More from
Where are the remains of the emperors?
There is a suspicion that the graves of Russian tsars in St. Petersburg are empty today / Version
Heated discussion of the issue of the reburial of Tsarevich Alexei and Grand Duchess Mary, whose remains were recently found near Yekaterinburg, once again attracted public attention to the royal burials in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg. We remembered that immediately after the revolution these graves were plundered.
Tomb of Emperor Peter I
Moreover, this fact was carefully hidden not only in Soviet times, but somehow remains silent even today. Thus, many guidebooks to the Peter and Paul Cathedral still write that “for many years no one disturbed the peace of these graves.”
Actually this is not true. Graves began to be robbed immediately after the revolution.
By 1917, there were more than a thousand wreaths, including gold and silver, on the walls of the cathedral, columns and at the graves of emperors. Almost every grave and near it stood ancient icons and precious lamps.
Thus, above the tomb of Anna Ioanovna there were two icons - the Jerusalem one Mother of God and Saint Anna the Prophetess - in gold frames, with pearls and precious stones. The diamond crown of the Order of Malta was mounted on the tombstone of Paul I. On the tombstones of Peter I, Alexander I, Nicholas I and Alexander II lay gold, silver and bronze medals, stamped on the occasion of various anniversaries. On the wall near Peter’s tombstone there was a silver bas-relief depicting a monument to the Tsar in Taganrog; next to it, in a gold frame, hung an icon with the face of the Apostle Peter, notable for the fact that its size corresponded to the height of Peter I at birth.
By order of Peter
Peter I decided to turn the Peter and Paul Cathedral into a tomb following the example of the first Christian emperor Constantine, who built the Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople in the 4th century with the intention of turning it into his mausoleum. Over the course of two centuries, almost everyone was buried in the cathedral Russian emperors from Peter I to Alexandra III(with the exception of only Peter II, who died in Moscow and was buried in the Archangel Cathedral of the Kremlin, as well as John VI Antonovich, killed in the Shlisselburg fortress) and many members of the imperial family. Before that, all the great Moscow princes, starting with Yuri Daniilovich - the son of Grand Duke Daniel of Moscow and the Russian tsars - from Ivan the Terrible to Alexei Mikhailovich - were buried in the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin (with the exception of Boris Godunov, who was buried in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra).
During the 18th – first third of the 19th century. The Peter and Paul Cathedral was a burial place, as a rule, only for crowned heads. Since 1831, by order of Nicholas I, grand dukes, princesses and princesses also began to be buried in the cathedral. In the 18th – first third of the 19th centuries, emperors and empresses were buried wearing a golden crown. Their bodies were embalmed, the heart (in a special silver vessel) and the rest of the entrails (in a separate vessel) were buried at the bottom of the grave the day before the funeral ceremony.
In the first half of the 18th century, tombstones made of white alabaster stone were placed over burial sites. In the 1770s, during the restoration and reconstruction of the cathedral, they were replaced with new ones made of gray Karelian marble. The tombstones were covered with green or black cloth with coats of arms sewn on top, and on holidays - with gold brocade lined with ermine. In the middle of the 19th century, the first tombstones made of white Italian (Carrara) marble appeared. In 1865, by decree of Alexander II, all tombstones “that had fallen into disrepair or were not made of marble were to be made of white, according to the model of the last ones.” Fifteen tombstones were made from white Italian marble. In 1887, Alexander III ordered the white marble tombstones on the graves of his parents Alexander II and Maria Alexandrovna to be replaced with richer and more elegant ones. For this purpose, monoliths of green Altai jasper and pink Ural rhodonite were used.
By the end of the 19th century, there was practically no room left for new burials in the Peter and Paul Cathedral. Therefore, in 1896, next to the cathedral, with the permission of the emperor, the construction of the Grand Ducal Tomb began. From 1908 to 1915 13 members of the imperial family were buried in it.
Grave robbing
They have been coveting the treasures of the imperial tomb for a long time. Back in 1824, the magazine “Domestic Notes” reported that during a trip to Russia, Madame de Stael wanted to have a souvenir from the tomb of Peter I. She tried to cut off a piece of the brocade bedspread, but the church watchman noticed this, and Madame had to quickly leave the cathedral.
The catastrophe broke out after the revolution. In September-October 1917, by order of the Provisional Government, all icons and lamps, gold, silver and bronze medals from the graves, gold, silver and porcelain wreaths were removed, placed in boxes and sent to Moscow. Further fate The number of cathedral valuables removed is unknown.
But, of course, the Bolsheviks outdid all the looters.
In 1921, under the pretext of the demands of Pomgol, who came up with a project of confiscation in favor of the starving people, the imperial graves themselves were blasphemously opened and mercilessly looted. Documents about this monstrous action have not survived, but a number of memories have reached us that testify to this.
In the notes of the Russian emigrant Boris Nikolaevsky there is a dramatic story about the history of the looting of the royal graves, which was published: "Paris, " Last news", July 20, 1933. Headline: "The tombs of Russian emperors and how the Bolsheviks opened them."
