Vagankovskoye cemetery is probably the most famous necropolis of our time. The history of this place began almost three hundred years ago and continues to this day. It is unlikely that one day it will be possible to establish an exact list of everyone who is buried at the Vagankovsky cemetery for at least the last hundred years, not to mention its entire long history. The list of the deceased, who found their last shelter here, according to the most conservative estimates, should have numbered about half a million names. However, many graves remain nameless.
Plague riot and the foundation of the cemetery
One of the last outbreaks of plague in Russia in 1770-1772 was marked not only by the mass death of the population, but also by significant popular unrest in Moscow and its environs. The unrest was suppressed, however, by decree of Empress Catherine II, the dead citizens were forbidden to be buried within the city.
The preventive sanitary measure had an effect, the disease receded, and a necropolis grew up near Moscow in the village of Novoe Vagankovo, where ordinary Muscovites were buried.
Who is buried at the Vagankovsky cemetery?Of course, no one kept a list of burials in those distant times. In the 18-19 centuries, the last refuge of those who died from epidemics, soldiers who fell in the Battle of Borodino, died on the Khodynka field and many other victims of wars and historical tragedies found their last refuge there.
The Great Patriotic War added mass graves and monuments to the city's defenders to the Vagankovsky cemetery.
Do they remember everyone? Who is buried at the Vagankovsky cemetery from celebrities
Today, we associate the largest cemetery in Moscow with the graves of all our favorite actors, cultural and art figures, politicians - our contemporaries. Meanwhile, many people forget that, in fact, this place became a necropolis of celebrities more than a hundred years ago. If at the very beginning of its history, the Vagankovskoye cemetery could only "boast" of nameless mass graves and modest graves of ordinary people, then half a century later it turned into the resting place of the greatest people of its era.
Among those who are buried at the Vagankovsky cemetery, the most famous names of the 19th century. These are politicians, military men, cultural figures, writers and artists. Next to the magnificent graves of famous historical figures, there are modest graves of now almost forgotten people, whose names are known only to specialists.
Memory of the Decembrist uprising
The list of those buried at the Vagankovsky cemetery can be started with the names of the Decembrists. Currently, only seven of their graves have been preserved. Alexander's tombstones are placed in one fenceFilippovich Frolov and Pavel Sergeevich Bobrischev-Pushkin, next to them is a pink marble stele of Ivan Nikolayevich Khotyaintsev.
The grave of Mikhail Alexandrovich Bestuzhev is located on the main alley. His daughters and sister Elena are also buried here. A great woman, whose name is undeservedly forgotten by descendants. It was she who preserved the most valuable archival artifact for history - the famous Bestuzhev gallery of portraits of the Decembrists, taking it out of Siberia after the death of her brother.
A black granite monument crowns the grave of the Decembrist Alexander Petrovich Belyaev, and the grave of Nikolai Alexandrovich Zagoretsky is also nearby.
Friends of A. S. Pushkin
Few people remember where the burial place of the greatest poet is. No, of course, he does not rest at the Vagankovsky cemetery. The grave of the classic of Russian literature is located in the Svyatogorsky Monastery, in the Pskov region. Nevertheless, of those of his contemporaries who are buried at the Vagankovsky cemetery, many were closely associated with A. S. Pushkin and his family.
So, near the church ensemble are the graves of the poet's close friends: Count Fyodor Ivanovich Tolstoy and the famous theater figure and composer Alexei Nikolayevich Verestovsky.
Brush Masters
Famous people buried at the Vagankovsky cemetery, not always, having ended their lives, came to this place in glory and honor. Especially if it was about creative people who gave all their strength to art and thought little about worldly affairs.
The host of outstanding artists, painters and graphic artists who are buried at the Vagankovsky cemetery is impressive. Vasily Andreyevich Tropinin, a great painter of the Romantic era and the founder of a realistic portrait in Russian painting, is buried in a modest grave. He left more than three thousand portraits of his contemporaries, and it is to his talent and skill of the brush that Russian art owes the development of realism and the appearance of a portrait-type.
B. A. Tropinin was the first famous artist buried at the Vagankovsky cemetery. Following him, this Moscow necropolis became the last refuge for such masters of the brush as Vasily Ivanovich Surikov, Vasily Vladimirovich Pukirev, Nikolai Alexandrovich Klodt, Aristarkh Vasilyevich Lentulov and many others. The Wanderers and avant-garde artists, illustrators, decorators, graphic artists and painters who worked in the 19th and 20th centuries rest here.
