Bank of works
Where Dostoevsky was buried and from what he died. Dostoevsky and mystical history. The efforts of the guardians, the outrages of the vandals

Where Dostoevsky was buried and from what he died. Dostoevsky and mystical history. The efforts of the guardians, the outrages of the vandals

June 11 this year will be Trinity Ecumenical Parents' Saturday, the day of remembrance of departed Christians. On this day, it is customary to visit cemeteries and the graves of relatives; prayers in the church begin the day before on Friday evening.

I suggest a walk through the necropolis of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, where many famous Russian people are buried.

Scheme of the Lazarevsky cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra (clicking on the picture enlarges)

The Lazarevskoye cemetery was founded in 1717 and became the burial place of the St. Petersburg nobility of the 18th and 19th centuries. A walk leaves you feeling like you are in high society. The tombstones here are works of art, examples of grace.

Sometimes on monuments there are long inscriptions indicating the regalia of the deceased, which are erased under the influence of time

Military graves are decorated with military attributes

The girl's grave - with an elegant portrait

The young man did not manage to accomplish great things, but his talents were noted

A husband and child mourn their dead wife and mother. Tombstone of Evdokia Ilyinichna Shpigelberg (nee Larionova) (1813-1837)

In the center of the Lazarevskoye cemetery is the grave of the Russian scientist Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov (1711-65). The monument was made in the center of marble architecture Carrara (Italy) and delivered to St. Petersburg at the expense of the Chancellor Russian Empire Count M.I. Vorontsova. Project - J. Shtelin; master - F. Medico (Carrara).

The grave of Sergei Yulievich Witte (1849-1915), Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Russia, the first head of government during the period of the representative monarchy.

Augustin Augustinovich Betancourt (1758-1824), a Spanish engineer and head of the Russian Main Directorate of Communications, is buried nearby.

Archimandrite Iakinf (Bichurin) (1777 – 1853) - head of the spiritual mission in Beijing, corresponding member Russian Academy Sciences, acquaintance of Pushkin.

Sculptor Fedot Ivanovich Shubin (1740-1805)

The poet's widow Natalia Nikolaevna Pushkina (1812-63) was buried at the Lazarevskoye cemetery along with her second husband Pyotr Petrovich Lansky.

P.P. Lanskoy (1799-1877), cavalry guard of the era of Alexander I, commander of the Life Guards Cavalry Regiment of the era of Nicholas, served as governor-general of St. Petersburg during the time of Alexander II.

On the left is the tombstone of Alexei Arkadyevich Stolypin (1816-58), a friend of Lermontov, known by his nickname “Mongo”, on the right is the tombstone of Ekaterina Yakovlevna Derzhavina, née Bastidon (1762-93), the poet’s wife. At her death, G.R. Derzhavin wrote the following poems:
My soul! you are the guest of the world:
Aren't you this bird? -
Sing immortality, lyre!
I will rise, I will rise too, -
I will rise - and in the abyss of the ether
Will I see you, Plenira?

The grave of the cavalry regiment of Headquarters Captain Alexei Yakovlevich Okhotnikov (1780-1807), the alleged lover of Empress Elizabeth Alekseevna, wife of Alexander I. His life and death are shrouded in mystery. And his bride was the maid of honor Natalia Ivanovna Zagryazhskaya, who later married Goncharov and became the mother of Natalia Goncharova-Pushkina-Lanskaya

White monument in the center. Princess Varvara Ilyinichna Turkestanova (1775-1819), maid of honor of Empress Maria Feodorovna, beloved of Emperor Alexander I, is buried here. She was famous for her intelligence, but her fate was tragic. At 44, she gave birth to an illegitimate child, the alleged father was 25-year-old Prince Golitsyn, and died soon after giving birth.

The walk through the Lazarevskoe cemetery ends

In 1823, due to overcrowding of the Lazarevsky cemetery, the Tikhvin cemetery was built opposite it (in 1869 the Tikhvin burial vault was built). In 1834, a decision was made to reconstruct the cemetery and create a necropolis museum. At this time, old historical cemeteries in St. Petersburg were being demolished, and the ashes of some famous people was moved to Tikhvinskoye. And from the Tikhvin cemetery, some valuable monuments were moved to Lazarevskoye, the ashes of some historical figures moved to Volkovskoye, and the territory was “cleared of philistine graves” (quote from the website of the Lavra Necropolis). As a result of reconstruction, the Tikhvin cemetery ceased to exist, but a necropolis of art masters appeared, which somewhat resembles the black granite of the official part of the Novodevichy cemetery in Moscow.
Scheme of the necropolis of art masters (click on the picture to enlarge)

A lost and found tombstone from the Tikhvin cemetery - the doctor Ekaterina Olimpovna Shumova-Simanovskaya (1852-1905) and a memorial sign installed in 2010 for the pianist Maria Shimanovskaya (1789-8131), buried at the Mitrofanovskoye cemetery, which was demolished in the 1930s and 40s.

Art critic V.V. Stasov

Buried here are Prince Ivan Ramazovich Tarkhanov (1846-1908), a scientist-physiologist, and his wife, niece of the sculptor Antakolsky, Elena Pavlovna Tarkhanov-Antokolskaya (1862-1930), who designed the Tombstone, an example of northern modernist memorial architecture.

Tombstone of physician and art critic Sergei Sergeevich Botkin (1859-1910)

Artist Arkhip Ivanovich Kuindzhi (1841-1910)

Artist Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin (1832-1898)

Composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-93)

Composer Mily Alekseevich Balakirev (1836-1910)

Serov, Alexander Nikolaevich (1820-1871) - composer and father of artist Valentin Serov.

Alexander Sergeevich Dargomyzhsky (1813-69)

Burial of the Dostoevsky family: Fyodor Mikhailovich (1821-1881), his wife Anna Grigorievna (1846-1918) and their grandson Andrei Fyodorovich (1908-1968). Quote from the necropolis website: “Funeral of F.M. Dostoevsky at the Tikhvin cemetery took place on the initiative of the chief prosecutor Holy Synod K.P. Pobedonostsev, supported by the Spiritual Council of the Lavra. The place was provided free of charge next to the graves of N.M. Karamzin and V.A. Zhukovsky."