“In Warsaw, one of the members of the Russian colony has a letter from one of the prominent members of the St. Petersburg GPU with a story about the opening by the Bolsheviks of the tombs of Russian emperors in the tomb of the Peter and Paul Cathedral. The opening was carried out in 1921 at the request of “Pomgol”, who came up with a project of confiscation in favor of the starving people, prisoners in the imperial tombs." The Krakow newspaper "Illustrated Courier Tsodzenny" cites this historical letter.
“...I am writing to you,” the letter begins, “under an unforgettable impression. The heavy doors of the tomb open, and the coffins of the emperors, arranged in a semicircle, appear before our eyes. The whole history of Russia is before us. The GPU Commissioner, who is the chairman of the commission, ordered to start with the youngest... Mechanics open the tomb of Alexander III. The embalmed corpse of the king was well preserved. Alexander III lies in a general's uniform, richly decorated with orders. The ashes of the tsar are quickly taken out of the silver coffin, the rings are removed from the fingers, the orders studded with diamonds are removed from the uniform, then the body of Alexander III is transferred to an oak coffin. The secretary of the commission draws up a protocol in which the jewelry confiscated from the deceased king is listed in detail. The coffin is closed and seals are placed on it."
The same procedure occurs with the coffins of Alexander II and Nicholas I. The commission members work quickly: the air in the tomb is heavy. The line outside the tomb of Alexander I. But a surprise awaits the Bolsheviks here.
The tomb of Alexander I turns out to be empty. This can obviously be seen as confirmation of the legend, according to which the death of the emperor in Taganrog and the burial of his body was a fiction, invented and staged by himself in order to end the rest of his life in Siberia as an old hermit.
The Bolshevik commission had to endure terrible moments when opening the tomb of Emperor Paul. The uniform that fits the body of the late king is perfectly preserved. But Pavel’s head made a terrible impression. The wax mask that covered his face melted due to time and temperature, and from under the remains the disfigured face of the murdered king could be seen. Everyone involved in the grim procedure of opening the tombs was in a hurry to finish their work as quickly as possible. The silver coffins of the Russian tsars, after transferring the bodies to oak ones, were placed one on top of the other. The commission that took the longest to work on was the tomb of Empress Catherine I, which turned out to be very a large number of jewelry.
“...Finally, we reached the last, or rather, the first tomb, where the remains of Peter the Great rested. The tomb was difficult to open. The mechanics said that apparently there was another empty one between the outer coffin and the inner one, which was making their work difficult. They began to drill into the tomb, and soon the lid of the coffin, placed vertically to facilitate work, opened and Peter the Great appeared in full stature before the eyes of the Bolsheviks. The commission members recoiled in fear from surprise. Peter the Great stood as if alive, his face was perfectly preserved. The great tsar, who during his lifetime aroused fear in people, once again tested the power of his formidable influence on the security officers. But during the transfer, the corpse of the great king crumbled into dust. The terrible work of the security officers was completed, and the oak coffins with the remains of the kings were transported to Saint Isaac's Cathedral, where they were placed in the basement...".
The terrible scale of the robbery
Where did the jewelry taken from the corpses then disappear? They were probably sold abroad. The Bolsheviks put the plunder of national wealth on stream, destroying not only graves and churches, but also museums, former palaces of the nobility, and mansions of the bourgeoisie. The robbery acquired absolutely incredible, downright terrible proportions. In 1917–1923, the following were sold: 3 thousand carats of diamonds, 3 pounds of gold and 300 pounds of silver from the Winter Palace; from the Trinity Lavra - 500 diamonds, 150 pounds of silver; from the Solovetsky Monastery – 384 diamonds; from the Armory - 40 poods of gold and silver scrap. This was done under the pretext of helping the hungry, but the sale of Russian church valuables did not save anyone from hunger; the treasures were sold for next to nothing.
In 1925, a catalog of valuables of the imperial court (crowns, wedding crowns, sceptres, orbs, tiaras, necklaces and other jewelry, including the famous Faberge eggs) was sent to all foreign representatives in the USSR.
Part of the Diamond Fund was sold to the English antiquarian Norman Weiss. In 1928, seven “low-value” Faberge eggs and 45 other items were removed from the Diamond Fund. All of them were sold in 1932 in Berlin. Of the nearly 300 items in the Diamond Fund, only 71 remain.
By 1934, the Hermitage had lost about 100 masterpieces of painting by old masters. In fact, the museum was on the verge of destruction. Four paintings by French impressionists were sold from the Museum of New Western Painting, and several dozen paintings from the Museum of Fine Arts. The Tretyakov Gallery lost some of its icons. Of the 18 crowns and tiaras that once belonged to the House of Romanov, only four are now kept in the Diamond Fund.
What's in the graves now?
