EntranceRoyal tombs. Burials in the Peter and Paul Fortress Where is the grave of Peter 1
Peter and Paul Cathedral
The Peter and Paul Cathedral, whose gilded spire has become one of the symbols of St. Petersburg, is widely known as an outstanding architectural monument of the first half of the 18th century. Its history as a tomb of the Russian Imperial House is much less covered.
Meanwhile, contemporaries perceived the Peter and Paul Cathedral primarily as a necropolis of the House of Romanov, and its church services were largely dedicated to this. Many leading architects and artists of the city took part in the sad design of the cathedral for mourning ceremonies - D. Trezii, A. Vist, G. Quarenghi, O. Montferrand and others. Unfortunately, only contemporaries of the events could see all this, since after the funeral the funeral decorations were dismantled, and the cathedral took on its usual appearance.
The Cathedral in the name of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul in the St. Petersburg Fortress, called “Peter and Paul” since 1858, was built in 1712-1733 according to the design of the architect Domenico Trezzini.
Consecrated on June 29, 1733, the cathedral is one of the most interesting architectural monuments of the Baroque era. The temple is a rectangular building stretched from west to east, above the eastern part of which rises a drum topped with a dome, and above the western part is a bell tower with a gilded spire. The latter remains the highest (122.5 meters) architectural structure cities.
The Peter and Paul Cathedral occupied a special place among the churches of St. Petersburg. Being a cathedral, it was also the tomb of the Imperial House of Romanov.
The custom of burying members of the ruling dynasty in temples, based on the ancient idea of the divine origin of their power, was widespread throughout the Christian world. In pre-Petrine Rus', such a temple was the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. With the transfer of the capital from Moscow to St. Petersburg in 1712, its functions were transferred to the Peter and Paul Cathedral. The creation of the tomb in St. Petersburg was supposed to serve as one of the many proofs of the new era of Russian history begun by Peter I.
<...>The Peter and Paul Cathedral absorbed features characteristic of that culture - active Europeanization while simultaneously preserving the foundations of Orthodoxy. These features also explain the cathedral’s numerous connections with other monuments of Russian and world history.
Painting "The appearance of an angel to the myrrh-bearers at the tomb of the Savior"
Painting "Christ's Prayer for the Chalice"
In events national history it took the place of the Archangel Cathedral. On this occasion, one of the first historians of the cathedral wrote: “...The Archangel Cathedral in Moscow is very rightly called the “Sanctuary of Russian History”, as it contains the remains of our Grand Dukes from Kalita... to Tsar Ivan Alekseevich. This name, just as rightly, belongs to the Peter and Paul Cathedral - as it serves as the tomb of the Most August Persons of our Imperial House since the founding of St. Petersburg...” In world events, Peter I, having turned the Peter and Paul Cathedral into a tomb, seemed to continue the tradition of the first
Christian Emperor Constantine, who in the 4th century built the Church of the Holy Apostles in the new capital of his empire, Constantinople, with the intention of turning it into his mausoleum and tomb of the entire dynasty. In the 6th century, the Frankish king Clovis built the Basilica of the Apostles Peter and Paul on the left bank of the Seine, which also became his tomb.
Over the course of two centuries, almost all Russian emperors from Peter I to Nicholas II (the only exceptions were Emperors Peter II and John VI Antonovich) and many members of the imperial family were buried under the arches of the cathedral.
The first to be buried in the Church of the Apostles Peter and Paul was the one-and-a-half-year-old daughter of Peter I, Catherine, who died in 1708. (Subsequently, the wooden church, built in 1703-1704, was dismantled in connection with the construction of a stone church on this site that began in 1712.)
Stucco molding on the sail of the cathedral
Fragments of paintings on the cathedral vaults
By the time of the death of Peter I, the cathedral had not yet been completed. Therefore, inside it, according to the design of Domenico Trezzini, a temporary wooden church was built. There, on March 10, 1725, with an appropriately magnificent ceremony, the bodies of Peter I and his daughter Natalya, who died on March 4, were transferred. Both coffins were placed on a hearse under a canopy upholstered in gold fabric.
In 1727, a coffin with the body of his wife, Empress Catherine I, was also placed there. In May 1731, Empress Anna Ioannovna ordered the ashes of Peter I and his wife to be interred. The burial, according to the Vedomosti of that time, “took place with a special ceremony on May 29, Saturday, at eleven o’clock in the morning. Gentlemen from the generals and the admiralty and many collegiate officials were present. During the placing of the coffins in the Imperial Cemetery, which had been specially prepared for this , fifty-one shots were fired from the fortress." The exact date of interment of his daughter’s ashes is unknown.