People who were buried at the Vagankovsky cemetery and left an indelible mark on history, today are mostly forgotten by their contemporaries. Many graves are dilapidated, some do not even have commemorative plaques. However, their names are gradually being returned.
Grave of the author of “Rooks…”
The grave of the creator of the cult, or, as they say, "archetypal" work of Russian painting, is located at the Vagankovsky cemetery. The famous work “The Rooks Have Arrived” is still known from school. However, few people know the tragic fate of its creator.
Aleksey Kondratievich Savrasov is one of the founders of the Association of Traveling Exhibitions, a brilliant painter and teacher. Alas, he spent the last years of his life in poverty. Personal tragedies that the artist could not cope with, alcoholism and constant need led to the fact that he was completely alone, forgotten and sick. He died in a Moscow hospital for the poor.
Initially, his grave was crowned with the cheapest plank cross and a modest inscription on it read: “Academician Alexei Kondratievich Savrasov. Born May 12, 1830, died September 26, 1897. The boards on the cross rotted and crumbled, eventually it disappeared, and the burial place of the great painter was abandoned and forgotten for many years.
However, the words of Isaac Levitan about Savrasov turned out to be prophetic: “One of the deepest Russian artists died … Since Savrasov, lyricism appeared in landscape painting and boundless love for his native land … and this undoubted merit in the field of Russian art never will not be forgotten.”
Today, his grave at the Vagankovsky cemetery is adorned with a granite obelisk with a laconic inscription: "Outstanding Russian artist Alexei Kondratievich Savrasov, 1830–1897."
The last journey of the servants of Melpomene
The list of celebrities buried at the Vagankovsky cemetery is impressive. Paradoxically, the necropolis, which appeared as a result of the greatest tragedies in the history of the state, has become a favorite burial place for theater and film actors, directors, musicians and composers.
According to legend, the tradition of burying people of acting professions here came from one of the Moscow mayors, by decree of which it was instructed to bury acting people at Vagankovsky. Perhaps because this cemetery was the mostlarge and it was quick and convenient to get to him, which reduced the cost of funerals, which often took place at public expense. However, there is another mystical coincidence: it was on the site of the future necropolis that jesters and buffoons settled in the 17th century.
Today, the number of beloved actors, musicians and singers resting here is difficult to pin down. The actors buried at the Vagankovsky cemetery were the idols of their time, and the glory of many has not been forgotten to this day.
At the entrance stands a snow-white iceberg-monument in the style of constructivism on the grave of Alexander Abdulov. The original monument-memorial in the form of film frames reminds of everyone's favorite Mikhail Pugovkin. Not far away is the grave of “the best Watson in the world” Vitaly Solomin. Actors Andrei Mironov, Oleg Dal, Leonid Filatov, directors Stanislav Rostotsky and Grigory Chukhrai, playwright and satirist Grigory Gorin. Do not count all those who are buried at the Vagankovsky cemetery from celebrities who have enriched domestic and world culture. Below is a list (far from complete, of course, celebrities not mentioned in the text):
- Aksenov Vasily - writer.
- Alov Alexander - director.
- Bogatyryov Yuri - actor.
- Braginsky Emil - playwright.
- Georgy Burkov - actor.
- B alter Alla - actress.
- Vitsin George - actor.
- Voroshilov Vladimir - presenter.
- Vadim Spiridonov is an actor.
- Garin Erast - actor.
- Glebov Peter - actor.
- Gluzsky Mikhail - actor.
- Dvorzhetsky Evgeny - actor.
- Kaverin Veniamin -writer.
- Kononov Mikhail - actor.
- Levtova Marina - actress.
- Liepa Maris - dancer.
- Vlad Listyev is a journalist.
- Migula Vladimir - composer.
- Rozov Viktor - playwright.
- Andrey Rostotsky is an actor.
- Sazonova Nina - actress.
- Samoilov Vladimir - actor.
- Samoilov Evgeny - actor.
- Eduard Streltsov is an athlete.
- Tanich Mikhail is a poet.
- Tulikov Serafim - composer.
- Fedorova Zoya - actress.
- Kharitonov Leonid - actor.
- Chekan Stanislav - actor.
- Chukhrai Grigory - film director.
- Georgy Yumatov - actor.
- Yashin Lev is an athlete.
Two graves of the same genius
There is also a monument to Vsevolod Meyerhold. Tragic, like the life of the director himself, is the fate of his grave. For a long time, the circumstances and place of Meyerhold's death were kept secret. Only in 1987 did his real burial place in the cemetery near the Donskoy Monastery become known. A black stone stele with the name of Meyerhold was installed on the grave of his tragically deceased wife Zinaida Reich 20 years before the discovery of the real burial place of the theater director reformer.