The poet and friend of Pushkin, Prince Pyotr Andreevich Vyazemsky (1792-1878), was buried with his wife Vera Fedorovna, née Gagarina (1789-1886)

Buried nearby are a relative of the Vyazemskys, the historian Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin (1766-1826) and his wife Ekaterina Andreevna (nee Kolyvanova) (1780-1831) and daughters (the headstones are lost) - from 1 marriage Sofya Nikolaevna Karamzina (1802-1856) and from 2 marriages Elizaveta Nikolaevna Karamzina (1821-1891)

The grave of the poet, friend of Pushkin and educator of Alexander II Vasily Andreevich Zhukovsky (1783-1852), who was buried with his wife Elizaveta Alekseevna (nee Reutern, 1821-1856).

Karamzins, Vyazemsky Zhukovskys - during their lifetime they formed a circle of intellectuals, and were buried in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra near each other. But the monument to the poet Anton Antonovich Delvig (1798-1831) at the Volkov cemetery was not preserved during the reburial and was erected in 1934 using an ancient tombstone similar in shape.

And there was still snow around the Lavra in May

Dostoevsky Fyodor Mikhailovich 10/30/1821-01/28/1881

An outstanding writer and thinker. Literary activity began in 1846. Three years later he was arrested for participation in the revolutionary circle of M.V. Petrashevsky and sentenced to death, commuted to five years of hard labor in Omsk, followed by service as a private. He returned to St. Petersburg in 1859. Among his works that gained worldwide fame: “The Humiliated and Insulted,” “Crime and Punishment,” “The Idiot,” “Demons,” “Teenager,” “The Brothers Karamazov.”

Buried with his wife, Anna Grigorievna(nee Snitkina, 1846-1918) and grandson , founder of the Dostoevsky Museum in St. Petersburg, Andrei Fedorovich (1908-1968).

Russia. Saint Petersburg. Necropolis of art masters.Eastern path.Sculptural and architectural monument. Sculptor N.A. Laveretsky; architect X.K. Vasiliev; master A.A. Barinov, 1883 Granite, bronze, 256x118x98; bust 70x48x27.

On the side (northern) side of the bust there is a facsimile: N-Laveretsky/1883.

At the bottom of the monument on the north side: Designed by H.K. Vasiliev. Performed by Barinov.

The monument is on the lawn with a high plinth, surrounded by a fence made of forged rods. A massive, complexly profiled stele of gray granite, tapering upward, on a rectangular plinth. It is crowned with a relief image of an eight-pointed cross, braided with a crown of thorns, on the sides of which laurel garlands are carved into stone. On the back side there are crossed palm branches depicted with a notch. In front of the stele, on a pedestal, is a bronze bust of Dostoevsky, on a stand in the form of two books. Under the cross in the panel there is an inscription in raised letters, in Slavic script:

F.M.DOSTOEVSKY.

On the pedestal of the bust there is an inscription carved:

AMEN AMEN I LOOK TO YOU:/THOUGH A GRAIN OF WHEAT FALLS ON THE EARTH DOES NOT/DIE, THEN ALONE Abides; WHEN / YOU DIE, YOU WILL CREATE MUCH FRUIT./John ch. 12 tbsp. 24.

On the side south side of the stele: BORN SEPTEMBER 30, 1821.

On the pedestal on the north side:

ANNA GRIGORIEVNA / DOSTOEVSKAYA / 1846 wife of the writer 1918 ANDREY FEDOROVICH / DOSTOEVSKY / 1908 grandson of the writer 1968.

Funeral of F.M. Dostoevsky at the Tikhvin cemetery took place on the initiative of the Chief Prosecutor of the Holy Synod K.P. Pobedonostsev, supported by the Spiritual Council of the Lavra. The place was provided free of charge next to the graves of N.M. Karamzin and V.A. Zhukovsky.

The funeral service in the Church of the Holy Spirit took place on January 31, 1881. Immediately after the writer’s death, fundraising began for the construction of the monument. In October 1882, the terms of the competition for best project. “The project must preserve the modest character of the Christian monument, crowned with an ancient Russian eight-pointed cross. There should be nothing too heavy or pretentious, since the deceased constantly disapproved of everything like that. The monument should include a bust of F.M. Dostoevsky, and on the slopes of the foot those sayings from Holy Scripture that served as the epigraph for various works of the deceased should be carved. There should be space left around the monument for a flower garden.”

On February 28, 1883, an exhibition was opened at the Museum of the Society for the Encouragement of the Arts, at which 28 tombstone designs were exhibited. According to observers of the newspapers “Petersburg Listok” and “Novoye Vremya”, not a single project attracted attention. “The poverty of imagination and the complete absence of thought is reflected everywhere.” Nevertheless, the competition took place. Competition commission (sculptors N.A. Laveretsky, G.S. Botta,

P.P. Zabello, architects E.A. Sabaneev, N.D. Grigoriev, writers Ya.P. Polonsky, A.N. Maikov, O.F. Miller, D.W. Grigorovich, N.N. Strakhov) awarded the first prize to the project of N.P. Goslavsky, the second - to the artist-architect Kh.K. Vasilyev. It was proposed to transform both projects into one. The commission entrusted the execution of the bust to N.A. Laveretsky. Monumental work was carried out by the St. Petersburg granite workshop of A.A. Barinov, where three years earlier the pedestal for the Moscow monument to A.S. was made. Pushkin. On the pedestal of Dostoevsky’s tombstone, indeed, the gospel text was carved, which served as the epigraph to the novel “The Brothers Karamazov”.

The opening of the tombstone took place on October 30, 1883. As the newspaper “Novoye Vremya” wrote: “everyone saw a granite mausoleum, at the bottom of which, under a carved cross and an inscription on granite: “Dostoevsky” there is a bronze bust of the deceased. Thus, if you look from the front, the monument is like a background, a frame that shades this bust. One may find the monument heavy, as some have expressed, but, in any case, it is clear that its construction was guided by strictly Orthodox ideas. That’s why the bust of Dostoevsky is not placed at the top, where it seems to be asking, but the very top, if not crowned with a cross, is carved into granite and dominates the monument.”

On the initiative of the writer’s grandson, A.F. Dostoevsky, in June 1968, next to the monument, an urn with the ashes of A.G. was interred. Dostoevskaya, who died and was buried in Yalta in 1918. In September of the same year, an urn with the ashes of Andrei Fedorovich himself was buried here.

Birthday November 11(new style).
Memorial Day February 9(new style).