But if the kings' jewels disappeared, what remained in their graves? Deacon Vladimir Vasilik, candidate of philological sciences, associate professor of the history department of St. Petersburg University, conducted his research. In an article recently published on the Pravoslavie.ru website, he cites testimony from a number of people who had information about the opening of graves. Here, for example, are the words of Professor V.K. Krasusky: “While still a student, I came to Leningrad in 1925 to visit my aunt Anna Adamovna Krasuskaya, Honored Scientist, Professor of Anatomy Scientific Institute them. P.F. Lesgafta. In one of my conversations with A.A. Krasuskaya told me the following: “Not long ago, the opening of the royal tombs was carried out. The opening of the tomb of Peter I made a particularly strong impression. Peter’s body was well preserved. He really looks very much like the Peter depicted in the drawings. He had a large gold cross on his chest ", which weighed a lot. Valuables were confiscated from the royal tombs."
Here's what the doctor wrote: technical sciences, Professor V.I. Angeleiko (Kharkov) L.D. Lyubimov: “I had a comrade Valentin Shmit in the gymnasium. His father F.I. Shmit headed the department of art history at Kharkov University, then went to work at Leningrad University. In 1927, I visited my friend and learned from him that in 1921 his father participated in the commission for the confiscation of church valuables, and in his presence the graves of the Peter and Paul Cathedral were opened. The commission did not find a body in the grave of Alexander I. He also told me that the body of Peter I was very well preserved.”
And here are the memoirs of D. Adamovich (Moscow): “According to the words of the late history professor N.M. Korobova... I know the following.
A member of the Academy of Arts, Grabbe, who was present at the opening of the royal graves in Petrograd in 1921, told him that Peter I was very well preserved and lay in the coffin as if alive. The Red Army soldier who helped with the autopsy recoiled in horror.
The tomb of Alexander I turned out to be empty.”
It’s strange, but conversations on this topic were conducted later only about the supposedly empty tomb of Alexander I. But even this fact is now being refuted. So, when an Interfax agency correspondent asked this question to Alexander Kolyakin, the current director of the State Museum of History of St. Petersburg (located in the Peter and Paul Fortress), he categorically stated: “Nonsense. There have been talks about this, but these are just rumors.” However, he did not provide any facts, adding only that the best reason To convince doubters is to open the emperor’s grave, but, in his opinion, there is no basis for such a procedure.
Writer Mikhail Zadornov reported on LiveJournal that at one time the mayor of St. Petersburg, Anatoly Sobchak, told him about this secret. According to Zadornov, during a walk along the sea coast of Jurmala, he asked Sobchak, who was mayor during the reburial of the family of Nicholas II in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in 1998: “I heard that other sarcophagi were opened at that time. Tell me, I promise you that for ten years I won’t tell anyone about our conversation, are there his remains in the sarcophagus of Alexander I? After all comparative analysis spent with several Russian tsars.” According to Zadornov, Sobchak paused and replied: “It’s empty there...”
Unanswered questions
In the 1990s, when the issue of identifying the royal remains of the family of Nicholas II, found near Yekaterinburg, was being decided, it was decided to open the tomb of the king’s brother, Georgy Alexandrovich, in order to take a particle of the remains for examination. The exhumation was carried out with the participation of clergy. When the marble sarcophagus was removed from above, a thick monolithic slab was discovered. Underneath it was a crypt in which stood a copper ark, a zinc coffin in it, and a wooden one in it. Despite the fact that the crypt was flooded with water, bones suitable for examination were still found. The samples were confiscated in the presence of witnesses. Two weeks later, the remains of the Grand Duke were buried in the same place. However, no one opened the tombs of the emperors themselves after 1921.
Meanwhile, archival searches by historians for the official act of opening the tombs in 1921 have so far yielded nothing. Long years The historian N. Eidelman, who dealt with this issue, came to the conclusion that a separate document is very difficult, almost impossible to find.
The opening of the tombs in 1921 could have been the result of an energetic initiative of some Petrograd institutions, whose archives over the past decades, especially during the war, were subject to various, sometimes disastrous, movements.
Deacon Vladimir Vasilik ends his study of the issue of royal burials and their looting by the Bolsheviks as follows: “It is not entirely clear whether all the graves were opened, and most importantly, the problem arises: in what condition are the remains of Russian emperors in their graves after the looting of the 1920s? ? For all its complexity and delicacy, this issue requires a calm and professional answer and solution.”
Crematorium flame
And besides, we add, there is every reason to ask another, even more dramatic question: aren’t all these graves of Russian emperors, whose remains the Bolsheviks dragged out of their tombs and robbed, empty today? Why were they then taken out of the Peter and Paul Cathedral? It is known that a certain Boris Kaplun, nephew of the powerful head of the Petrograd Cheka M. Uritsky, also took part in the opening of the royal tombs. At that time, Kaplun was creating the first crematorium in Petrograd and in Russia in general, which was launched in 1920. According to the memoirs of Korney Chukovsky, Kaplun often invited ladies he knew to the crematorium to admire the ritual of “red fire burial.”
So maybe this nephew of Uritsky came to the cathedral for the opening of the tombs with the secret task of removing the remains of the emperors and then destroying them in the crematorium? Otherwise, what was he doing there? Confiscation of jewelry was clearly not within the competence of Kaplun, who was in charge of the crematorium.