Faithful Galya
The poet Sergei Yesenin is buried at the Vagankovsky cemetery. The rebellious life and tragic death of the young genius of poetry attracted the attention of admirers and admirers to his resting place. Alas, the grave of Sergei Yesenin is notorious. Nor bust, carvedin a block of white marble, nor a granite plinth, immersed in flowers, can erase the sad facts of the history of this burial. One of the cemetery legends says that at night the ghost of a young woman appears near the grave.
“I committed suicide here, although I know that after that even more dogs will hang on Yesenin. But he and I don't care. In this grave, everything is dearest to me…”.
Perhaps this legend was based on the sad fate of his friend and assistant Galina Benislavskaya. A year after the death of the poet, she shot herself at his grave, leaving the famous suicide note. She rests here, next to her idol. The first inscription on a modest grave: "Faithful Galya" very accurately reflected the essence of her feelings for Yesenin and their difficult, drama-filled relationship. However, now the snow-white slab is decorated with long lines from the poet’s letter to her: “Galya, dear! I repeat to you that you are very, very dear to me. And you yourself know that without your participation in my fate there would be a lot of deplorable things.”
A series of suicides that followed after that on the grave of the "Moscow reveler" enveloped the place with an ominous veil of fatalism and misfortune. In total, 12 people committed suicide here - all women.
Idols of millions
Which celebrities are buried at the Vagankovsky cemetery and what stories and legends envelop their death and resting place, it is difficult to count. The grave of Vladimir Semyonovich Vysotsky was no exception. A slightly pretentious monument depicts everyone's favorite singer and artist, expressive, eager as he was during his lifetime. One side- a portrait, on the other - a monument-allegory, the leitmotif of which was the lines of the artist's prophetic song "Fussy Horses". Pathetic, strange monument. Eyewitnesses to Vysotsky's funeral claimed that his widow Marina Vladi sobbed when she saw the tombstone, calling it an ugly example of socialist realism.
Vysotsky should not have found his last resting place on the main alley. The authorities assigned him a place in the far corner. However, fate intervened in the person of the director of the Vagankovsky cemetery, a great admirer of the work of Vladimir Semyonovich. It was he who allocated an empty place for the funeral at the very entrance, where the singer rests to this day.
The gravestone of another great bard is characterized by modesty and conciseness. Bulat Okudzhava is also buried at the Vagankovsky cemetery. A tombstone in the form of a large boulder with an intricately executed inscription - the name of the singer and composer. This tombstone can truly be considered the finest example of artistic minimalism.
One of the few graves, to this day littered with flowers, belongs to Igor Talkov. Another idol of millions who tragically died at a young age. And his death is shrouded in secrets, rumors and legends, like many of his predecessors who were buried at the Vagankovsky cemetery. The photo of the singer in a frame with a wooden carved pediment, reminiscent of a Russian hut, is almost always framed with garlands of carnations and roses. The tombstone itself is decorated in the neo-pagan Slavic style. A huge bronze cross rises on a black pedestal, the surface of which is decorated withCyrillic script, and at the base of the pedestal, the famous lines “And defeated in battle, I will rise and sing …” are inscribed with gilding.
At the grave of Igor Talkov, as well as at the grave of Sergei Yesenin, there were some suicide attempts. Luckily, in this case, the suicide was prevented and the restless female fans were saved.
Who are the saints buried at the Vagankovsky cemetery?
There are special graves in this huge necropolis. Near them is always crowded, they come here from afar with prayers and requests for help. One of these graves belongs to Father Valentine. Although he was never officially canonized, people sincerely believe in his intercession and consider the grave miraculous.
Father Valentin during his lifetime was known for his good disposition, open generous heart. The poor and orphans, widows and the homeless turned to him for help. The clergyman took a sincere part in the fate of all who sought protection and support from him.
It is noteworthy that the exact burial place of Father Valentine is unknown. The priest died in 1908, and in the turbulent 20s they wanted to destroy his grave in order to stop the pilgrimage. In 1941, after digging up the supposed burial site, no remains were found. It is believed that, fulfilling the will of Father Valentine, he was buried two meters deeper than it was customary to bury the dead.
Today, at the alleged resting place of the holy father, there are two crosses at once, literally inmeters apart. White, stone, installed by the great-granddaughter of the clergyman, the second, wooden, erected by pilgrims. From somewhere there was a belief that it was here, away from the official grave, that the ashes of Father Valentine rested. Both crosses have flowers, candles and there is always a line of people praying for help and thanking for intercession.
