Where is Tsar Peter 1 buried. What is now in the royal graves? In front of the chariot with a coffin, the coats of arms of the largest cities and the orders of the king were carried, singers, the highest clergy and officials walked
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 is made to embalm the body and place it in the chapel of the Peter and Paul Cathedral under construction, Peter I stayed there for six years, until the proper decision was made to bury the remains of the emperor, they buried it right in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in the Tsar's tomb, before burial the coffin was in the chapel, at that time it was under construction.
Peter the Great is buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg. This cathedral is the tomb of all subsequent rulers of Russia. No one has ever been baptized in this cathedral, no one has been married. It was Peter the first who decided to build this temple as the last refuge of royalty.
Peter 1 turned out to be the emperor, who personally laid not only his own tomb, but also the tomb of the entire imperial family, houses of the Romanovs. This happened in 1712, when on the site of a temporary wooden church, Peter decided to found a huge stone cathedral, called the Peter and Paul Cathedral. The emperor, touching all his offspring, and the cathedral founded by his own hand, took great role- serve as the final resting place for Russian rulers. Perhaps Peter was pushed to this decision by the fact that his daughter Catherine, who died at the age of one and a half, was just buried in the wooden church, the predecessor of the great cathedral in 1708. Further, already in the cathedral under construction, the children of Peter Natalya, Margarita, Alexei and Paul, the wife of Tsarevich Alexei Charlotte-Christian, and also Tsarina Sophia were buried. In 1725, Peter the Great himself was buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral. However, the body of the emperor rested in a hearse for 6 years, and was buried in the ground only in May 1731.
Emperor Ptr I is buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral, which is located in one of the most visited places for tourists in the city on the Neva - the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg.
In this cathedral is the royal family tomb. Peter the Great died in January 1725 at the age of 52. His wife Catherine I survived 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 themselves, as well as other representatives royal family, are under the stone floor, on top are marble tombs with inscriptions on the slabs.
The construction of the temple began on June 29, 1703, just a few months after Peter I laid the foundation stone on the small island of Zayachiy in the Neva delta, which gave rise to the new capital of Russia.
Its official name is Cathedral in the name of the chief apostles Peter and Paulquot ;. The construction of the cathedral was headed by the architect Domenico Trezzini. Until 2012, it was the tallest building in St. Petersburg, as its height was 122 meters.
Main construction works were carried out over 8 years. A chiming clock purchased in Holland for a lot of money was installed on the cathedral.
An interesting fact is that, by order of Peter, trophy banners and standards taken in battles were displayed in the cathedral. This tradition continued even 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 military fleet.
Over time, a large number of banners accumulated in the cathedral, and the architect Montferrand created special gilded pedestals in which they began to store captured standards.
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 rest. In 1715, four more were added to it. First, Peter's daughters Natalya and Margarita were buried, then Tsarina Marfa, the widow of Tsar Fedor Alekseevich. And later, Princess Charlotte-Christian Sophia, the wife of Tsarevich Alexei, was buried in the cathedral under construction. 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 burial place of the Russian sovereigns of the Romanov dynasty.
It is in this cathedral that Ptr the Great rests in a white marble sarcophagus.
There is a legend that during October coup the vandals tried to open the sarcophagus of the late Emperor, but, being afraid, they abandoned this idea.
In July 1998, the remains of the last Emperor of the Romanov family, Nicholas II, his family and the servants who died with them, were buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral.
Peter I 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 the empresses of the Romanov family, who were after him (except for Peter ll and Ivan Vl).
It is worth noting that as a result of the fact that at the time of the death of the Emperor the Cathedral had not yet been built, the burial did not take place immediately, but only on May 29, 1731. Prior to this, the coffin with the body of Peter was in a temporary chapel outside the cathedral under construction.
Peter the Great, who was the Emperor Russian state died of illness in the winter in 1725. He was such a great man and founder of the city of St. Petersburg that his farewell 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 that, 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 - 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 first died of illness in 1725. Farewell to the emperor was very long, as 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. Here's what she looks like now.
