Kuzminskoe cemetery - one of the oldest inLeningrad region. It inherited its name from the settlement of the same name, which was located near the Kuzminki River in the 18th century. Then, in the fifties of the same century, it became Tsarskoye Selo, thereby marking an increase in the number of “inhabitants” of the latter. For the same reason, the churchyard was postponed several times, prohibiting bury within the summer imperial residence. In the era of Catherine the Great, the Kuzminskoye cemetery was moved beyond the river.
Paul did not favor the man-made creation of his mother, andThe city of Sofia, which, according to the empress's plan, was to become a model for the whole power, was neglected. This does not mean that life in Tsarskoye Selo has completely stopped. People still lived here, and their last resting place was, after the funeral in the Church of the Sign, Kuzminskoye cemetery. The same applies to the priests who served in this temple, for a long time considered the court.
Special mention deserve the architectserected Tsarskoe Selo and created its architectural ensemble. The first of them went to the consecrated land in 1782 Vasily Ivanovich Neelov. His grave is protected by the state as a historical monument. The architects of the late period, Alexander Romanovich Bach and his son, who continued his father's work, were buried in the late thirties of the 20th century.
Although old, but not very famousKuzminskoye cemetery. The list of burials contains almost no surnames, which the modern man, as they say, is “well known”, although this is not always deserved. Visitors should pay tribute to the memory of Niktopolion Svyatsky - a poet, a disabled hero of the Russian-Turkish war of 1877–78, a real Russian nobleman. He was broken by paralysis, he could not write with his hands, and he created his wonderful works, filled with a shrill feeling of love, holding the pen in his teeth.
Publisher Petr Petrovich Soykin alsodeserves respect as a person who has done a lot for culture and education in our country. It is to him that we owe the three-volume edition of A. Brem “The Life of Animals”, the first Russian editions of the science fiction novels of Jules Verne and Charles Dickens.
Kuzminskoe cemetery was visited by Nikolai Gumilyov, his father was buried here.
Then came the October Revolution, and tothe ruthlessness of the new government to the people added cruelty to their memory. Kuzminskoye cemetery was no exception. Pushkin - the so-called Tsarskoye Selo since 1937. For the Bolsheviks, the old graves did not represent values, and, guided by the materialistic worldview, they allowed to destroy the tombstones, using valuable types of stone again. During the years of godlessness, crosses were massively destroyed at the cemetery, and the church was looted in 1923. In 1939 it was closed down - as the then masters of life thought, forever.
During the Great Patriotic War, the line of defense of besieged Leningrad was held here. Kuzminskoye cemetery took victims of battles and bombings. The dead were buried in mass graves.
Then there were decades of desolation.In the eighties of the 20th century, the city grew, the old cemetery was remembered, and here they were buried again. On the basis of the Church of the Annunciation destroyed during the battles, in 2007, a chapel was erected, which overshadowed everyone in this land, both known and unknown. May they be eternal memory and eternal rest!