After the fire of 1756, as a result of which the wooden dome and spire of the cathedral burned and its interior was damaged, the idea arose of turning the cathedral into a kind of mausoleum of Peter the Great. The project presented by Academician M.V. Lomonosov won the announced competition. However, this project could not be implemented for a number of reasons.
During the 18th - first third of the 19th centuries, the Peter and Paul Cathedral was, as a rule, a burial place for crowned heads. The remaining members of the imperial
families were buried in the Annunciation Church of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra and other places. Since 1831, by order of Nicholas I, grand dukes, princesses and princesses also began to be buried in the cathedral.
In the first half of the 18th century, tombstones made of white alabaster stone were placed over the burial sites, and in the 70s, when the cathedral was restored and rebuilt, they were replaced with new ones made of gray Karelian marble. The tombstones were covered with gold brocade, lined with ermine, and had coats of arms sewn on top. On ordinary days, covers made of dark green or black cloth were placed on them, lined with gold braid on top and bottom and bearing a monogram image of the name of the deceased. In the 40-50s of the 19th century, the first tombstones made of white Italian (Carrara) marble appeared.
Tomb of Peter I. Modern view
In March 1865, Alexander II, visiting the cathedral, drew attention to the unsightly appearance of the covers on the tombstones. The preservation of the tombstones themselves also turned out to be poor. He ordered that all tombstones, “which have fallen into disrepair or are not made of marble, should be made of white, according to the model of the last ones.” According to the design of the architect A. A. Poirot, fifteen tombstones were made of white Italian marble.
tanned on the graves of Peter I, Catherine I, Anna Petrovna, Anna Ioannovna, Elizaveta Petrovna, Peter III, Catherine II, Paul I, Maria Fedorovna, Alexander I, Elizaveta Alekseevna, Konstantin Pavlovich, Alexandra Maximilianovna, Alexandra Mikhailovna and Anna Mikhailovna. The tombstones of Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich and Grand Duchesses Alexandra Nikolaevna and Maria Mikhailovna were cleaned and repolished.
The tombstones have the shape of a quadrangular prism, on the top cover of which lies a large bronze cross, gilded with red gold. At the heads, on the side wall, bronze plaques are attached indicating the name of the deceased, title, date and place of birth and death, and date of burial. On the tombstones of emperors and empresses, in addition to the cross, four more bronze coats of arms of the Russian Empire are placed in the corners.
The date of accession to the throne was also written on the board. The texts of the inscriptions on the bronze plaques were compiled by the Russian historian N. G. Ustryalov. After the installation of tombstones in 1867, a decree followed to abolish all covers on them.
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In 1887 Alexander III ordered to replace the white marble tombstones on the graves of his parents - Alexander II and Maria Alexandrovna - with richer and
elegant. For this purpose, monoliths of green Altai jasper (for Alexander II) and pink Ural rhodonite - orlets (for Maria Alexandrovna) were used.
Graves of Alexander II and the Empress
Maria Alexandrovna. Modern look
The production of tombstones (according to the sketches of the architect A. L. Gun) was carried out at Peterhof-
skaya lapidary factory for eighteen years. They were installed in the cathedral in February 1906.
TO end of the 19th century century, there were forty-six burials in the Peter and Paul Cathedral and there was practically no room left for new burials. Therefore, in 1896, next to the cathedral, construction began on the Grand Ducal Tomb, officially called the Tomb of the Members of the Imperial Family, or the New Tomb, at the Peter and Paul Cathedral. It was built from 1896 to 1908 according to the design of the architect D. I. Grimm with the participation of A. O. Tomishko and L. N. Benois. On November 5, 1908, the newly built Shrine building was consecrated. First, they consecrated the throne in the altar in honor of the holy Prince Alexander Nevsky, who was considered
patron of St. Petersburg, and then the building itself. Three days after this
ceremony, the first burial took place - the son of Alexander III was buried at the southern altar, Grand Duke Aleksey Aleksandrovich.
A delegation of St. Petersburg elders goes to the Peter and Paul Cathedral to lay a medal on the grave of Peter I. 1903
In 1909-1912, the ashes of several family members were transferred to the Burial Vault from the cathedral. At the same time, the reburial took several days, since the crypts in the Tomb were smaller than the arks transferred from the cathedral.
