In the Krasnogvardeisky district of St. Petersburg there is an old cemetery, the history of which has become part of the history of the city itself, it is so inextricably linked with it. Once it was called Georgievsky. It is only two decades younger than the city itself and remembers the times of Peter I. Today it is the largest city necropolis. Its area is almost seventy hectares. It is called the Bolsheokhtinsky cemetery. How to get to it and what interesting things you can see there - that's what we will try to find out now.
Wooden church on the bank of Chernavka
In order to start a conversation about its history, one should mentally return to the beginning of the 18th century. A new capital was being built on the banks of the Neva, and artisans flocked here from all over Russia, most of whom were free carpenters. Here for them, by order of the sovereign Peter Alekseevich, a place was allotted near the mouth of the Okhta River. Here they settled, lived and died.
But an Orthodox person cannot do without a temple of God, and in 1725 a wooden church was built according to the project of the architect Potemkin. They consecrated herhonor of the patron saint of carpenters - St. Joseph the Treemaker. That is how Saint Joseph, the betrothed of the Blessed Virgin Mary, was called in Russia. He is known to have been a carpenter. Soon, on the bank of a small river Chernavka - a tributary of the Okhta - a cemetery was formed. They called it Okhtinsky - after the name of the river itself.
Construction of the Intercession Church
After some time, the wooden building fell into disrepair. And instead of it, a new stone church was built. However, a mistake came out - they did not take into account the severe frosts of St. Petersburg. The temple was built “cold”, that is, without heating, and it turned out to be completely impossible to hold services in it in the winter.
There was nothing to do but fork out again and build another temple next to it, this time taking into account our northern climate. This is how the Church of the Intercession appeared, the author of the project was the architect M. G. Zemtsov. Petersburgers are well aware of his other work - the church of the saints and righteous Simeon and Anna on the corner of Belinsky and Mokhovaya streets.
Epidemics of the late 18th century
Meanwhile, Petersburg grew, and more and more space was required for the last refuge for those who ended their earthly journey in it. In this regard, in 1732, by order of the Holy Synod, the Okhta cemetery received the status of a citywide one and was used along with the rest of the cemeteries of the capital. But the Petersburgers angered the Lord, and at the end of the century He allowed two terrible epidemics to happen - smallpox and typhoid. Many residents were taken to the Okhta cemetery, and it turned out to be overcrowded.
In connectionwith these sad events in May 1773, a new one was opened - the Bolsheokhtinsky cemetery. It was located on the banks of the same river Chernavka and closely adjoined Okhtinsky. Although the old cemetery was considered closed, they continued to bury the dead at the graves of their relatives for a long time. In the same year, a new church was built at the Bolsheokhtinsky cemetery. It was consecrated in honor of St. George the Victorious, which gave the name to the whole complex.
Construction of St. Nicholas Church
Petersburg was originally a city of shipbuilders and sailors. And they have their own heavenly patron - St. Nicholas the Miracle Worker of the World of Lycia. Here in his honor on the territory of the cemetery in 1812 a new church was laid. It was built on the donations of the merchant Nikonov, and was located just at the place of their family burial. Since ancient times, there has been a pious tradition among Russian people - to bequeath what they have acquired for charitable deeds.
Many craftsmen – shipbuilders and seafarers – were buried in this temple before burial, and a little later a special area was created for the burial of soldiers and officers who died from wounds in a military hospital. In official documents, they were referred to as "warriors who tied up for the glory of the Fatherland."
Plots - Old Believer and Institute of Noble Maidens
At about the same time Bolsheokhtinsky cemetery, in its southern part, becomes the burial place of the Old Believers. On the plot allotted to them in the middle of the 19th century, according to the project of the architect K. I. Demetrius of Thessalonica. It has not survived to this day, as it, along with many other temples, was destroyed during the Soviet period.
The Bolsheokhtinsky cemetery has become the resting place of the untimely deceased pupils of the Institute of Noble Maidens - a closed educational institution for girls from noble families. It was located on the opposite bank of the Neva. The current bridge of Peter the Great was not yet in sight, and in the summer by boat, and in the winter they crossed the ice of the frozen river to the right bank, where the Bolsheokhtinsky cemetery was located. How to get to it on melted spring ice or the first autumn one - it's hard for us modern people to even imagine.
Family tomb of the Eliseev family
In the early eighties of the XIX century, another church was built at the Bolsheokhtinsky cemetery. It was erected at the expense of famous Russian entrepreneurs - the Eliseev brothers. The church was consecrated in honor of the icon of the Kazan Mother of God - a shrine especially revered by them. It is known that the elder brother - Stepan Petrovich - never started a working day without praying in front of her. The construction of the church cost a record sum for those times - one million rubles, and since then it has become the ancestral tomb of the Eliseev family.
Petersburg is glorious for many saints who shone on the banks of the Neva. The Bolsheokhtinsky cemetery is mentioned in the life of one of them - the holy blessed Xenia of Petersburg. It was there that she sent the daughter of an officer's widow, who had sat up in girls, and miraculously arranged for hermarriage to a young man who buried his wife. More than once we read about that cemetery in the biography of another beacon of Orthodoxy - the holy righteous John of Kronstadt.
Cemetery after the revolution
The revolution and the period of rebellion that followed it largely changed the appearance of the ancient necropolis. The temples for which the Bolsheokhtinsky cemetery was so famous were destroyed. Monuments and crypts, tombs and tombstones were barbarously destroyed during the years of atheistic obscurantism. Only St. Nicholas Church has miraculously survived.
In 1939, the Bolsheokhtinsky cemetery became the site of a mass grave of Soviet servicemen who died during the Finnish War. For their graves, significant areas were allotted in the southern part of the cemetery, and a few years later, vast territories were occupied by the burials of the fallen defenders of Leningrad during the Great Patriotic War.
Cemetery today
The scheme of the Bolsheokhtinsky cemetery, given at the end of the article, shows what this largest urban necropolis is like today. It is clearly seen that it consists of two parts. Built in the late seventies of the last century, Energetikov Avenue separated the site with old burials from the territory where the victims of the Leningrad blockade are buried. It should be noted that as a result of the fact that a very large number of city residents were buried in the period of the forties - seventies, many sites with old graves were reused, and at present, ancient tombstones can only be seenaround St. Nicholas Church.
Many guests of St. Petersburg, wanting to get the most complete picture of the city, try to visit the Bolsheokhtinsky cemetery. How to get to it? You can use trolleybus number 16 or bus number 132, departing from the metro station "Alexander Nevsky Square", as well as trolleybus number 18 from the metro station "Novocherkasskaya". His address: Metallistov Avenue, 5.
