recent history represented by the graves of famous people of our time: Alfred Schnittke, German Titov, Clara Luchko, Alexei Maresyev, Sergey Bondarchuk and others are buried in the necropolis famous personalities our time.

Currently, the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow is included in the list world heritage UNESCO, and most of the tombstones represent unique examples architectural art and are cultural heritage era.

All Saints Cemetery. It was opened in Tula in 1772 for the burial of prominent citizens. It is considered to be one of the oldest and most beautiful memorial cemeteries in Russia. Unique sarcophagi, family burials and chapels dating back to the 18th century have been preserved in the necropolis. According to the monuments on the graves, one can trace the development of the Tula school of stone carving masters, which is distinguished by its peculiar floral ornament, the use of allegorical figures on tombstones and font.

The bell tower of the Church of All Saints was built in mid-eighteenth century and has been perfectly preserved to the present day. It is decorated with four figures of angels, and a twisted cast-iron staircase leads upstairs, along which you can climb to a platform located at a height of 71 m.

Today at summer period night tours are held in the Tula necropolis, which allows you to take a fresh look at this ancient cemetery.

Other ancient burials in Russia include the Sorrowing necropolis in Ryazan, the legendary Smolenskoye and Nikolsky cemeteries in St. Petersburg, the multi-confessional Vvedenskoye (German) cemetery in Moscow, the dilapidated graveyards of Lepol in Vyborg.



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