Novodevichye cemetery can be divided into two parts,
the "old" one located on the convent grounds and a "new" one which is
jointed to the territory of the cloister. From the times of its
foundation the New Maiden convent has become the burial place of nuns of
noble origin as well as prominent personalities of its time, heroes of
Napoleonic war, historians, philosophers, merchants. The "new" cemetery
was laid out later and became the most prestigious after the Kremlin
necropolis in the Soviet period of time. Once strolling along its alleys
you feel like in the park of sculptures. These sculptures are the
tombstones of prominent writers, poets, artists, composers which narrate
the life stories of their possessors. Some of these well-known
personalities were buried here according to their last will. Some were
just reburied by the order of Soviet government. Nicolay Gogol , the
famous satirical writer, Anton Chekhov, the world famous playwright,
were among them.
The most renowned
composers and singers were also entered here including Dmitry
Shostakovich, Sergey Prokofiev, Feodor Chaliapin and others. Chekov's grave is pictured.
The
cemetery became also the final resting place for numerous military and
political dignitaries and their relatives in the Soviet era, including
the First Secretary of the Communist party Nikita Khruschev (see above), the wife of
Stalin, Nadezhda Stalin-Allilueva, the wife of the last head of USSR,
Raisa Gorbachev.
One of the most notable
non-communists recently buried at Novodevichy is Boris Yeltsin, the
first elected president of democratic Russia. Just 50 feet away is the
grave of Mstislav Rostropovich, the renowned cellist and conductor, who
died the same week as Yeltsin.
These gravestones of prominent people keep riddles which can be revealed by your Moscow tour guide.
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