And the very fact of burning would look symbolic. After all, the Bolsheviks tried to burn the corpses of the members they killed near Yekaterinburg royal family...
The first crematorium was built on the 14th line of Vasilievsky Island in the premises of former baths. The idea of its creation was generally attractive to representatives new government. Leon Trotsky spoke in the Bolshevik press with a series of articles in which he called on all leaders Soviet government bequeath to burn their bodies. But this crematorium in Petrograd did not last long. All his archives were later destroyed. So there is no way to check this incredible version today.
Another argument in favor of the version about the likelihood of the destruction of the remains of emperors by the Bolsheviks is the decree of the Council of People's Commissars adopted on April 12, 1918 “On the removal of monuments erected in honor of the kings and their servants, and the development of projects for monuments to the Russian socialist revolution" It was targeted destruction historical memory, the initial stage of desacralization of the past and the cult of the dead, in particular. Monuments began to be demolished first in former capital Russian Empire. It was at this time that the epic began with the construction of the crematorium, which can be considered as part of the monumental propaganda plan. As part of this plan, not only monuments were destroyed, but also graves, and then entire cemeteries began to be demolished.
Simple logic generally says: why was it necessary to start this fuss, take the coffins out of the Peter and Paul Fortress, for some reason store them in another place, etc.? After all, if the Bolsheviks wanted to preserve the remains of the emperors, it would have been much easier to immediately return the remains to their original place in the Peter and Paul Cathedral. However, they took it out! But why? Did they return them back or not?.. Who will answer these questions today?
From time immemorial, Russian princes considered the Archangel Michael, who defeated Satan and guarded the gates of the Garden of Eden, as the patron of their squads. Every time they went on a hike, they served him a prayer service. That is why, in the middle of the 13th century, a wooden temple dedicated to him appeared in the capital, which became the predecessor of the current Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin, which turned into a church in the period of the 14th-18th centuries. to the royal and grand ducal tomb. Let's look at his story.
Wooden predecessor of the future cathedral
According to historians, a wooden church in honor of the Archangel Michael appeared on the Kremlin’s Cathedral Square around 1248, during the reign of Alexander Nevsky’s brother, Grand Duke Mikhail Khorobrit, and was not intended for the burial of the rulers of the state. This is evidenced by the fact that the ashes of Prince Mikhail himself, who died during the Lithuanian campaign, were buried not in Moscow, but in Vladimir. Only two representatives of the grand ducal family were buried in this church. They became Khorobrit's nephew Grand Duke Daniil and his son Yuri.
Temple built by vow
This one early church stood for a little less than a hundred years, and in the 30s of the next century it gave way to the first stone cathedral. It was erected in 1333 by decree of the Grand Duke of Vladimir and Moscow Ivan Kalita, who vowed to build it on the territory of the Kremlin if the Lord would save Rus' from famine caused by a crop failure.
Now it is difficult to judge what this structure looked like, since no images of it have survived. But the description of the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin of that time, which has come down to us among other historical documents, says that it was small and, apparently, had four pillars. Subsequently, two new chapels were added to it.
Temple victim of lightning
Despite the fact that this temple was built of stone, its life was also short-lived. In the middle of the 15th century, during a terrible thunderstorm, it was struck by lightning, and although the fire that started was managed to be extinguished in a timely manner, the walls were damaged. serious damage. The cracks that formed in them grew larger over time, and by the end of the century this second Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin threatened to collapse at any moment. To prevent misfortune, the Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan III, who ruled in those years - the grandfather of the future Tsar Ivan the Terrible - ordered to dismantle the emergency structure and build a new cathedral in its place.
Who built the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin?
It should be noted that the moment for the construction of the temple was very suitable. At that time, Moscow, actively growing, was decorated with new churches, monasteries, and this caused an influx of foreign builders and architects, mainly from Italy. Their monument can be the battlements made in the form of “swallowtails” and being a striking example of the Lombard style.
So for the construction of the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin, photos of which are presented in the article, an architect who was included in the Russian history under the name Aleviz Fryazin Novy. It should not be surprising that the Italian architect had a Russian surname. In fact, the word Fryazin was a nickname that, in the jargon of that time, denoted hired craftsmen hired by princes from abroad. It is characteristic that this is how the Italian was registered in the account books according to which he received his salary.
Solving a complex architectural problem
It is known that even before the start of work on the construction of the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin, Aleviz created designs for several secular buildings that were very popular with customers. But it is one thing to build a residential or public building, and quite another thing to build a religious building, in which it is necessary to strictly adhere to the established canons. The difficulty was that Ivan III wanted the temple to meet the requirements of European fashion and at the same time not go beyond the Orthodox tradition.
To the credit of Master Aleviz, it should be said that he brilliantly coped with such a difficult task. His brainchild perfectly combines the strict geometry of the Italian Renaissance with the characteristic elements of Russian temple architecture. The five-domed cathedral he erected has a traditional cross-dome system and semi-circular vaults in its layout, which makes it similar to the tower style of ancient Russian churches.