Address: Nevsky pr., 179/2 A
Telephone: (812) 274-2635
Opening hours(museum) : 10:00-17:00
Day off: Thursday
Metro station: Alexander Nevsky Square

By the beginning of the 19th century, the Lazarevskoye cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra was overcrowded, and it was decided to allocate a new plot for burials. The cemetery, originally named Novo-Lazarevsky, was founded in 1823.

In 1869-1871, in the northern part of the Novo-Lazarevskoye cemetery, a church-tomb was erected, consecrated in the name of the miraculous icon of the Tikhvin Mother of God. Money for the construction of the temple in the Byzantine-Russian style was donated by the Polezhaev merchants, for whose family members 20 places with 13 graves were allocated in the tomb. Soon the cemetery began to be called by the name of the new church - Tikhvinsky.

By 1881, the Tikhvin cemetery acquired its modern size and shape. It was almost twice the size of Lazarevsky, and since the 1830s, burials were carried out mainly on its territory. Unfortunately, many graves from this period have been lost.

On February 1, 1881, F. M. Dostoevsky was buried at the Tikhvin cemetery. According to the recollections of his widow, the Alexander Nevsky Lavra offered any place on the territory of the monastery for the burial of the writer, who did so much to spread and strengthen Orthodoxy in the hearts of people. In the end, the place was chosen next to the graves of Karamzin and Zhukovsky. The tombstone, designed by architect Kh. K. Vasiliev and sculptor N. A. Laveretsky, was installed on the grave of the great Russian writer two years later, in 1883. In the 1880s, composers M. P. Mussorgsky and A. P. Borodinsky were buried in the northern part of the Tikhvin cemetery. A tombstone monument to P.I. Tchaikovsky, who died in 1893, was erected next to them.

By the beginning of the 20th century, there were more than one thousand three hundred gravestones at the Tikhvin cemetery. All kinds of crosses, sculptures, obelisks, small chapels and family crypts, representing the development of monumental art throughout the 19th century, stood in great crowded conditions. Soon after the 1917 revolution, the Tikhvin cemetery was closed, but burials continued until the early 1930s, when it was decided to create a museum-necropolis of art masters. In 1935-1937, large-scale work was carried out to improve and reconstruct the cemetery, which acquired the status of a memorial park. Burials and monuments of great historical and artistic value were transferred to the Necropolis of Art Masters from other cemeteries in the city (Farforovsky, Mitrofanievsky, Malookhtinsky Orthodox, Vyborg Roman Catholic, Smolensk Orthodox, Lutheran and Armenian, Volkovsky Orthodox and Lutheran, Novodevichy, Nikolsky). At the same time, at the Tikhvin cemetery itself, many graves were destroyed, which, according to the leaders, were of no value. During the Great Patriotic War some sculptural details from a number of monuments of the Necropolis of masters of art were hidden in the underground cache of the Annunciation tomb. The bombing caused great damage to the necropolis museum, as a result of which several monuments were destroyed. IN post-war years

After the Second World War, some famous cultural figures of the Soviet era were buried in the Necropolis of Artists: artist M. I. Avilov, artists V. A. Michurina-Samoilova, E. P. Korchagina-Aleksandrovskaya, Yu. M. Yuryev, N. K Cherkasov and others.

In 1972, the ashes of the composer A.K. Glazunov, brought from France, were placed in the Necropolis. The last to be buried at the former Tikhvin cemetery was the outstanding director G. A. Tovstonogov. His funeral took place in the summer of 1989.

In the Necropolis of Art Masters you can see the works of outstanding sculptors and architects who created magnificent monumental monuments - I. I. Gornostaev, I. Ya. Ginzburg, N. E. Lansere, P. K. Klodt, A. I. Terebenev, N. A. Laveretsky, P. P. Kamensky, M. K. Anikushin, I. A. Fomin, L. K. Lazarev, N. K. Roerich, A. V. Shchusev and others. The following people are buried in the Necropolis of Art Masters: writers, writers, poets E. A. Baratynsky, P. A. Vyazemsky, N. I. Gnedich, I. F. Gorbunov, A. A. Delvig, F. M. Dostoevsky, V. A Zhukovsky, A. E. Izmailov, N. M. Karamzin, I. A. Krylov; composers: V. V. Andreev, A. S. Arensky, M. A. Balakirev, A. P. Borodin, D. S. Bortnyansky, A. K. Glazunov, M. I. Glinka, A. S. Dargomyzhsky, K. A. Kavos, Ts. A. Cui, M. P. Mussorgsky, N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov, A. N. Serov, P. I. Tchaikovsky; choreographer M. I. Petipa; artists F. A. Bruni, M. N. Vorobyov, A. A. Ivanov, I. N. Kramskoy, A. I. Kuindzhi, B. M. Kustodiev, A. P. Ostroumova-Lebedeva, I. I. Shishkin ; sculptors I. Ya. Ginzburg, V. I. Demut-Malinovsky, P. K. Klodt, B. I. Orlovsky, S. S. Pimenov; architect V. P. Stasov; artists: V. N. Asenkova, M. V. Dalsky, I. A. Dmitrevsky, P. A. Karatygin, V. F. Komissarzhevskaya, Yu. Ya. Korvin-Krukovsky, E. P. Korchagina-Alexandrovskaya, P. V. Samoilov, G. A. Tovstonogov, N. I. Khodotov, N. K. Cherkasov, Yu. M. Yuryev.

How to get there

Get to the Alexander Nevsky Square metro station and cross the square to the Sorrowful Church. Walk under the arch of the Holy Gate and you will find yourself in a small passage. On both sides of this passage there are stone fences with small entrance gates located symmetrically. The entrance to the Necropolis of Art Masters is on the right.

Historical reference 1823
- foundation of the New Lazarevskoye Cemetery. 1826
- N. M. Karamzin is buried at the New Lazarevskoye Cemetery. 1869-1871
- construction of a church-tomb in the name of the miraculous icon of the Tikhvin Mother of God (architect N.P. Grebenka).- expansion of the cemetery.
1876- The new Lazarevskoye cemetery was renamed Tikhvinskoye.
1881- the writer F. M. Dostoevsky is buried at the Tikhvin cemetery.
1937- opening of the Memorial Park of the Necropolis of Masters of Arts.
1985- opened in the Tikhvin Church showroom Museum of Urban Sculpture.
1989- the last burial of art masters in the Necropolis (the outstanding Soviet director G. A. Tovstonogov was buried).

Legends and myths

The remarkable sculptor Vasily Ivanovich Demut-Malinovsky was buried at the Tikhvin cemetery.

