Volkovskoe Cemeteries

Categories / City Services/Cemeteries (see also Architecture and Urban Planning)
Categories / Architecture/Cemeteries (see also Municipal Economy)
VOLKOVSKOE CEMETERIES is situated in the north-eastern part of Frunzensky region, the oldest of the St. Petersburg cemeteries functioning today. Volkovskoe Orthodox Cemetery (7а Rasstanny Passage), is located between Kamchatskaya Street and the Volkovka River. The area is 26 hectares; the total length of paths is over 13 kilometres. Its history goes back to the Exaltation of the Holy Cross Cemetery in Moscovskaya Yamskaya Sloboda (contemporary address, 128 Ligovsky Ave), founded in 1719 and abolished in the mid-18th century. The contemporary cemetery was founded in 1756 on the left bank of Volkovka River (in the 18th century it was also called Admiralteiskaya Side Cemetery and Moskovskaya Side Cemetery). In 1759, the first wooden Holy Face Church was built (not preserved); in 1777, a wooden Church of the Renewal of the Jerusalem Holy Resurrection Temple was constructed (burned down in 1782); in 1782-85, the stone Holy Resurrection Church (architect thought to be I.E. Stasov, bell tower and gates - 1832-34, architect P.F. Votsky), in 1837-42, the Holy Face Church was built (architect V.I. Beretti, F.I. Rusсa; in 1936 it was adapted for Monumentskulptura Plant workshop); in 1850-52, the All Russian Saints Church (architect Rusca; not preserved) was also built; in 1885-87 - St. Job’s Church, and the Kryukov merchants burial vault (architect I.A. Aristarkhov; today it is a functioning cemetery chapel); in 1912-13, a Holy Assumption Church was built at the cemetery (architect A.P. Apraksin; not preserved). The cemetery was mainly designated for the poor, but from the 19th century it was used by all classes. Cemetery paths or planked footways (mostki - paved with wooden planks to protect from moisture) were named after the churches, professions, ranks and names of the buried. During the second half of 19th century it was the burial place for men of letters and arts. From 1933 to 1980s it was closed for burials. The museum part, known as Literatorskie Mostki, preserves all the historical burial places, while in the functioning part, many of the pre-revolutionary monuments have been lost. Among the preserved tombs are those of architect K.A. Ton, publisher I.V. Slenin, A.F. Smirdin, poets V.S. and N.S. Kurochkins, Pushkin scholar L.B. Modzalevsky, historian and philologist A.A. Shakhmotov, pedagogue V.Y. Stoyunin. Volkovskoe Lutheran Cemetery (1 Volkovka River Embankment). Its area is 22.5 hectares. It was founded in 1772, to bury the representatives of foreign Christian confessions after the closing of Sampsonyevskoe German Cemetery. The parishioners of the St. Peter Lutheran Church at Nevsky Prospect and St. Anna Church at Furshtadskaya Street, Catholics of St. Catherine community at Nevsky Prospect were buried there (one of the footways is called Katolicheskaya). It had brick gates and the chapel was built in the Neo-Gothic style (1879, not preserved). In the 1920s-30s, some burial places and monuments were destroyed, and the ashes of A.A. Delvig, K.I. Rossi, etc. were transferred from the cemetery to necropolis-museums. Among those buried there are navigator F.P. Litke, Field Marshal I.I. Dibich, philologist A.K. Vostokov, journalist and publisher N.I. Grech, physician Y.V. Willie, architect A.K. Cavos, biochemist and physician N.I. Lunin, physician K.A. Rauchfus, A.N. Shabanova. Tombs from the 18-19 centuries made by Maderni, D.I. Visconti, L. Rusca, and other masters are preserved. Old Believers' Volkovskoe Cemetery (Volkovka Embankment) is situated to the north of Lutheran Cemetery. It was founded by the Bezpopovtsy Old Believers of the Fedoseyan hierarchy by merchants Vorobyev and Volkov, who took burial places there in 1787. Hospices for men and women were also built there. The fore building of the hospices have been preserved (1884, architect F.I. Haberzetel, A.O. Tomishko; 3 Volkovka River Embankment), today occupied by a clinic. Volkovsky cell was a kind of centre of Fedoseyan community in St. Petersburg. In the second half of the 19th century, millionaire and house owner F.E. Egorov was Fedoseyan community leader. By 1917, the Volkovskaya Hospice had a large collection of antique icons. It was closed down in 1930s. According to Old Believers' canons, wooden crosses with reliefs and inscriptions were erected on the cemetery. Golubets - a wooden column with gable cover bearing a copper cross with crucifixion was in use as well. All the old monuments had been lost by the beginning of the 1990s. Edinovercheskoe Volkovskoe Cemetery neighbours the Old Believers One, it was founded at the end of the 18th century. In 1813-18, the stone Holy Annunciation Church was constructed (architect V.I. Beretti, reconstructed by architect A.I. Melnikov, in 1931, closed down and shortly afterwards, destroyed). Mass burials were abolished at the cemetery, marked by a memorial took place during the Siege.

Reference: Простосердов А. И. Волковское единоверческое кладбище: К столетию его Благовещенской церкви, 1816-1916. Пг., 1916;Исторические кладбища Петербурга: Справ.-путеводитель. СПб., 1993. С. 315-75; Антонов В.В., Кобак А.В. Святыни Санкт-Петербурга: Ист.-церков. энцикл. СПб., 1996. Т. 3. С. 168-173.

A. A. Alexeev. Aplaksin Andrey Petrovich
Aristarkhov Ivan Aristarkhovich
Beretti Vikenty Ivanovich
Cavos Albert Katarinovich
Delwig Anton Antonovich
Dibich Ivan Ivanovich, Count
Egorov Fedor Egorovich
Grech Nikolay Ivanovich
Haberzetel Fedor Ivanovich
Kurochkin A.M.
Kurochkin Nikolay Stepanovich
Litke Fedor Petrovich
Lunin Nikolay Ivanovich
Maderni Vincenzo
Melnikov Avraam Ivanovich
Modzalevsky Lev Borisovich
Rauchfus Karl Andreevich
Rossi Carl Ivanovich (Carlo Giovanni)
Rusca Luigi (Aloisy Ivanovich)
Rusca (Rusco) Franz Ivanovich
Shabanova Anna Nikolaevna
Shakhmatov Alexey Alexandrovich
Slenin Ivan Vasilievich
Smirdin Alexander Filippovich
Starov Ivan Egorovich
Stoyunin Vladimir Yakovlevich
the Krykovs
Tomishko (Tomishka) Antony Osipovich (Iosifovich)
Ton Konstantin Andreevich
Viskonti David Ivanovich
Volkov
Vorobyev
Vostokov Alexander Hristoforovich
Votsky P.F.
Willie Yakov (James) Vasilievich
Ligovsky Ave/Saint Petersburg, city, house 128
Rasstanny Passage/Saint Petersburg, city, house 7, litera л. А
Volkovka River Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city, house 3
Volkovka River Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city
Volkovka River Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city, house 1
Кобак А. В., Пирютко Ю. М. Волковское лютеранское кладбище // Исторические кладбища Петербурга: Справ.-путеводитель. СПб., 1993 Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross
Literatorskie (Literary) Mostki, the museum-necropolis
St. Anne’s Lutheran Church
Siege of 1941-44
1772
1756
1787
1883
1935