In addition, in accordance with the requirements of the canon, a two-tier porch and choirs were built inside, from which representatives of the princely family could observe the progress of the service. Otherwise, the architecture of the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin corresponds to the style that then became widespread in Western Europe and became distinctive feature Renaissance.
Under the patronage of Vasily III
The start of construction work was preceded by the complete (and according to some sources, partial) dismantling of the former temple, built by Ivan Kalita. Upon its completion in October 1505, Ivan III personally laid the first stone in the foundation of the future structure, and by a fateful coincidence, he died a few days later, transferring the reign to his son, who entered the national history under the title of Grand Duke of Moscow Vasily III and who became the father of the first Russian Tsar Ivan the Terrible. He supervised the entire progress of construction work, which lasted four years.
Exactly Vasily III came up with the idea to make the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin the tomb of the Russian tsars. He issued a corresponding decree in 1508, when the construction was nearing completion. It is characteristic that until the twentieth century, only men were buried in the cathedral, while representatives of the royal family found eternal rest within the walls of the Kremlin Church of the Ascension of Our Lady. Only after it was blown up by the Bolsheviks were all the female remains transferred to the Archangel Cathedral.
The cathedral that became the tomb of the kings
Today, under the shadow of the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin, there are 54 male graves. Before St. Petersburg became the capital of Russia in 1712, bishop’s memorial services were held near each of them on the anniversary of the Dormition. With a few exceptions, all Russian rulers from Ivan Kalita to Peter I’s brother and co-ruler, Tsar Alekseevich, found eternal peace here. The ashes of 15-year-old Tsar Peter II, who died of smallpox, were placed here in 1730. Despite the fact that by that time the Peter and Paul Cathedral of the new capital had become the burial place of the kings, an exception was made for it, fearing the spread of infection.
Among Russian rulers from those centuries whose remains were not included in the burials of the Archangel Cathedral, only two can be named - this is the Grand Duke of Moscow Daniil Alexandrovich (1261-1303), buried in the Danilov Monastery, and Tsar Boris Godunov (1552-1605). His ashes were thrown out of the cathedral by False Dmitry, and later reburied in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra.
The mystery of the death of Ivan the Terrible
Among the most famous historical figures associated with the history of the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin is Tsar Ivan the Terrible. During his lifetime, he repeatedly endowed him with rich gifts, and at the end of his days he wished to give himself and his two sons special places for burial. Fulfilling the will of the sovereign, after his death his body was placed in the southern part of the altar - the so-called deaconry, where it is customary to keep sacred objects such as the Gospel, crosses, tabernacles, etc.
To the number interesting facts about the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin should include the research of the outstanding Soviet anthropologist M.M. Gerasimov, who in 1963 opened the grave of Ivan the Terrible and, based on studying the skull, managed to recreate a portrait of the deceased monarch. It is curious that in the bones of the king and his wife Martha, whose remains are also in the cathedral, he discovered high content mercury, indicating that they were systematically poisoned, and the bloodsucker king did not die a natural death. This hypothesis was put forward earlier, but in in this case it has been given scientific confirmation.
Restoration and restoration work carried out in the 19th century
Over the past two centuries, the Archangel Cathedral has been repeatedly repaired and subject to restoration. Usually this was due to its natural wear and tear, which is an inevitable consequence of the past centuries, but sometimes the cause was extraordinary circumstances. So, in 1812, the French, who captured Moscow, set up a military kitchen in the altar of the cathedral. The iconostasis and part of the wall paintings were seriously damaged by the smoke of the fires and steam rising from the boilers. After the expulsion of these European barbarians, large-scale restoration work. At the same time, some of the columns that were part of the decoration of the lower tier were replaced, and the unique carving of the iconostasis was restored.
What did the 20th century bring to the cathedral?
A large amount of work on the improvement and restoration of the cathedral was carried out in 1913, when the three-hundredth anniversary of the Reigning House of Romanov was celebrated. For the celebrations organized on the occasion of such a significant date, a marble canopy was built over the tomb of the founder of the dynasty - Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich. It was made according to sketches made personally by Grand Duke Peter Nikolaevich, the grandson of Emperor Nicholas I.
The next time significant damage was caused to the cathedral was in 1917, when, after the October armed coup, it came under artillery fire shelling the Kremlin. Soon after this, services there ceased, and long time The doors of the temple remained locked. Only in 1929 were they opened to bring into the basement (lower floor) tombs with the remains of women belonging to the Rurik and Romanov dynasties. As mentioned above, this happened after the Church of the Ascension of the Virgin Mary, where they had been located until then, was blown up.
Revival from oblivion
In 1955, a museum was opened in the premises of the cathedral, where services had not been held for a long time, which made it possible to carry out some restoration work and protect it from further destruction. This status remained with him until the fall of the communist regime, which marked the beginning of the return to the Church of property illegally taken from it.
