Necropolis near the Kremlin wall

Necropolis near the Kremlin wall

Necropolis near the Kremlin wall - a memorial cemetery on Moscow's Red Square, near the Kremlin wall and in the wall itself, which serves as a columbarium for urns with ashes. The burial place of state, party and military leaders of the Soviet state, participants in the October Revolution of 1917. In the 1920s-1930s, foreign communist revolutionaries (John Reed, Sen Katayama, Clara Zetkin, Fritz Heckert and others) were also buried there.

History of the Necropolis

mass graves

The necropolis began to take shape in November 1917.

On November 5, 7 and 8, the Sotsial-Democrat newspaper published appeals to all organizations and individuals to provide information about those who fell during the October armed uprising of 1917 in Moscow, fighting on the side of the Bolsheviks.

On November 7, at a morning meeting, the Moscow Military Revolutionary Committee decided to arrange a mass grave on Red Square and scheduled a funeral for November 10.

On November 8, two mass graves were dug: between the Kremlin wall and the tram rails that ran parallel to it. One grave started from the Nikolsky Gate and stretched to the Senate Tower, then there was a small gap, and the second went to the Spassky Gate. On November 9, newspapers published detailed routes of funeral processions in 11 city districts and the hours of their arrival on Red Square. Given the possible dissatisfaction of the inhabitants of Moscow, the Moscow Military Revolutionary Committee decided to arm all the soldiers participating in the funeral with rifles.

On November 10, 238 coffins were lowered into mass graves. In total, 240 people were buried in 1917 (14.11 - Lisinova and 17.11 - Valdovsky) (the names of 57 people are known for sure).

Later, 15 more “mass graves of the fighters of the revolution” appeared near the Kremlin wall, who died at different times of their own death and were later buried in common graves, or died together in disasters (for example, during the crash of an air car in which Artyom (Sergeev) and a number of others died Bolsheviks). After 1927 this practice ceased.

As a result, more than 300 people were buried in mass graves, the exact names of 110 people are known. In the book of Abramov, a martyrology is given, in which 122 more people are indicated, who, most likely, are also buried in mass graves.

In the early years of Soviet power, on November 7 and May 1, an honorary military guard was posted at the Mass Graves, and the regiments took the oath.

In 1919, Ya. M. Sverdlov was buried for the first time in a separate grave on Red Square.

In 1924, the Lenin Mausoleum was built, which became the center of the necropolis.

Burials in the 1920s-1980s

Subsequently, the necropolis was replenished with two types of burials:

• especially prominent figures of the party and government (Sverdlov, and then Frunze, Dzerzhinsky, Kalinin, Zhdanov, Voroshilov, Budyonny, Suslov, Brezhnev, Andropov and Chernenko) are buried near the Kremlin wall to the right of the Mausoleum without cremation, in a coffin and in a grave. In the same grave, in 1961, the body of I.V. Stalin, taken out of the Mausoleum, was buried. Above them are monuments - sculptural portraits by S. D. Merkurov (busts at the first four burials in 1947 and Zhdanov in 1949), N. V. Tomsky (busts of Stalin, 1970, and Budyonny, 1975), N. I. Bratsuna (bust of Voroshilov, 1970), I. M. Rukavishnikov (busts of Suslov, 1983, and Brezhnev, 1983), V. A. Sonin (bust of Andropov, 1985), L. E. Kerbel (bust of Chernenko, 1986).
• most of the people buried in the necropolis in the 1930s-1980s were cremated, and the urns with their ashes were immured in the wall (on both sides of the Senate Tower) under the memorial plates, which indicate the name and dates of life (114 people in total). In 1925-1936 (before S. S. Kamenev and A. P. Karpinsky), urns were mostly walled up on the right side of the Necropolis, but in 1934, 1935 and 1936 Kirov, Kuibyshev and Maxim Gorky were buried on the left side; starting from 1937 (Ordzhonikidze, Maria Ulyanova), burials completely moved to the left side and were carried out only there until 1976 (the only exception is G.K. Zhukov, whose ashes were buried in 1974 on the right side, next to S.S. Kamenev); from 1977 until the cessation of burials, they again “returned” to the right side.