One of his little-known works is the sculptures of two huge bulls, currently decorating the entrance to the meat processing plant near Srednyaya Rogatka. Demut-Malinovsky created these sculptures in 1827 to decorate the entrance to the Animal Farm. In St. Petersburg they said that one day the sculptor had a dream that sculptured animals came to visit him. He tried for a long time to unravel the strange dream, but could not. In 1936, almost a hundred years after the death of the sculptor, the bulls that had previously stood on the corner of Moskovsky Prospekt and Obvodny Canal were transported to the building of a new meat processing plant, which was built on the very outskirts of the city, behind Srednaya Rogatka. In 1941, the sculptures were hastily transported to the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, where they were supposed to be hidden underground from enemy bombing. But for some reason this was not done, and the mighty animals stood in front of the gates of the Necropolis throughout the war.
Thus, it turned out that the strange dream was prophetic - in the end, the bulls came to visit their creator, who rested in the tomb of the Necropolis of the Masters of Arts. After the war, the bulls were returned to their place in front of the meat processing plant. August 24, 2016 President Russian Federation

V.V.  Putin signed a Decree on celebrating the 200th anniversary of the birth of the writer F.M. Dostoevsky. The government has been instructed to form Organising Committee for the preparation and conduct of the celebration. A plan of basic preparatory activities will be developed. Regional executive authorities of the Russian Federation will take part in its development and holding of ceremonial events.

History has mercilessly treated the graves of the ancestors and descendants of our great writer and thinker F.M. Dostoevsky. The graves of his parents, both sons, first wife, two brothers, all four sisters, grandson, uncle, aunts, paternal and maternal grandparents and other relatives are lost in Soviet time. And in foreign Europe, the burial places of both his daughters and his son’s wife have been preserved!

Personally, I feel just and natural indignation at these shameful historical facts. And many foreign and even domestic admirers of the talent of our brilliant writer do not yet know about these facts. But closer to the anniversary they will find out!

Conducting all kinds of international meetings dedicated to the life and work of F.M. 

Dostoevsky, is a good and necessary thing. At these meetings you can also hear the following: they say that Dostoevsky’s high forehead comes from his maternal ancestors, from the Nechaevs and Kotelnitskys. However, the remains of M.F. Dostoevskaya, the writer’s mother, is still not buried after 80 years in the stock basement of the Research Institute and the Museum of Anthropology of Moscow State University. And the remains of the Kotelnitskys, Maria Feodorovna’s grandfather and uncle, have still been in the same basement since 1934. Her grandfather was a “famous intellectual of the 18th century,” and her uncle was an equally famous professor of medicine. According to his manuals for army doctors, Russian soldiers were saved from death. The famous doctor Nikolai Pirogov and others were his students.
The location of the lost grave of the writer’s mother was recently determined: it is 40 steps from the current church on the former territory of the demolished Moscow Lazarevskoye Cemetery. The church territory is fenced off from the children's park, which arose on the former territory of the cemetery. There is an Orthodox sisterhood at the church, there is a decent atmosphere and silence around.

During the exhumation of the remains of M.F. 

Her skull will mysteriously disappear before the war, after staying in M.M.'s workshop. Gerasimov - a famous anthropologist and sculptor. He made a sculptural reconstruction of her skull. Why was it necessary to do this if the magnificent portrait of M.F. was preserved? Dostoevsky? This is not the skull of Yaroslav the Wise, Ivan the Terrible, Ulugbek or Timur. And what words could our great thinker Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky call these acts?
What does our initiative group, which many support, offer?

On the church grounds of the Moscow Church of the Descent of the Holy Spirit, in the former Lazarevskoye cemetery, it is necessary to create a Memorial to all the close relatives of the writer buried here. According to known information, about 16 relatives of F.M. were buried here. Dostoevsky on the maternal side. The preserved remains of his mother should finally find rest at the site of her previous burial, not far from this temple. Monument to M.F. 

Dostoevsky, who stood on her grave, has been preserved.

The remains of the Kotelnitskys, which are still in three boxes in the museum basement, should be buried nearby. Then erect a cenotaph listing the names of all the writer’s relatives whose graves are lost in this territory.

At the burial site of F.F. Dostoevsky - the son of the writer (Moscow Vagankovskoe cemetery), which was established, it is necessary to put up a memorial sign. Fyodor Fedorovich, risking his life, saved the archive of his brilliant father in 1918.

On the territory of the Moscow St. Danilov Monastery, four meters from one of the churches, the site of the lost graves of A.A. Kumanin and his wife A.F. Kumanina - the writer's aunt. Kumanin and his two brothers financed the construction of the Trinity Cathedral in this monastery. They also allocated funds for the reconstruction of the famous Church of All Who Sorrow, Joy of All Who Sorrow on Bolshaya Ordynka. They also built hospitals and educational institutions. The graves of these generous benefactors must be restored.

These successful searches were carried out by private individuals - real ascetics. They are distinguished by responsiveness and sincere spirituality. But, unfortunately, they often have to see and experience open resistance from those who are supposed to protect our historical memory at the state level. Officials can quote Dostoevsky's thoughts on morality and morality and at the same time be indifferent to preserving the memory of his close relatives. I believe that the preparations for the celebration of the 200th anniversary of F.M. 

Dostoevsky, before it is too late, we will also touch upon the problem of the lost graves of close relatives of our great writer and thinker!
S.P. TYULYAKOV,

journalist, historian

Funeral

When, after a feverish night, I woke up and, with eyes red from tears, entered my father’s room, I found him lying on the table with his hands folded on his chest, into which they had just placed an icon. Like many nervous children, I was afraid of the dead and refused to approach them, but I had no fear of my father. He seemed to be sleeping on his pillow, smiling quietly, as if he was seeing something very good. The artist was already sitting next to the dead man and drawing Dostoevsky in his eternal sleep. In the morning the news of my father's death appeared in the newspapers, and all my friends gathered to attend the first funeral service. Delegations of students from various higher educational institutions of St. Petersburg followed them. They came with the priest assigned to these establishments and accompanied his prayers with their singing. Tears rolled down their cheeks; they sobbed, looking at the lifeless face of their beloved writer. The mother wandered around like a shadow, her eyes blurred from tears. She was so unaware of what had happened that when a courtier came to inform her on behalf of Alexander II that she had been granted a state pension and a decision had been made to raise her children at state expense, she joyfully jumped up to convey this good news to her husband. “At that moment I realized for the first time that my husband had died and that from now on I had to live alone and that now I no longer had a friend with whom I could share my joys and sorrows,” she told me later.