Among other shrines, the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin returned to its fold, the address of which is extremely simple and known to all residents of the capital. It consists of only two words: From then on, spiritual life, interrupted for almost eight centuries, resumed in him.
They said goodbye to Peter I for a very long time, to such an extent that the body began to smell, the smells filled the entire Winter Palace. A decision was made to embalm the body and place it in the chapel of the Peter and Paul Cathedral under construction, Peter I was there for six years, before the proper decision was made to bury the remains of the emperor, they were buried right in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in the Tsar’s Tomb, before the burial the coffin was in the chapel, at that time it was under construction.
Peter the First is buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral St. Petersburg. This cathedral is the tomb of all subsequent rulers of Russia. No one has ever been baptized or married in this cathedral. It was Peter who first decided to build this temple as the last refuge of royalty.
Peter 1 turned out to be the emperor who, with his own hand, founded not only his own tomb, but also the tomb of the entire imperial family, the House of Romanov. This happened in 1712, when Peter decided to found a huge stone cathedral, called Peter and Paul Cathedral, on the site of a temporary wooden church. The emperor, who had a touching attitude towards all his creations, assigned a great role to the cathedral founded with his own hands - to serve as the final resting place for the Russian rulers. Perhaps Peter was prompted to this decision by the fact that his daughter Catherine, who died at the age of one and a half, was buried in the wooden church that preceded the great cathedral in 1708. Further, already in the cathedral under construction, Peter’s children Natalya, Margarita, Alexei and Pavel, Tsarevich Alexei’s wife Charlotte-Christiana, and also Tsarina Sophia were buried. In 1725, Peter the Great himself was buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral. However, the emperor’s body rested in a hearse for 6 years, and was interred only in May 1731.
Emperor Peter I is buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral, which is located in one of the most visited places by tourists in the city on the Neva - the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg.
This cathedral contains the royal family tomb. Peter the Great died in January 1725 at the age of 52. His wife Catherine I outlived her husband by two years and died in May 1727 at the age of 43. She was buried next to Peter. The graves of the emperor and empress, as well as other representatives of the royal family, are located under a stone floor, with marble tombs with inscriptions on the slabs on top.
Construction of the temple began on June 29, 1703, literally a few months after Peter I founded a fortress on the small island of Zayachiy in the Neva delta, which gave rise to the new capital of Russia.
Its official name is the Cathedral in the name of the supreme apostles Peter and Paul. The construction of the cathedral was led by the architect Domenico Trezzini. Until 2012 this was the most high building St. Petersburg, since its height was 122 meters.
Basic construction works were carried out over 8 years. A chiming clock was installed on the cathedral, purchased in Holland for a lot of money.
An interesting fact is that, by order of Peter, captured banners and standards taken in battle were displayed in the cathedral. This tradition continued after the death of Peter I.
The flag from the admiral's Turkish ship, captured in the Battle of Chesme, Catherine II in 1772 solemnly laid on the tomb of the creator of the Russian navy.
Over time, a large number of banners accumulated in the cathedral, and the architect Montferrand created special gilded cabinets in which captured standards were stored.
The first funeral took place long before Peter’s death. In 1708, still in the old wooden church, the one and a half year old daughter of Peter I, Catherine, found eternal peace. In 1715, four more were added to it. First they buried Peter's daughters Natalya and Margarita, then Queen Martha, the widow of Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich. And later, in the cathedral under construction, Princess Charlotte-Christiana Sophia, the wife of Tsarevich Alexei, was buried. So the Peter and Paul Cathedral turned into the tomb of the Romanovs.
The Peter and Paul Cathedral of the Peter and Paul Fortress of St. Petersburg is traditionally the tomb of the Russian Sovereigns of the Romanov dynasty.
It is in this cathedral that Peter the Great rests in a white marble sarcophagus.
There is a legend that during the October Revolution, vandals tried to open the sarcophagus of the late Emperor, but, being afraid, abandoned this idea.
In July 1998, in the Peter and Paul Cathedral, the remains of the last Emperor of the Romanov family, Nicholas II, his family and the servants who died with them were interred.
Peter l died on February 8 (January 28), 1725 in the Winter Palace. He was buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral, which is located in the Peter and Paul Fortress (St. Petersburg (Hare Island)). It is noteworthy that Peter himself founded this cathedral.
In addition to Peter I, all subsequent Russian emperors and empresses of the Romanov family who came after him (except Peter II and Ivan Vl) are buried there.
It is worth noting that due to the fact that at the time of the Emperor’s death the Cathedral had not yet been built, the burial did not take place immediately, but only on May 29, 1731. Before this, the coffin with Peter's body was in a temporary chapel outside the cathedral under construction.
Peter the Great, who was Emperor of the Russian state, died of illness in the winter of 1725. He was such a great man and founder of the city of St. Petersburg that his funeral coffin was exhibited in the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg and everyone could say goodbye to him by visiting the funeral hall of the Winter Palace.
After this, Peter the Great was buried in the Royal Tomb of the Peter and Paul Cathedral, which is located in the city of St. Petersburg. In general, many other members of the royal dynasty are buried in the Peter and Paul Fortress.