In 1916, there were thirteen burials here, eight of which were moved from the Peter and Paul Cathedral. Unlike the cathedral, there were no tombstones in the Shrine. The grave was covered flush with the floor with a white marble slab, on which the title, name, places and dates of birth and death, and date of burial were engraved. In 1859, the Peter and Paul Cathedral was transferred from the jurisdiction of the diocese to the court construction office of the Ministry of the Imperial Household, and in 1883 it, together with the clergy, was included in the Court Spiritual Department.
Delegation of the city of Gatchina with a wreath on the grave of Alexander III. 1912
The special position of the Peter and Paul Cathedral made significant adjustments to its church activities. Christian sacraments such as baptism and weddings were never performed here. The funeral rite was performed only for deceased members of the imperial family, and only in certain cases were exceptions made for the commandants of the fortress, who were buried in the Commandant's Cemetery near the cathedral wall.
By 1917, there were more than a thousand wreaths on the walls, columns and at graves in the Peter and Paul Cathedral. For example, at the grave of Alexander III there were 674 of them. There were icons and lamps on almost every grave and near it. On the tombstones of Peter I, Nicholas I and Alexander II lay gold, silver and bronze medals, embossed on the occasion of various anniversaries.
German Emperor Wilhelm II at the southern entrance to the Peter and Paul Cathedral. Photographer K. Bulla. 1906
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. The further fate of the removed cathedral valuables is still unknown.
On May 14, 1919, by order of the commandant of the Peter and Paul Fortress, the cathedral and tomb were closed and sealed. On April 21, 1922, the remains of church valuables were confiscated to help the starving. It took place in the presence of the commandant of the fortress, the patron of the cathedral, the manager of its property and a representative of the Main Museum.
In 1926, the cathedral came under the jurisdiction of the Museum of the Revolution.
The Duke of Connaught at the entrance to Peter and Paul Cathedral. Photographer K. Bulla. Beginning of the 20th century
In 1939, the grave of Grand Duchess Alexandra Georgievna, wife of Grand Duke Pavel Alexandrovich (he was shot in 1919), was opened. She was born a princess of Greece, and her ashes, at the request of the Greek government, were transported to her homeland.
The fate of the Grand Ducal Tomb turned out differently. In December 1926, a commission that examined the building came to the conclusion that “all bronze decorations, as well as the bars of the altar, as being of no historical or artistic value, are subject to melting down.” The decorations were removed, and further fate theirs is unknown.
Italian King Victor Emmanuel III at the Peter and Paul Cathedral. Photographer K. Bulla. 1902
In the early 1930s, the Tomb was transferred to the jurisdiction of the Leningrad branch of the Central Book Chamber and was used to store books seized during searches. After the Great Patriotic War the building has been occupied for some time
there was a paper mill warehouse.
In 1954, the Peter and Paul Cathedral and the Grand Ducal Tomb were transferred to State Museum history of Leningrad. In the 1960s, after repair and restoration work was carried out, the exhibition “History of the Construction of the Peter and Paul Fortress” was opened in the Tomb building. It was dismantled in May 1992 in connection with the burial of the great-grandson of Alexander II, Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich, and the beginning of restoration work. After When completed, the building will be returned to its original appearance.
Arrival of the Bulgarian Tsar Ferdinand at the Grand Ducal Tomb. 1909
According to one historian, “every Russian considers it his sacred duty to visit the Tomb of our Royal House; foreigners who arrived in St. Petersburg also rush to venerate the tombs of the High Departed."
PETROPAUL CATHEDRAL 
Peter and Paul Cathedral. Tomb of the Imperial House of Romanov
Emperor Russian Empire Peter 1, died January 28, 1725. This happened within the walls of his family’s Winter Palace. At that time, Peter 1 was 52 years old. The main reason for it sudden death is, by all indications, an inflammatory process of the bladder. This at first mild inflammation was severely neglected and over time developed into gangrene. After the emperor died, his body was exhibited in the Winter Palace in the mourning hall. Everyone who wanted to say goodbye to their emperor could come here to see him off on his last journey. For more than one month, people from different parts of the empire came to bid farewell to him. They put Peter 1 in the coffin wearing a brocade camisole, which was trimmed with lace fabric. On his feet were high boots with spurs on the heels. The Order of St. Andrew the First-Called was pinned on his chest, and next to him lay his faithful sword. As a result of the prolonged wires, the emperor's corpse gradually began to decompose, and an unpleasant smell spread throughout the Winter Palace. It was decided to embalm the body of Peter 1 and move it to the Peter and Paul Cathedral. There it lay for another six whole years, until the decision was made to finally bury it. The burial took place in the Peter and Paul Cathedral, in the Royal Tomb. Until this moment, the coffin with the body of the emperor was located within the walls of the chapel, which was gradually being completed.