The next day in the evening I went to the funeral service. A small, probably four-room apartment on the third or fourth floor, with a small hallway, modestly furnished, with an office upholstered in oilcloth, was full of people. In the middle of the office lay Fyodor Mikhailovich, covered with a shroud. An open oak coffin stood nearby. The nun read the psalter. There were wreaths and flowers at the table, against the walls and on the cover. Grigorovich gave orders.

Ekaterina Pavlovna Letkova-Sultanova:

The last time I saw Dostoevsky was in a coffin. And it was again another Dostoevsky. Nothing from a living person: yellow skin on a bony face, barely outlined lips and complete peace. The passion of his recent polemics regarding the speech at the Pushkin holiday, the pathos of his beliefs and hopes - and his absolutely extraordinary gift of burning people's hearts - were tightly covered with a bone mask...

Anatoly Fedorovich Koni:

I went to bow to his ashes. On the dim, uninviting staircase of the house on the corner of Yamskaya and Kuznechny Lane, where the deceased lived on the third floor, there were already quite a few heading towards the door, upholstered in frayed oilcloth. Behind it is a dark hallway and a room with the same sparse and unpretentious furnishings that I had already seen once. Fyodor Mikhailovich was lying on a low hearse, so that his face was visible to everyone. What a face! He cannot be forgotten... He did not have that astonished, nor that petrified-calm expression that happens to the dead who ended their lives not at the hands of themselves or someone else. It spoke - this face, it seemed spiritual and beautiful. I wanted to say to those around me: “Nolite flere, non est mortuus, sed dormit.” Decay had not yet had time to touch him, and it was not the mark of death that was visible on him, but a different dawn, better life as if she was casting her reflection on him... For a long time I could not tear myself away from contemplating this face, which with its whole expression seemed to say: “Well, yes! This is so - I always said that it should be so, but now I know ... "

A girl, the daughter of the deceased, stood near the coffin and handed out flowers and leaves from the wreaths that were constantly arriving, and this extremely touched those who came to say goodbye to the ashes of a man who knew how to portray a child’s soul so subtly and with such “heartfelt” love.

The day after my husband’s death, among the many people who visited us was the famous artist I. N. Kramskoy. He, of his own free will, wanted to draw a life-size portrait of the deceased and performed his work with enormous talent. In this portrait, Fyodor Mikhailovich does not seem to have died, but only to have fallen asleep, almost with a smiling and enlightened face, as if he had already learned the secret of the afterlife unknown to anyone.

In addition to I. N. Kramskoy, there were several artists, photographers who painted and took portraits of the deceased for illustrated publications. The now famous sculptor Leopold Bernshtam, then unknown to anyone, visited us and removed the mask from my husband’s face, thanks to which he was later able to make a strikingly similar bust of him.

Nikolai Nikolaevich Strakhov:

Dostoevsky's funeral was a phenomenon that amazed everyone. The most ardent admirers of the late writer could not have expected such a huge crowd of people, such numerous and zealous statements of respect and regret. We can safely say that such a funeral had never happened in Rus' before that time.

The figures will show the matter most clearly: in the funeral procession, when the body was taken out of the apartment (Kuznechny Lane, No. 5) to the Church of the Holy Spirit, in the Nevskaya Lavra, 67 wreaths were carried and 15 choirs sang. 67 wreaths - this means 67 different deputations, 67 various societies and institutions that wished to honor the deceased. 15 choirs of singers means 15 different circles and departments that had the opportunity to equip singers for this purpose. How such a huge manifestation was put together is a considerable mystery. Obviously, it was drawn up suddenly, without any preliminary agitation, without any preparations, persuasion and orders, because no one expected Dostoevsky’s death, and the time between the unexpected news of it and the funeral (three days) was too short for any extensive preparations. Consequently, almost each of the 67 deputations has its own special history, independent of the others. The nature and meaning of the motives along which these deputations proceeded is what is important in highest degree and about which it is difficult to speak with certainty, which would require more information than we have.

It is known, however, that in different places of the city, in educational institutions, in churches - memorial services were served for Dostoevsky at the own request of teachers and clergy. It is known that persons from other official departments barely had time to obtain proper permission to participate in the ceremony due to the short time, and there were cases where they even did without permission. On the eve of the removal, Anna Grigorievna knew about 8 delegations who wanted to carry wreaths, and she joyfully thought about such a great honor being shown to her late husband. Meanwhile, by the minute of the funeral there were 72 deputations. The main body of mourners consisted of the most varied classes of the public, and a very noticeable number of young people, men and women. The nature of the procession itself was surprisingly clear. She was somewhat disorderly due to the haste with which she had gathered, but without any shadow of excitement, without signs of that excitement that is revealed when a crowd makes a demonstration. It was a real funeral procession. And all the burial rites and the speeches that were said in the church and at the grave had the same calm, pure, sad character.

... Around the ashes of the writer, an extraordinary movement of educated Russian society took place, headed by the then Minister of Internal Affairs, Count M. T. Loris-Melikov, on whose proposal the late Emperor Alexander Nikolaevich, now deceased in Bose, hastened, among other things, to console the orphaned family of the writer who glorified his fatherland who has lost her breadwinner, ensuring her material existence by assigning her a lifelong pension from state funds. Grand dukes, ministers and a host of other high-ranking officials came to venerate the ashes of the thinker, who suffered a lot in his life, and here, near his coffin, they mingled with a motley crowd of, of course, more numerous ordinary mortal admirers of his... The province took part in expressing condolences to the great loss by sending many telegrams.

Kuznechny Lane, where the deceased’s apartment was located, has never seen such brilliant conventions and generally such crowds as these days! This apartment became public property and was not locked from morning until late at night... A small galaxy of our best writers formed a committee of funeral directors, headed by D.V. Grigorovich, who took upon himself all the troubles on this subject, freeing the upset widow of the deceased from them.

On January 31st, “A Writer’s Diary” was published and was sold out on the same day. The next day a second edition appeared, with a mournful border around the first page.

All admirers of Fyodor Mikhailovich who came to venerate his ashes received as souvenirs sheets of medium book format, on which, in a thick mourning frame, the writer’s facsimile was reproduced in lithography: “Fyodor Dostoevsky.”

