Royal tombs. Burials in the Peter and Paul Fortress Tomb of Paul 1 in the Peter and Paul Fortress

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 the 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.

Emperor of the 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 cause of his 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 send-off, 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 by the 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 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.

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 cathedral's altar room. 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 wrath, 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.

1. Peter and Paul Cathedral was built in 1712-1733 according to the design of Domenico Trezzini on the site of a wooden church that stood on this site in 1703-1704. The bell tower of the cathedral is topped with a spire and has a total height of 122 meters, which allowed it to be the tallest building until 2012 St. Petersburg.

2. From the very beginning, the cathedral was the burial place of the Romanovs and their relatives. In 1896, a tomb building was erected nearby for the Grand Dukes of the Imperial Family and His Serene Highnesses the Romanovskys. Eight burials were moved here from the Peter and Paul Cathedral.

3. The Grand Ducal Tomb was badly damaged during the years of Soviet power; it has been under repair for many years and is still closed to the public.

4. It is connected to the cathedral by a white corridor. As you can see, everything is ready here, but the passage is still closed.

5. Let's examine the interior of the three-nave cathedral.

6. The main entrance to the temple from the Cathedral Square.

7. The ceiling is decorated with paintings of gospel scenes.

8. Lush chandeliers are suspended from the vaults.

9. Preacher's pulpit, decorated with gilded sculpture.

10. The gilded carved iconostasis of the cathedral was made in Moscow according to Trezzini’s drawings.

11. In front of the iconostasis are the burial places of emperors and empresses of the 18th century.

12. On the left in the first row is the burial place of Peter I, crowned with a bust of the king. Next to him is Catherine I (Marta Skavronskaya), his wife. On the left is Elizaveta Petrovna, their daughter, prudently entitled with the sign “Elizabeth I” in case another Elizabeth appeared among the empresses. Behind Peter I lies his niece Anna Ioanovna, daughter of Tsar Ivan V. On the left in the second row are Catherine II and Peter III, transferred after the death of his wife from the Alexander Nevsky Lavra. Their tombstones bear the same date of burial, creating the illusion that they lived together and died on the same day.

13. Peter the Great is signed as “Father of the Fatherland”. When he died in 1725, the walls of the cathedral were barely human-sized, and his body lay in a temporary wooden chapel until 1731.

14. On the other side of the royal gates, also in two rows, there are tombstones of Paul I and Maria Feodorovna, Alexander I and Elizaveta Alekseevna, Nicholas I and Alexandra Feodorovna, as well as the daughter of Peter I, Grand Duchess Anna.

15. All tombstones are surrounded by black fences, topped with knobs in the form of vases, covered with mourning cloth. The gravestones of the spouses are outlined by a single fence.

16. All the tombstones were replaced in 1865 with marble ones, which still exist today, but two sarcophagi are different from the rest. They were made in 1887-1906 from green jasper and pink orlets for Emperor Alexander II and his wife Maria Alexandrovna.

17. All marble tombstones are covered with gilded crosses, the imperial ones in the corners are decorated with images of double-headed eagles. One of the tombstones is clearly fresher than the others.

18. It is placed over the burial place of Empress Maria Feodorovna (Princess Dagmara), wife of Alexander III. The Empress, who died in 1928, was buried next to her parents in the tomb of the Cathedral of the Danish city of Roskilde. In 2006, her ashes were taken by ship to St. Petersburg and buried next to her husband.

19. And in 1998, in the Catherine’s chapel of the cathedral, the remains of the last Emperor Nicholas II, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna and their daughters Tatiana, Olga and Anastasia rested.

20. But the very first burials in the cathedral can only be seen on an excursion to the bell tower of the cathedral, which was built during the life of Peter the Great. Here, under the stairs, are the graves of Princess Maria Alekseevna, sister of Peter I, and his son Alexei Petrovich next to his wife, Princess Charlotte-Christina Sophia of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel.

21. We will climb along worn-out steps to the lower level of the bell tower, which is level with the roof of the cathedral.

22. There was an air defense post here during the blockade.

23. Here you can see the original appearance of the temple. The cathedral was painted in pink, the angel on the spire was completely different.

24. The entrance was decorated with a lush porch with sculptures.

25. Let me remind you how the cathedral looks today (photo from the Grand Layout).

26. The frame of the figure of an angel, which has been on the spire since 1858, is also presented here.

29. The angel frame was replaced at the end of the 20th century with a modern one.

27. The copper figure, which was on the spire until 1858, is in the museum of the history of the fortress. It was replaced when the cathedral spire was rebuilt in metal, because until 1858 the spire was wooden.

28. The current weathervane figure was repaired and re-gilded in 1995.

30. The bell tower itself begins from this tier. Below are collected the old weights of the tower clock-chime mechanism.

31. And also this old winch.

32. Locking mechanism on the doors leading to the open area of the cathedral.

33. Let's go higher along the stone steps.

34. The cathedral's carillon is mounted on support beams.

35. The carillon is an impressively sized polyphonic bell musical instrument, originally from Belgium. By the way, “raspberry ringing” is named so not for the sweetness of its sound, but in honor of the Belgian city of Malines.

36. Initially, the carillon was brought and installed in the Peter and Paul Cathedral by Peter I, but later it burned down in a fire, and was restored in our days.

37. The instrument consists of many stationary bells of different sizes.

38. The bell tongues can be controlled using steel cables.

39. You need to play the carillon from this console. The instrument teacher, despite his “beard,” speaks Russian with a strong accent; he is clearly from somewhere in Belgium.