Novodevichye Cemetery

Categories / Architecture/Cemeteries (see also Municipal Economy)
Categories / City Services/Cemeteries (see also Architecture and Urban Planning)
NOVODEVICHYE CEMETERY (100 Moskovsky Avenue). Situated in the southern part of St. Petersburg. Founded in 1845, for the Novodevichy Convent; burials lasted from 1849 to the 1930s. Its area includes 10 hectares. In the 19th - early 20th, centuries it was one of the capital"s richest and most prestigious cemeteries (a grave plot cost from 50 to 500 roubles). Two burial vault churches were built at the Novodevichye Cemetery. The Our Lady’s Church of Joy for All Who Sorrow (1855-56, architect E.I. Zhiber) was also known as Karamzin"s Church, because A.N. Karamzin (1814-54), the son of N.M. Karamzin, was buried there. Lumberman I.F. Gromov was buried in Gromov"s Church of St. Elijah the Prophet (1882-83, architect L.N. Benois). Both churches were destroyed in 1929. In the 1930s, the ashes and tombstones of dignified cultural figures (artist A.A. Ivanov, composer N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov, singer F.I. Stravinsky, architect L.N. Benois) were transported from the Novodevichye Cemetery to the Museum Necropolis. Large-scale demolition of monuments took place in the 1960s under the pretense of the intention to set up a museum zone; this led to public indignation and the project was suspended. A partial renovation of the territory and the restoration of separate gravestones was done in the 1980s. Famous people buried in the Cemetery include physician S.P. Botkin; biologist A.O. Kovalevsky; publisher A.A. Kraevsky; poets F.I. Tyutchev, N.A. Nekrasov, A.N. Maykov, K.K. Sluchevsky, and K.M. Fofanov; artists A.Y. Golovin, M.A. Vrubel, and P.V. Basin; composer E.F. Napravnik; historians K.N. Bestuzhev-Ryumin, P.P. Pekarsky, and M.I. Semevsky; philologists A.N. Veselovsky, Y.K. Grot, A.F. Hilferding, and A.N. Pypin; admirals S.S. Lesovsky, G.I. Nevelsky, and N.O. Essen; and chess player M.I. Chigorin. Gravestones from the early 20th century made in the Art Nouveau and Neoclassical styles, and which are of artistic worth, include monuments to L. Gilze van der Pals (1904, architect V.Y. Iogansen), A.A. Vershinskaya (sculpture of Christ, the 1910s, sculptor P.I. Kufferle), actor K.A. Varlamov (1916, architect V.I. Dubenetsky) and others.

Reference: Дубин А. С. Новодевичье кладбище // Исторические кладбища Петербурга: Справ.-путеводитель. СПб., 1993. С. 376-401; Новодевичье кладбище/Сост.: Н. Л. Маркина, Н. В. Рогулина, Л. П. Савинская, О. А. Шмелева. СПб., 2003.

Y. M. Piryutko. Basin Peter Vasilievich
Benois Leonty Nikolaevich
Bestuzhev-Ryumin Konstantin Nikolaevich
Botkin Sergey Petrovich
Chigorin Mikhail Ivanovich
Dubenetsky Vladimir Iosifovich (Dubenetskis Vladimiras)
Essen Nikolay Ottovich
Fofanov Konstantin Mikhailovich
Gibert Ernest Ivanovich
Gilse van der Pals Lucia
Golovin Alexander Yakovlevich
Gromov Ilya Fedulovich
Grot Yakov Karlovich
Hilferding Franz Anton Christoph
Iogansen William (Ernest) Yulievich
Ivanov Alexander Andreevich
Karamzin Andrey Nikolaevich
Kovalevsky Alexander Onufrievich
Kraevsky Andrey Alexandrovich
Kufferle Peter I.
Lesovsky Stepan Stepanovich
Maykov Apollon Nikolaevich
Napravnik Eduard Frantsevich
Nekrasov Nikolay Alexeevich
Nevelskoy (Nevelsky) Gennady Ivanovich
Pypin Alexander Nikolaevich
Rimsky-Korsakov Nikolay Andreevich
Semevsky Mikhail Ivanovich
Sluchevsky Konstantin Konstantinovich
Stravinsky Fedor Ignatievich
Tyutchev Fedor Ivanovich
Varlamov Konstantin Alexandrovich
Vershinina Anna Akimovna
Veselovsky Alexander Nikolaevich
Vrubel Mikhail Alexandrovich
Moskovsky Ave/Saint Petersburg, city, house 100
Дубин А. С. Новодевичье кладбище // Исторические кладбища Петербурга: Справ.-путеводитель. СПб., 1993 Novodevichy Convent
Art Nouveau
Neoclassicism
1845