From the diary of Ilya Fedorovich Tyumenev:

At about 10 o'clock in the morning we drove up... to the Vladimir Church and were forced to leave the cab: all of Kuznechny and even part of Vladimir Square were covered with people. Along Kuznechny there were already two or three dozen wreaths standing in orderly lines, right up to the house itself, where Fyodor Mikhailovich’s apartment was located.

A dense crowd of high school students stood near one wreath. (D.N. Solovyov said that the students of their first gymnasium, despite the director’s prohibition, collected money for a wreath and the eldest of them secretly left the gymnasium to participate in the procession.) Another wreath was surrounded by students of a real school. There was a wreath from the Bestuzhev Courses nearby, surrounded by ladies and girls. Further into the depths, towards the house, there was a wreath from the Exhibition Society, near which I. N. Kramskoy was fussing about something, Lemokh and other artists were right there. Behind them stood a wreath from Russian opera artists, and next to it could be seen the long figure of V. I. Vasilyev 1st, discussing something with Morozov and Melnikov (later they said that Melnikov received a reprimand from Kister for going to the takeaway without permission: he could catch a cold there, become hoarse, get sick and disrupt his repertoire). Behind the opera house there was a wreath from a Russian drama troupe. Here we saw Brodnikov, Sazonov, Petipa and others. Karazin stood right there with a wreath from the Artists Club, which was already dying out and existed almost in the person of only Nikolai Nikolaevich, who, it seems, moved all the Club’s movables to himself for lack of funds pay Pavlova for the premises - the remaining members scattered “separately”...

With noise and loud talk, the university students arrived, carrying their huge wreath, decorated with palm branches like a lyre, and stood in front of us. They were finishing the 4th group in the ceremony, we were starting the 5th. Their manager was their beloved professor Orest Fedorovich Miller. A choir stood out from the crowd of students and took its place in the chain formed by us and the students; the choir stood behind its wreath, about twenty of our singers joined it...

Meanwhile, the audience kept arriving. The clock showed already a quarter past twelve. Singing was heard in the depths of the house: the coffin was taken out of the apartment. "Forward!" - voices were heard; the wreaths rose, the crowd began to sway, and after two or three minutes the procession set off.

In the bell tower of the Vladimir Church, the bell began to ring, and almost immediately after the first strike, a solemn “Holy God” was heard next to us: the university choir was singing, supported by dozens of voices from the surrounding, moving crowd. At the first sounds of prayer, everyone's heads were exposed. The slow, sad sounds of “Holy God” grabbed the soul so much that many of us started to feel tears in our throats...

Although the singing did not stop until the Lavra itself, it no longer made that amazing impression. As they moved, their hats, when singing “Holy God,” began to be removed tighter and tighter, and in the very chain on Nevsky they began to smoke (as if it was impossible to go to the panel for this time). Soon the singers themselves stopped taking off their hats while singing, and, in the end, praying in hats, amid the roar and conversations of the surrounding crowd, over which clouds of cigarette smoke fluttered, turned into some kind of cold formality, occupying only the conductor, who for some reason, right now he was furiously waving his arms, backing away while singing. In a word, now the impression has blurred somewhere and has definitely evaporated, but I will never forget the first “Holy God” moment on Kuznechny. At that moment, everyone really somehow felt the breath of the Divine, both believers and non-believers, it was felt by everyone, and the feeling is sometimes subtler and more insightful than the very vision of the eyes.

A lithium was served at the Vladimir Church, and the procession stopped for a while. At that time, I formed a chain together with two of our other students and walked sideways all the way to the Lavra, holding hands with my neighbors. Around the coffin itself, a kind of chain was made up of garlands of spruce branches, which were carried on sticks, like one huge wreath, surrounding both the coffin and the mourners.

The weather was fine: 1 or 2° Celsius; There was not the slightest wind, there was no dampness underfoot either. The day turned out to be exceptionally warm, exactly as ordered for Fyodor Mikhailovich’s farewell. The next day it was frosty again and the wind blew; There was no such heat before either.

Nevsky was literally packed with people. The carriages could only move in a narrow space for two rows; the rest of the avenue was occupied by the procession and crowds of people standing like a solid wall on the sides...

The procession stretched over a huge distance and looked like some kind of triumphal procession: the coffin was just being carried out onto Nevsky, and the first wreaths were already approaching the Banner. The sidewalks, windows, and balconies were covered with spectators. On the stopped horse-drawn carriages there was a regular stampede at the top. While the procession was moving, it was joined by two more wreaths from Moscow from students of Moscow University and from the Katkovsky Lyceum.

M. G. Savina carried the wreath from the Russian drama troupe along with Sazonov, and this tribute to the deceased was liked by many. The youth behaved impeccably, quite calmly and decently (except for smoking, but both the artists and many of the audience were guilty of it). A new litiya was served at Znamenya.

During the litia, our singing fell silent and everyone stopped; then again shouts: “Forward!”, again “Holy God,” and the procession set off.

On Lavra Square I left the chain and let the coffin and the entire procession pass. Wreaths from writers and editors were carried before the coffin different magazines. (The wreath of the “Russian Speech” was placed on the banner, which, as they said later, was placed in the Spiritual Church in the choir, and it bowed beautifully over the crowd of worshipers.) There were wreaths from “New Time”, “Petersburg Leaflet”, “World Illustration” and from some others that I no longer remember.

The coffin itself, together with the people accompanying it, as I already said, was very beautifully surrounded by a green garland stretching from the wreath of the Slavic Society, carried in front of the coffin itself.

Here I bowed to the ground to say goodbye to the dear deceased and for a long time followed with my eyes the golden, wreathed lid of the coffin, which high in the air seemed to reign over the surrounding crowd...

I turned around and went home. On the corner opposite the Lavra, some writer was selling five-kopeck Wesenberg cards of the deceased for fifty kopecks each.