Catherine, who was the wife of Peter 1, lived only two years longer than her late husband. This happened as a result of the fact that the empress attended various balls every day and walked almost until the morning, which greatly affected the stability of her health. Therefore, the wife of the late emperor Catherine said goodbye to life in mid-May in 1727. At that time she was 43 years old. Emperor Peter 1 was legally entitled to a place in the Royal Tomb, but his wife could not boast of such an honor. After all, she was not of noble blood. Catherine 1, who was Martha Skavronskaya, was born in the Baltic states into a simple peasant family. During the Northern War, she was captured Russian army. Peter 1 was simply bewitched by her beauty that he made a hasty decision to marry her and give her the title of empress. Catherine's body was buried in 1731 with the permission of Anna Ioannovna.
Almost all the tsars of the Russian Empire, starting with Peter 1 and ending with Alexander 3, were buried within the walls of the Peter and Paul Cathedral. The grave of Peter 1 was located near the entrance to the cathedral on the south side. His grave is made in the form of a separate crypt, which is located under a floor made of stone. In this crypt there is an ark made of pure metal, in which the coffin with the emperor itself is located. A huge and thick slab carved from marble was installed above the grave. They are decorated with paintings and crosses made of pure gold.
During the turbulent history of Peter and Paul Fortress, not only its external architectural appearance, but also its memorial appearance was formed. In fact, today it is a whole necropolis, with facade, half-open and not yet explored sides.
Who is buried in the Peter and Paul Fortress
Official burials appeared on the territory of the fortress even before the completion of the construction of the Peter and Paul Cathedral, which became known as the Peter and Paul Cathedral. In the wooden church in 1708, the first to be buried in infancy was Catherine, the daughter of Peter I. In 1715 - 1717, the graves of three more young children of the sovereign appeared in the unfinished cathedral - daughters Natalya, Margarita and son Paul. At the same time, Tsarina Marfa Matveevna found her last refuge here.
Despite inter-family feuds and accusations of conspiracy, at the behest of Peter the Great, his disgraced eldest son Alexei (died under unclear circumstances in 1718) and sister Maria (March 1723) were laid to rest in the imperial tomb. Their graves are located under the bell tower in the chapel of St. Catherine. In 1725, the body of the deceased Peter I was also transferred to the church.
Peter the First
The last Tsar of All Rus' (from 1682) and the first Emperor of All Russia (from 1721) died at the age of 52 in January 1725 in the Winter Palace. In accordance with the regulations of the ceremony, which he himself developed, the body for farewell was initially exhibited there in the funeral hall. The Emperor was in the coffin in brocade clothes embroidered with lace with a sword and St. Andrew the First-Called on his chest.
After a month, he was embalmed and transferred to a temporary wooden church, specially erected in honor of the sad occasion, installed directly in the unfinished Cathedral of Peter and Paul. And only six years later, in 1731, at the behest of Anna Ioannovna, who reigned at that time, Peter the Great, together with his wife Catherine I, who died two years later than the sovereign, were buried in the imperial tomb of the Peter and Paul Cathedral.
Their crypt tombs, the chambers of which are located under the floor, are located at the southern entrance to the temple. As evidenced by inscriptions and crosses made of pure gold.
Tombs in the Peter and Paul Fortress
The fortress church became the last home for almost all the sovereigns of Russia, including Alexander III.
Catherine II
The tomb of Catherine the Great located in the Peter and Paul Cathedral is missing the epitaph that the empress personally composed during her lifetime. “Having ascended the Russian throne, she wished well and tried to bring happiness, freedom and property to her subjects,” the empress wrote about herself. Her death was as turbulent and shrouded in gossip as her life.
But the most tragic thing is that his son Paul, who inherited the crown, ordered his mother to be buried next to the body of the murdered Peter III, delivered from the Alexander Nevsky Lavra and personally crowned by him. The crippled former spouses lay side by side in the mourning tent of the Winter Palace for 4 days in early December 1796, and then were moved to the cathedral for burial.
“You’ll think that these spouses spent their entire lives together on the throne, died and were buried on the same day,” Nikolai Grech wrote about this event.
