Template:Short description Template:For Template:Infobox cemetery

File:00 novodevichy wall.JPG
The cemetery wall is used as a columbarium.

Novodevichy Cemetery (Template:Langx) is a cemetery in Moscow. It lies next to the southern wall of the 16th-century Novodevichy Convent, which is the city's third most popular tourist site.<ref name="Moscow Guide">Template:Cite book</ref>

HistoryEdit

The cemetery was designed by Ivan Mashkov and inaugurated in 1898.<ref name=pass>Template:Cite news</ref> Its importance dates from the 1930s, when the necropolises of the medieval Muscovite monasteries (Simonov, Danilov, Donskoy) were scheduled for demolition. Only the Donskoy survived the Joseph Stalin era relatively intact. The remains of many famous Russians buried in other abbeys, such as Nikolai Gogol and Sergey Aksakov, were disinterred and reburied at the Novodevichy.

A 19th-century necropolis within the walls of the Novodevichy convent, which contained the graves of about 2000 Russian noblemen and university professors, also underwent reconstruction. The vast majority of graves were destroyed. It was at that time that the remains of Anton Chekhov were moved outside the monastery walls. His grave served as the kernel of the so-called "cherry orchard" – a section of the cemetery which contains the graves of Konstantin Stanislavski and the leading actors of his company.

IntermentsEdit

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} During the Soviet Union, burial in the Novodevichy Cemetery was second in prestige only to burial in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis.Template:Citation needed Among the Soviet leaders, Nikita Khrushchev and Mikhail Gorbachev would be buried there.<ref name=laidtorest>Template:Cite news</ref> Since the fall of the Soviet Union, the Kremlin Wall is no longer used for burials and the Novodevichy Cemetery is used for only the most symbolically significant burials. In 1997, former premier Nikolai Tikhonov was buried in the cemetery at state expense (since he didn't have any money of his own).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In April 2007, within one week both the first President of the Russian Federation Boris Yeltsin and cellist Mstislav Rostropovich were buried there.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Today, the cemetery holds the tombs of Russian authors, musicians, playwrights, and poets, as well as famous actors, political leaders, and scientists.<ref name="Jewish Search">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Brooke">Template:Cite book</ref> More than 27,000 are buried at Novodevichy. There is scant space for more burials. A new national cemetery is under construction in Mytishchi north of Moscow. Notable burials include Dmitry Shostakovich, Sergei Prokofiev and Anton Chekhov.<ref name=laidtorest />

The cemetery has a park-like ambience, dotted with small chapels and large sculpted monuments. It is divided into the old (Divisions 1–4), new (Divisions 5–8) and newest (Divisions 9–11) sections; maps are available at the cemetery office.<ref name="Frommer"> Template:Cite book</ref>

MonumentsEdit

Notable gravesEdit

Template:Sister project The following noteworthy graves, among others, can be found at Novodevichy Cemetery:

1850s

1880s-1890s

1900s

1910s

1920s

1930s

1940s

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

2020s

See alsoEdit

ReferencesEdit

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External linksEdit

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