Mikhail Alexandrovich Alexandrov:

On February 1, 1881, St. Petersburg witnessed an extraordinary funeral procession with the remains of the writer - a private person, who was escorted to his final home - in the cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra - by more than ten thousand crowds of intelligent people from all walks of life. Several dozen deputations from various institutions, St. Petersburg and non-St. Petersburg, with colossal wreaths attached to poles were placed in front of the sad cortege; they occupied more than half a mile in length. Then came the choristers and clergy, who were to be followed by a chariot carrying the coffin; but the coffin with the body of Fyodor Mikhailovich did not have to be placed on the chariot at all, so it rode behind, and the coffin was carried all the way on the shoulders of his admirers, who crowded around in large numbers and vied with each other to replace one of the tired, willing bearers, who also consisted of representatives of all classes of society. I was also awarded this honor... at the same time, among the porters, I met P.V. Bykov, famous poet, at that time still the executive editor of the magazine “Delo”, with whom we exchanged several comments about what was happening... For a long time I saw Prince V.P. Meshchersky among the pallbearers. Behind the chariot were many private individuals and pupils and pupils of secondary educational institutions. The procession, as usual, was closed by a line of empty carriages, so that the whole thing stretched for more than a mile. Ordinary people who stopped to admire this grandiose picture, of course, first of all inquired about who was being buried, and were surprised to learn that it was not a general or other big boss, not a noble nobleman, but only a writer, that is, the author of several books .

So he wrote good books? - the commoner concluded his questions, having finally understood what a writer, a writer, is.

So, so! - concluded the explainer.

With every step of the procession towards the Lavra, the crowd accompanying it became more crowded. In all higher and most secondary educational institutions, classes were stopped, and the students and pupils who had gathered for them went in columns to Nevsky Prospect and joined the procession. Throughout the entire journey, the harmonious singing of “Holy God” was heard in groups of students who had joined their official deputations...

Meanwhile, the procession moved very slowly and only reached its destination at about two o’clock in the afternoon.

Lyubov Fedorovna Dostoevskaya:

According to custom, the widow and orphans follow the coffin on foot. Since the path to the Alexander Nevsky Lavra is long, and our children’s strength was too small, family friends sometimes put us in a carriage and drove along the procession. “Never forget the wonderful funeral Russia arranged for your father,” they told us. When the coffin finally approached the monastery, the monks came out of the large gate and went to meet my father, who was now supposed to rest among them. They showed such honor only to kings; they also gave it to the famous Russian writer, a faithful and respectful son of the Orthodox Church...

It was too late to start the funeral service and had to be postponed until the next day. The coffin was placed in the middle of the Church of the Holy Spirit; after a short service we returned home, exhausted from fatigue and excitement. The father's friends stayed for a while to watch the crowd as they sought to kneel at the coffin and pray. Evening came, it got dark; The crowd of admirers and friends of the father gradually dispersed, ready to appear again the next day for the funeral service. But Dostoevsky was not left alone. The St. Petersburg students did not abandon him; they decided to stay awake next to the adored writer during his last night on earth. What they were doing in the church was told to us later by the St. Petersburg Metropolitan, who, as is customary, lived in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra. A few days after the burial, my mother visited him to thank him for the magnificent funeral that the monks gave to my father, and took us with her. The Metropolitan blessed us and told my mother about his impressions of the students’ night duty: “On Saturday evening I went to the Church of the Holy Spirit to venerate the ashes of Dostoevsky. The monks stopped me at the door and said that the church, which I thought was empty, was full of people. Then I headed upstairs to a small chapel located on the second floor of a neighboring church, the windows of which overlook the Church of the Holy Spirit. I spent part of the night there, watching the students, unseen by them. They prayed on their knees, crying and sobbing. The monks wanted to read psalms at the tomb, but the students took the psalter from them and took turns reading the psalms. I have never heard a reading of the psalms like this before! The students read them with voices trembling with excitement, putting their souls into every word they uttered. And they also tell me that these young people are atheists and despise our church. Which one magical power Dostoevsky had the power to turn them back to God in this way?”...

On the day of the funeral, Sunday, February 1, all admirers of Dostoevsky, busy during the week, took advantage of the holiday to go to church and pray for the repose of his soul. WITH early morning A huge crowd filled the peaceful Alexander Nevsky Lavra, located on the banks of the Neva and representing a small town with numerous churches, three cemeteries, gardens, a theological seminary and an academy. The poor monks, seeing how the crowd was growing, how it filled gardens and cemeteries, how it climbed onto monuments and trellises, got scared and called the police for help, who immediately closed the gates. Those who arrived later stopped at large area, located in front of the monastery, and remained there until the end of the funeral service, in the hope of somehow getting beyond the fence or at least hearing church singing when the coffin was carried to the cemetery. At nine o'clock in the morning we drove up in a carriage to the main gate and were very surprised to find it closed. My mother came out of the carriage in mourning, holding our hands. A police officer blocked our way.

No more misses! - he stated sternly.

How is this not missed? - asked my mother in surprise. - I am the widow of Dostoevsky and they are waiting for me in the church to begin the funeral service.

You are the sixth Dostoevsky widow demanding to be let through. Enough lies! I won't miss anyone again! - the policeman responded in rage.

We looked around in confusion and did not know what to do. Fortunately, our friends were expecting our arrival, they rushed to us and escorted us. With great difficulty we managed to make our way through the crowd that filled the monastery, and with even greater difficulty we managed to enter the church, which was packed with people. When we finally made our way to the place reserved for us, the funeral service began, which was wonderful. The metropolitan choir sang; archbishops served.

Nikolai Nikolaevich Strakhov:

The Church of the Holy Spirit was amazingly beautiful during the funeral mass. Not only was the coffin, which stood on a high hearse, covered with flowers and wreaths, but huge wreaths rose from all sides and even along the walls and gave the whole temple a special appearance, extraordinarily beautiful. The crowd was great, but despite that, the silence was quite reverent.

Lyubov Fedorovna Dostoevskaya:

And yet an important part of the Orthodox funeral service was missed. In Russia, the coffin remains open throughout the ceremony; at the end of it, relatives and friends approach him and say goodbye to the deceased, kissing him. Dostoevsky's coffin remained closed. On the day of the funeral, Uncle Ivan went to the monastery early in the morning, accompanied by Pobedonostsev, who had just been appointed our guardian. They opened the coffin and found Dostoevsky greatly changed. It was already the fourth day after death; The father's friends, who had carried his coffin the day before, accelerated, due to shaking, the process of decomposition, which had already begun ahead of time due to the terrible heat in the first two days in the deceased's room. Fearing that the changed face of the deceased would make a grave impression on Dostoevsky’s widow and his children, Pobedonostsev forbade the monks to open the coffin. My mother could never forgive him for this ban. “What if I saw him changed? - she said bitterly. - After all, he has always been my dear, dear husband! And he went to his grave without my farewell kiss, without my blessing!”

Anna Grigorievna Dostoevskaya:

After the funeral service, Fyodor Mikhailovich’s coffin was lifted and carried out of the church by admirers of the talent, among whom the young philosopher Vl. especially stood out for his excited appearance. S. Soloviev.