Regardless of whether the burial was really carried out in a grave near the wall or by immuring an urn with ashes into the wall, the USSR mass media used the wording “buried in Red Square at the Kremlin wall". In the late 1960s, when funerals in the necropolis began to be regularly shown on television, Soviet viewers began to notice the discrepancy between the official wording and the actual ritual. A group of fifteen specialists from the Institute of the Russian Language of the USSR Academy of Sciences turned to the Central Committee of the CPSU with a proposal to use the wording "The urn with ashes was installed in the Kremlin wall" in the case of cremation. A few weeks later, an official response came from the Central Committee of the party with the decision to leave the old wording unchanged, and no justification for this decision was given.

Politicians who were in disgrace or retired at the time of death were not buried near the Kremlin wall (for example, N. S. Khrushchev, A. I. Mikoyan and N. V. Podgorny rest at the Novodevichy cemetery).

In the event that a particular person was posthumously condemned by the party, his burial in the Kremlin wall was not liquidated (for example, the urns with the ashes of S. S. Kamenev, A. Ya. Vyshinsky and L. Z. Mekhlis were not touched in any way).

In the necropolis near the Kremlin wall, in addition to the party and state leaders of the USSR, there are the ashes of outstanding pilots (1930s - 1940s), dead cosmonauts (1960s - 1970s), prominent scientists (A.P. Karpinsky, I.V. Kurchatov, S. P. Korolev, M. V. Keldysh).

Until 1976, all those who died with the rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union were buried near the Kremlin wall, but, starting with P.K. Koshevoy, marshals were also buried in other cemeteries.

After the death of V. I. Lenin, I. V. Stalin, Yu. A. Gagarin, M. A. Suslov, L. I. Brezhnev, Yu. V. Andropov, D. F. Ustinov, K. U. Chernenko The country was in state mourning. The funeral of especially prominent people on Red Square was broadcast on the radio, and from the beginning of the 70s on Central Television. The first funeral, which was shown on Central Television, was the funeral of cosmonauts Dobrovolsky, Volkov and Patsaev, who died during their descent to Earth on June 30, 1971. Later, the funerals of A. N. Kosygin, M. A. Suslov, L. I. Brezhnev, A. Ya. Pelshe, Yu. V. Andropov, D. F. Ustinov, K. U. Chernenko were also shown on television.

The last one whose ashes were placed in the Kremlin wall was D. F. Ustinov, who died in December 1984. The last to be buried in a grave near the Kremlin wall was K. U. Chernenko (March 1985).

The last person planned to be buried at the Kremlin wall was A. A. Gromyko, who died in July 1989 (although he was already a pensioner at the time of his death). However, taking into account his own will and at the request of his relatives, he was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery. After that, the question of burying someone in the Kremlin necropolis was never raised again. The issue of issuing a permit for burial in the Kremlin necropolis is currently in the exclusive competence of the President of the Russian Federation.

Decor

On June 28, 1918, the Presidium of the Moscow City Council approved a project according to which mass graves should be framed with three rows of lindens.

In the autumn of 1931, blue spruces were planted along the mass graves instead of lindens. In Moscow, under conditions of low temperatures, blue spruce does not take root well, it almost does not produce seeds. For more than 15 years, the scientist-breeder I.P. Kovtunenko (1891-1984) worked on this problem.

Until 1973, in addition to firs, mountain ash, lilac and hawthorn grew in the necropolis.

In 1973-1974, according to the project of architects G. M. Vulfson and V. P. Danilushkin and sculptor P. I. Bondarenko, the necropolis was reconstructed. Then banners made of granite, wreaths on marble slabs, vases for flowers appeared, new blue fir trees were planted in groups of three (since the old ones, growing as a solid wall, blocked the view of the Kremlin wall and memorial plaques), the stands and granite of the Mausoleum were updated. Instead of four firs, one was planted behind each bust.