Ptr I - great emperor, thanks to which the city of St. Petersburg appeared. Ptr was the first to do a lot for his people, although perhaps somewhere he was strict and rude. Thanks to him, much was discovered at that time. Ptr was the first to die of illness in 1725. The farewell to the emperor was very long, since there were very many people who wanted to. The grave of Peter I is located in St. Petersburg in the Peter and Paul Fortress. Many other personalities of this dynasty are also buried there.
It is in the Peter and Paul Cathedral of the Peter and Paul Fortress in the city on the Neva that the grave of Peter the Great is located. This is what it looks like now.
This seems strange, but the revolution and wars did not destroy the memory of Peter 1.
Russian Emperor Peter the Great died in the Winter Palace in January 1725 at the age of 52. The cause of death was given as inflammation Bladder which turned into gangrene. The emperor's body was displayed in the mourning hall of the Winter Palace so that everyone could say goodbye to him. The farewell period lasted for more than a month. Peter lay in a coffin in a brocade camisole with lace, in boots with spurs, with a sword and the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called on his chest. As a result, the corpse began to decompose, bad smell began to spread throughout the palace. The emperor's body was embalmed and transferred to Petropavlovsk. However, only 6 years later the emperor’s body was buried in the Royal Tomb of the Peter and Paul Cathedral; before that, the coffin with the embalmed body simply stood in the temporary chapel of the cathedral that was still under construction.
The wife of Peter I, Catherine, survived her husband by only 2 years. The balls, entertainment and revelry that the Dowager Empress indulged in day and night seriously undermined her health. Catherine died in May 1725 at the age of 43. If Peter I, by right of birth, was to rest in the Royal Tomb, then his wife could not boast of noble origin. Catherine I, née Marta Skavronskaya, was born into a Baltic peasant family. She was captured by the Russian army during Northern War. Peter was so fascinated by the captive peasant woman that he even married her and crowned her. The body of the Empress, like her husband, was betrayed only in 1731 by order of Anna Ioannovna.
Royal tombs
In the pre-Petrine era, all members ruling dynasty in Rus' they were buried in the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. All Moscow princes and kings are buried there, starting with Ivan Kalita. During the reign of Peter I there was no specific burial place for royalty. Members of the imperial family were buried in the Annunciation Alexander Nevsky Lavra. In 1715, the youngest daughter of Peter and Catherine, Natalya, died. The Emperor ordered it in the Cathedral of Peter and Paul, which at that time had not yet been completed. From this year, the Peter and Paul Cathedral became the new royal tomb.
All the kings rest within the walls of the Peter and Paul Cathedral: from Peter I to Alexander III. The burials of Peter and his wife Catherine are located near the southern entrance to the cathedral. They are small crypts located under a stone floor. These crypts contain metal arks with coffins. Above the graves are marble slabs decorated with inscriptions and golden crosses.
History of the Peter and Paul Cathedral
Construction of the Peter and Paul Cathedral in 1712, Emperor Peter laid the first stone in its foundation. The work was supervised by the Italian architect Domenico Trezzini. The interior decoration of the temple amazed with its luxury and splendor. The vaults were decorated with 18 paintings with scenes from the New Testament. The cathedral had a special royal place under the canopy, which was occupied by the monarch during services. When the Bolsheviks came to power, the cathedral and tomb were closed and sealed. All church valuables were confiscated to help the starving. In 1998, the remains of Emperor Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra and their daughters Tatiana, Olga and Anastasia were buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral.
Half a century ago, because of these disputes, the tombs of the king and his son were even opened.
“AiF” decided to remember what came of it and what other famous tombs were opened.
Ivan groznyj and his son Ivan rest in the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin - the tomb of the Russian tsars. The decision to open the graves in 1963 was achieved by a famous scientist Mikhail Gerasimov.
Was Grozny poisoned?
The official protocol says that when they began to move the heavy slab from the king’s sarcophagus, it “broke in two like a piece of ice.” The incident was reminiscent of what happened when Gerasimov participated in the excavation of a grave in June 1941 Tamerlane in Samarkand. On the morning of June 21, 1941, they began to remove a massive slab from Tamerlane’s burial, but it suddenly split, and the lighting fixtures installed in the mausoleum went out. Allegedly, on the day of the opening of Tamerlane’s grave, scientists were told the words of local elders that this should not be done - a war would begin. The war really began the next day, June 22. In fairness, we note: they started talking about the prophecy retroactively, decades after the opening of the tomb.
Sculptural reproduction of the head of Tsar Ivan the Terrible. Reconstruction based on a skull from a burial in the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. Sculptor M.M. Gerasimov. Photo: www.globallookpress.com
The expedition of scientists to Samarkand was widely covered in the press. The same cannot be said about the opening of the tombs in the Archangel Cathedral. Gerasimov specifically discussed with his colleagues: “The work should not be pompous and noisy.” When the scientists finally came to film television, nothing came of it (see “Leafing through the AiF files”).