The public crowded the entire Tikhvin cemetery, people climbed onto monuments, sat on trees, clung to bars, and the procession moved slowly, passing under the wreaths of various deputations bowing on both sides. After the burial, speeches began to be made over the open grave. The first to speak was former Petrashevite A.I. Palm. Then they said: Or. F. Miller, prof. K. N. Bestuzhev-Ryumin, Vl. Soloviev, P. A. Gaideburov and many others. Many poems dedicated to the memory of the deceased were also spoken over the open grave. The public covered the coffin with wreaths brought almost to the top of the crypt. The remaining wreaths were torn into pieces, and those present took away leaves and flowers as souvenirs. Only by four o'clock was the grave closed, and I and the children, weak from tears and hunger, went home. The crowd did not disperse for a long time.

They dispersed from the grave when the lanterns were already lit. We came across groups of people who, after the service, were going to pay their last respects to the writer. Literary commemorations for Dostoevsky continued until March 1, which cut off these memories of him.

From the book The Story of My Life author Svirsky Alexey

18. Funeral Nuremberg was killed. Everyone is talking about it. The cadets hang a black flag over the gates of the institute. Director Barsky orders it to be removed immediately. Danilo and Stanislav, groaning and groaning, carry out the order. Everyone knows that Nuremberg was beaten by gendarmes and policemen, and then

From the book Hiking and Horses author Mamontov Sergey Ivanovich

FUNERAL There was a gun in the convoy, and we decided to bury our commander, Colonel Shafrov, as befits an artilleryman, on a gun carriage. To do this, the trunk is removed and the coffin is tied to the runners. Shapilovsky appointed as drivers: his brother at the root, Gorobtsov at the middle position, and me at

From the book Visiting Stalin. 14 years in Soviet concentration camps author Nazarenko Pavel E.

Funerals The burial of the dead is done a little differently from previous times. The dead man, depending on his position, if he is a party member or a collective farmer, is transported by car or on a cart. There are more or fewer mourners, depending on the importance of the deceased person. A seedy orchestra is playing

From the book One Life, Two Worlds author Alekseeva Nina Ivanovna

Funeral Confusion at the Soviet embassy The embassy was essentially beheaded. The ambassador and the second secretary were killed. The third secretary, Glebsky, was in the USA, adviser Yanovsky was in Moscow. Only the new first secretary, Grigory Pavlovich, remained at the embassy

From the book Born in the Ghetto by Seph Ariela

Funeral Spring break has begun. All the children are playing in the yard. Our yard and the neighboring one are walkable and very friendly, but ours is much more interesting. Right behind the house there is a whole row of sheds, each resident has his own. Everyone stores potatoes, pickles and all sorts of rubbish there. But the very first two sheds

From the book Until Goodbye Is Said. A year of living with joy by Witter Brett

Funeral Have you ever thought about your funeral? Well, admit it! Everyone has a funeral, and only once. Are there many events in our lives about which we can say this? I started thinking about my funeral long before I got sick. So, well, first of all I need

From the book Dostoevsky without gloss author Fokin Pavel Evgenievich

Funeral of Lyubov Feodorovna Dostoevskaya: When, after a feverish night, I woke up and, with eyes reddened from tears, entered my father’s room, I found him lying on the table with his hands folded on his chest, into which they had just placed an icon. Like many nervous children, I was afraid

From the book Pushkin without gloss author Fokin Pavel Evgenievich

Funeral Vasily Andreevich Zhukovsky: The next day, we, friends, put Pushkin in the coffin with our own hands; the next day, in the evening, they moved him to the Stable Church. And on both these days, the upper room where he lay in the coffin was constantly full of people. Of course, more than ten

From the book Skipped Generation author Borin Alexander Borisovich

Funeral About two months before his death, Nathan called me and said that he was nearby and would come by now. When he arrived, he said that the artist Boris Zhutovsky was compiling an album of drawings made by convicts in the camps. Father Tonic was also drawn there, and Zhutovsky takes this drawing into

From the book Katenka author Garkalin Valery Borisovich

The funeral Farewell and civil memorial service for Katenka took place at the Obraztsov Theater. The coffin was placed on the stage. Several hours were allotted for the entire procedure in order to have time to carry out the funeral ceremony during the short winter day. I was sure that several dozen would gather

From the book by Clara Zetkin by Ilberg Ganna

FUNERAL On June 21, 1933, vast crowds of people slowly and solemnly moved to the Hall of Columns of the Moscow House of Unions to say goodbye to the deceased. More than four hundred thousand men and women wanted once again to see the beautiful old face that so often

From the book Gogol without gloss author Fokin Pavel Evgenievich

Funeral Alexey Terentyevich Tarasenkov: At ten o’clock in the morning on Thursday, February 21, 1852, I hasten to arrive before the consultants who scheduled to be at ten (and Over at 1 o’clock), but I already found not Gogol, but his corpse.<…>When I arrived, they had already examined his cabinets, where

From the book Block Without Gloss author Fokin Pavel Evgenievich

Funeral Evgenia Fedorovna Knipovich: Before leaving, I found out about his death by phone and ran to Ofitserskaya... At first I didn’t recognize him. Hair is black, short, gray at the temples; mustache, small beard; aquiline nose. Alexandra Andreevna sat by the bed and stroked him

From the book by Ingmar Bergman. Life, love and betrayal by Thomas Sjöberg

Funeral There are not so many of them left, the wives and mistresses of Ingmar Bergman, but those that were invited and could come gathered on August 17, 2007 near the Forø church. Käbi Laretai in dark glasses and a cape thrown over for warmth, with a cane, accompanied son. Liv Ullman, all

From Lermontov's book without gloss author Fokin Pavel Evgenievich

Funeral of Nikolai Pavlovich Raevsky. As retold by V.P. Zhelikhovskaya: When the body was brought, we cleaned Mikhail Yuryevich’s workroom, borrowed a large table from Zelmits and covered it with a tablecloth. When I had to wash the body, it was impossible to take off my coat, my hands were completely

From the book Court of the Red Monarch: The Story of Stalin's Rise to Power author Montefiore Simon Jonathan Sebag

Funeral Death occurred instantly. A few hours after the fatal shot, Joseph Stalin stood in the dining room and tried to comprehend his wife’s suicide. The leader's daughter-in-law Zhenya Alliluyeva was confused when he asked her: why did Nadya shoot herself? Even more everything