The fate of the Necropolis

In 1953, a resolution was adopted by the Council of Ministers and the Central Committee of the CPSU on the liquidation of the necropolis and the transfer of the ashes of those resting near the wall, as well as the bodies of Lenin and Stalin, to the Pantheon being designed; soon this project was forgotten.

Since 1974, the necropolis has been protected by the state as a monument. In the 1990s - 2000s, the question of liquidating the necropolis was repeatedly raised (for political, religious or other reasons).

During the opening of the Federal War Memorial Cemetery, its chief architect announced the possibility of transferring the remains from the necropolis near the Kremlin wall to this cemetery and creating a special columbarium for this purpose.

mass grave

List of those resting at the Kremlin wall

Separate graves

1. Chernenko, Konstantin Ustinovich (1911-1985)
2. Budyonny, Semyon Mikhailovich (1883-1973)
3. Voroshilov, Kliment Efremovich (1881-1969)
4. Zhdanov, Andrey Alexandrovich (1896-1948)
5. Frunze, Mikhail Vasilyevich (1885-1925)
6. Sverdlov, Yakov Mikhailovich (1885-1919)
7. Brezhnev, Leonid Ilyich (1906-1982)
8. Dzerzhinsky, Felix Edmundovich (1877-1926)
9. Andropov, Yuri Vladimirovich (1914-1984)
10. Kalinin, Mikhail Ivanovich (1875-1946)
11. Stalin, Joseph Vissarionovich (1878/79-1953)
12. Suslov, Mikhail Andreevich (1902-1982)

1917

Andreev Pavlik, Baskakov T. A., Valdovsky Ya. M., Vever O., Virzemnek O. K., Voytovich V. E.

« Dvintsy»: Sapunov E. N., Voronov A. P., Skvortsov G. A., Timofeev A. T., Zaporozhets A. P., Nazarov I. A., Usoltsev M. T., Trunov N. R., Gavrikov Ya. V., Vladimirov S. V., Inyushev A. A., Nedelkin T. F., Timofeev G.

"Kremlin": Dudinskiy I. A., Agafoshin S., Goryunov S., Zvonov, Zimin I., Ivanov I., Kokorev S., Kosarev A., Kospyanik P., Krashenilnikov V., Leshchikov A., Lizenko F., Lysenkov F., Petukhov I., Romanov V., Ryzhev M., Smirnov A., Sologudinov F., Soplyakov, Fedorov S., Khokhlov S., Tsipliakov S., Shefarevich V.

Elagin G. L., Zveynek Ya. E., Kireev A. A.

Lisinova L. A., Mikhailov L. F., Morozov V. E.

"Scooters": Tomsky G.V., Drozdov F., Esaulov D.

Sakharov, Snegirev N. M., Stepachev I. G., Sukharev A. A., Shiryaev S. A., Shcherbakov P. P.

1918

Vantorin A.I., Tyapkin P.G., Erov I.S.,

Barasevich F. K., Gadomsky A. V., Draudyn M., Zasukhin P. A., Kvardakov A. V., Kuchutenkov A. A., Pekalov S. M., Pryamikov N. N., Smilga I. I. ., Horak A., Shvyrkov E. P.

Zveinek G. P., Zagorsky V. M., Volkova M., Ignatova I. M., Kvash A. L., Kolbin, Kropotov N. N., Nikolaeva A. F., Razorenov-Nikitin G. N., Safonov A. K., Titov G. V., Khaldina A. N., Tankus S. N., Mokryak M. I., Stankevich A. V.

Podbelsky V. N., Bocharov Ya. I., Khomyakov I. M., Yanyshev M. P., Osen A., Armand I. F., John Reed, Kovshov V. D.

Karpov L. Ya., Rusakov I. V.,

aircar accident

Abakovsky V. I., Artyom (Sergeev F. A.), Gelbrich O., Konstantinov I., Strupat O., Freeman D., Hewlett V. D.

Urns with ashes

Afonin E. L., Zhilin I. Ya.

Vorovskiy V.V., Vorovskaya D.M.

Nogin V. P., Likhachev V. M.

Narimanov N.

Voikov P. L.

Urns with ashes

Contacts

Address: Moscow, Red Square, Kremlin wall