The general list does not include only Peter II, who was laid to rest in the Archangel Cathedral of the Kremlin, as well as John VI Antonovich, who was killed in the Oreshek fortress. After the burial in 1831, at the request of Nicholas I of his brother Konstantin Pavlovich, funeral services for members of the imperial family began on the territory of the temple.
Ekaterina Mikhailovna, Grand Duchess
The granddaughter of Paul I found her last refuge in the cathedral on May 4 (16), 1894, dying after a long illness. The Grand Duchess was known for her charitable work in Russia, her promotion of women's education, and her conservative views.
After her death, a funeral litany was held in her home - the Mikhailovsky Palace. Alexander III took part in the burial in the imperial tomb. The name of Ekaterina Mikhailovna went down in history as an example of philanthropy and care for one’s neighbor.
Due to the overcrowding of the Peter and Paul Cathedral, a Grand Ducal Tomb was erected nearby in 1897 - 1908, connected to it by a covered gallery. During the period from 1908 to 1915, the graves of 13 people appeared in it, 8 of whom were reburied from the cathedral. Since 1992, the tradition has been resumed, and to date, 4 burials of members and close associates of the imperial family have been added.
Still buried in the Peter and Paul Fortress
Next to the cathedral there was a commandant's cemetery, where almost all the commanders of the fortress were buried. In addition, from the moment the first prisoners appeared in Petropavlovka in 1717 until the official closure of the Trubetskoy Bastion prison in 1923, cases of suicide and natural death were repeatedly recorded here. Therefore, it is possible that not all the dead were taken outside the citadel for burial.
Periodic random discoveries since the late 80s of the last century of so-called execution pits with the remains of those killed in 1917 - 1921 indicate that these little-studied graves are chronologically the last in the history of the Peter and Paul Fortress.
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 was buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral of 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, it was the tallest building in St. Petersburg, as its height was 122 meters.
The main construction work was 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, the remains were interred in the Peter and Paul Cathedral last Emperor from the Romanov family - Nicholas II, his family and the servants who died with them.
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 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.
Peter I is the great emperor, thanks to whom 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.
The custom of burying rulers and high dignitaries in churches came to Rus' from Byzantium; it formed the basis of the tradition of erecting grand-ducal tomb-temples for representatives of the same dynasty. The Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin is such a family necropolis. Representatives of the Moscow ruling dynasties - the Rurikovichs and the Romanovs - were buried here.
The Archangel Cathedral of Ivan Kalita became the first grand ducal tomb. By the beginning of the 16th century, Ivan III decided to dismantle his great-grandfather’s tomb and build a new, more spacious one. Four years later, the stone tombs of the ancestors were returned to the newly built tomb. But first, its founder, Ivan III, who died on October 27, 1505, was laid to rest in the cathedral.
The burial places of the Rurik princes are located along the walls of the cathedral in a certain order. Mostly the great Moscow princes were buried along the southern wall; along the western - appanage, close relatives of the great princes; along the northern - princes who fell out of favor and died a violent death. Representatives of the Tatar nobility who converted to Orthodoxy and were at the Russian court are buried near the northwestern and southwestern pillars.
During the reign of Ivan the Terrible, a royal tomb was built in the deaconry - the southern part of the altar room of the cathedral. The creation of a special tomb was dictated by the adoption of the royal title by Ivan IV. In addition to the tomb of Ivan the Terrible himself, there are the burial places of his sons - Ivan Ivanovich, who suffered from his father’s anger, and Fyodor Ivanovich, who ruled after the death of his father. The youngest son of Ivan IV, Tsarevich Dmitry, who died in Uglich in 1591 at the age of less than nine years, also rests in the Archangel Cathedral. Since 1606, the shrine with the holy relics of Tsarevich Dimitri has been located at the southeastern pillar of the cathedral.
The tombs of the Romanov royal dynasty are located near the pillars in the central part of the cathedral. Here the founder of the dynasty, Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich, as well as Tsars Alexei Mikhailovich, Fedor Alekseevich and Ivan Alekseevich found peace. Russian emperors, starting with Peter I, were buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral of St. Petersburg. Only Emperor Peter II, grandson of Peter I, who died in Moscow in 1730 from smallpox, rests in the Archangel Cathedral.
Burials were performed in white stone sarcophagi; they were lowered into the ground under the floor. Brick tombstones with white stone slabs decorated with fine carved floral ornaments and epitaphs made in Slavic script were installed over the burials. At the beginning of the twentieth century, tombstones were enclosed in brass glazed cases with applied crosses and inscriptions. In total, there are fifty-four burials in the cathedral under forty-four tombstones and two memorial slabs.