It seems strange, but the revolution and wars did not destroy the memory of Peter 1.
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Where are the remains of the emperors?
There is a suspicion that the graves of Russian tsars in St. Petersburg are empty today / Version
A heated discussion of the question of the reburial of Tsarevich Alexei and Grand Duchess Maria, whose remains were recently found near Yekaterinburg, again drew public attention to the royal burials in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg. They remembered that immediately after the revolution, these graves were looted.
Tomb of Emperor Peter I
Moreover, this fact was carefully hidden not only in Soviet times, but is somehow hushed up even today. So, in many guidebooks to the Peter and Paul Cathedral, they still write that “for many years no one disturbed the peace of these graves.”
Actually it is not. Graves began to be robbed immediately after the revolution.
By 1917, there were more than a thousand wreaths, including gold and silver ones, on the walls of the cathedral, columns and at the graves of emperors. Practically on every grave and near it there were ancient icons and precious lamps.
So, above the tomb of Anna Ioannovna were two icons - the Mother of God of Jerusalem and St. Anna the Prophetess - in gold salaries, with pearls and precious stones. The diamond crown of the Order of Malta was fixed 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. A silver bas-relief depicting a monument to the tsar in Taganrog was mounted on the wall near the tombstone of Peter, and an icon with the face of the Apostle Peter hung in a gold frame nearby, notable for the fact that its size corresponded to the growth of Peter I at birth.
At the command 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. For two centuries, almost all Russian emperors from Peter I to Alexander III(with the exception of only Peter II, who died in Moscow and was buried in the Kremlin's Archangel Cathedral, as well as John VI Antonovich, who was killed in the Shlisselburg fortress) and many members of the imperial family. Prior to that, all the great Moscow princes, starting with Yuri Daniilovich - the son of Grand Duke Daniel of Moscow and 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 XVIII - the first third of the XIX century. Peter and Paul Cathedral was the burial place, as a rule, only crowned persons. Since 1831, at the behest of Nicholas I, the grand dukes, princesses and princesses were also buried in the cathedral. In the XVIII - the first third of the XIX centuries, emperors and empresses were buried in a golden crown. Their bodies were embalmed, the heart (in a special silver vessel) and the rest of the insides (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 the burial places. In the 1770s, during the restoration and reconstruction of the cathedral, they were replaced with new ones made of gray Karelian marble. Tombstones were covered with green or black cloth with coats of arms sewn on top, and on holidays - with golden brocade overlaid 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, it was necessary to make all tombstones, "which have fallen into disrepair or are not made of marble, made of white, following the model of the last ones." Fifteen tombstones were made from white Italian marble. In 1887, Alexander III ordered that the white marble tombstones on the graves of his parents Alexander II and Maria Alexandrovna be replaced with richer and more elegant ones. For this, monoliths of green Altai jasper and pink Ural rhodonite were used.
By the end of the 19th century, there was practically no room 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 Duke's tomb was started. From 1908 to 1915 13 members of the imperial family were buried in it.
Grave looting
The treasures of the imperial tomb have been coveted for a long time. Back in 1824, the Otechestvennye Zapiski magazine reported that while traveling in 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 cover, but the church watchman noticed this, and Madame had to hastily leave the cathedral.
Disaster erupted after the revolution. In September-October 1917, by order of the Provisional Government, all icons and lampadas, gold, silver and bronze medals from the graves, gold, silver and porcelain wreaths were removed, placed in boxes and sent to Moscow. Further fate exported cathedral values is unknown.
But all the looters were outdone, of course, by the Bolsheviks.
In 1921, under the pretext of the demands of "Pomgol", who came up with a project of confiscation in favor of starving jewelry, the imperial graves themselves were blasphemously opened and ruthlessly plundered. Documents about this monstrous action have not been preserved, but a number of memoirs have come down to us, testifying 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 confiscation project in favor of starving jewelry, imprisoned in imperial coffins". The Krakow newspaper "Illustrated Courier Zodzienne" cites this historical letter.