Opening of Tamerlane's grave. 1941 Photo: Public Domain
Inside, the tomb of Tsar Ivan the Terrible turned out to be a simple monastic burial - shortly before his death, the sovereign accepted the great schema with the name And she. Chemical-toxicological studies of the remains showed multiple levels of mercury in the bones of Ivan Vasilyevich and his son Ivan, while the Tsar’s other son had - Fedora, whose grave was also opened, the mercury did not exceed natural levels. Experts did not rule out that the Tsar and his eldest son Ivan could have been poisoned. But the version that Grozny killed his son with a blow to the head from a staff has not been proven.
White stone sarcophagi of Tsarevich Ivan Ioannovich and the Tsar of All Rus' and the Grand Duke of Moscow Fyodor Ioannovich. Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. Photo: RIA Novosti / G. Shcherbakov
The results of the work in the royal tomb of the Archangel Cathedral were strictly recorded. And the details of what happened in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg now have to be reconstructed bit by bit. This cathedral is another tomb of Russian sovereigns, where burials began with Peter I. In the 20s XX century During the campaign to confiscate church valuables, they were also opened. This is what the professor wrote V. Kasursky: “Not long ago, the opening of the royal tombs was carried out. The opening of the tomb of Peter I made a particularly strong impression. Peter's body was well preserved... On his chest he had a large gold cross, which weighed a lot. Extractions were carried out from the tombs... Tomb Alexandra I empty." Member of the Grabbe Academy of Arts, who was present at the opening of the royal graves in 1921, said: “Peter I lay in the coffin as if alive. The Red Army soldier who helped with the autopsy recoiled in horror. The tomb of Alexander I turned out to be empty.”
Experts explain the possible safety of the remains of Peter I by the fact that the emperor was embalmed after his death and buried only six years after his death - when the Peter and Paul Cathedral was erected.
Has the Emperor become an old man?
And the fact that the grave of Emperor Alexander I was empty speaks in favor of the version that the autocrat faked his death. The sudden death of Tsar-Liberator Alexander I in 1825 immediately gave rise to a wave of mistrust. The Emperor was 48 years old and in excellent health. Alexander I fell ill while returning from Crimea. Upon arrival in Taganrog, he came down with a fever. And soon they reported that the sovereign had died. Amazing fact— the empress did not attend the funeral service for her late husband in the Taganrog Cathedral. She also did not accompany the funeral procession to Moscow and then to St. Petersburg for the funeral.
The fact that the emperor’s body was not shown to the people also gave rise to all sorts of speculation. In Moscow, due to fears of popular unrest, troops were gathered at the Kremlin, where the coffin for farewell was installed in the Archangel Cathedral. However, the farewell was not nationwide. The coffin was opened at night only for those closest to him - those who were initiated into the secret of the emperor. It is believed that he could have decided to leave the throne because of remorse associated with the death of his father Paul I. Alexander I did not kill him directly, but, knowing about the impending coup, he did not prevent the bloody outcome. He also perceived the death of his two young daughters as retribution for a grave sin. He decided to “die” to the world and devote himself to God. There is a lot of evidence that Alexander I is the elder Fyodor Kuzmich, who appeared in Siberia after the alleged death of the emperor. Already in our time, the Russian Orthodox Church canonized the elder as the righteous Theodore of Tomsk as part of the Council of Siberian Saints. The final argument in favor of the fact that the emperor and the elder are one person could now be the official opening of the grave of Alexander I, but so far there is no talk of this.But in 2015, the burial of Alexander III in the Peter and Paul Cathedral was opened for the purpose of conducting a genetic examination. The remains from the royal tomb were planned to be compared with those found in Sverdlovsk region and are attributed to his son, Emperor Nicholas II. So far, the results of the investigation have not been reported.
Leafing through the AiF files
Galina Lebedinskaya For many years she headed the laboratory of plastic reconstruction at the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the Russian Academy of Sciences. In 1999, she told our journalist about the strange things that happened in the laboratory when she had to restore the appearance of Ivan the Terrible from his skull.
Galina Lebedinskaya. Photo: / Eduard Kudryavitsky
The grave of the tsar and his sons was opened in 1963. Ivan the Terrible was buried in monastic robes, his skeleton was well preserved, but the skull of his son Ivan literally crumbled into crumbs before our eyes. Therefore, it was not possible to answer the question: was the prince really killed by a blow to the temple from a staff?
When they began to restore the appearance of the king, documentary filmmakers came to the laboratory. From that moment on, some inexplicable things began to happen. First, the filmmakers' Jupiter exploded, then the film caught fire. The photographer asked to pose with the king’s skull - the flash burned out.
A few days later, the lights in the laboratory suddenly went out. The employees lit a candle and, as a joke (everyone was an atheist back then), began to evoke the spirit of the great Tsar of All Rus'. Suddenly the candle fell, went out and at the same time loudly slammed Entrance door. It was as if the soul of the disturbed king burst out. Everyone was very scared.
Loading...