“... I am writing to you,” this is how the letter begins, “under an unforgettable impression. The heavy doors of the tomb open, and the coffins of the emperors, set in a semicircle, appear before our eyes. Before us is the whole history of Russia. The commissar of the GPU, 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 king are quickly removed from 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 the oak coffin. The secretary of the commission draws up a protocol, which lists in detail the jewels confiscated from the deceased king. The coffin is closed, and seals are placed on it "...
The same procedure takes place with the coffins of Alexander II and Nicholas I. The members of the commission work quickly: the air in the tomb is heavy. The line behind the tomb of Alexander I. But here the Bolsheviks are in for a surprise.
The tomb of Alexander I is empty. This can obviously be seen as a 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 him in order to end the rest of his life in Siberia as an old hermit.
The Bolshevik commission had to endure terrible moments during the opening of the tomb of Emperor Paul. The uniform, fitting the body of the late king, is perfectly preserved. But Pavel's head made a nightmarish impression. The wax mask that covered his face melted from time and temperature, and from under the remnants one could see the disfigured face of the murdered king. All those involved in the gloomy procedure of opening the tombs were in a hurry to finish their work as soon as possible. Silver coffins of Russian tsars, after transferring the bodies to oak, were installed one on top of the other. Longer than others, the commission was busy with the tomb of Empress Catherine I, in which there was a very large amount 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 stated that apparently there was another empty one between the outer coffin and the inner one, which made it difficult for them to work. They began to drill the tomb, and soon the lid of the coffin, placed vertically to facilitate work, opened and Peter the Great appeared in full growth before the eyes of the Bolsheviks. The members of the commission recoiled in surprise in fear. 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 tried the power of his formidable influence on the Chekists. But during the transfer, the corpse of the great king crumbled to dust. The terrible work of the security officers was completed, and the oak coffins with the remains of the kings were transported to St. Isaac's Cathedral, where they were placed in the basement ... ".
The terrible scale of the robbery
Where then did the jewels removed from the corpses disappear? They were probably sold abroad. The Bolsheviks put the robbery of national wealth on stream, ruined not only graves and churches, but also museums, former palaces of the nobility, and mansions of the bourgeoisie. The robbery has acquired absolutely incredible, downright terrible proportions. In 1917–1923, the following were sold: 3,000 carats of diamonds, 3 poods of gold and 300 poods 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 pounds of gold and silver scrap. This was done under the pretext of helping the starving, 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, a scepter, orb, tiaras, necklaces and other valuables, including the famous Faberge eggs) was sent to all foreign representatives in the USSR.
Part of the Diamond Fund was sold to the English antiquary Norman Weiss. In 1928, seven "low-value" Faberge eggs and 45 other items were seized from the Diamond Fund. All of them were sold in 1932 in Berlin. Out of almost 300 items, only 71 remained in the Diamond Fund.
By 1934, the Hermitage had lost about 100 masterpieces of painting by old masters. In fact, the museum was on the verge of collapse. 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 diadems that once belonged to the Romanov dynasty, only four are now kept in the Diamond Fund.
What is in the graves now?
But if the jewels of the kings disappeared, what was left in their graves? His research was carried out by Deacon Vladimir Vasilik, candidate philological sciences, Associate Professor, Faculty of History, St. Petersburg University. In an article published the other day on the Pravoslavie.ru website, he cites the testimony of 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 my aunt Anna Adamovna Krasuskaya, Honored Scientist, Professor of Anatomy scientific institute them. P.F. Lesgaft. In one of my conversations with A.A. Krasuskaya told me the following: “Not so 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 is well preserved. He really looks very much like the Peter depicted in the drawings. , weighing a lot. Values were seized from the royal tombs. "
And here is what Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor V.I. Angeleyko (Kharkov) L.D. Lyubimov: “I had a comrade Valentin Shmit in my gymnasium. His father F.I. Schmit headed the department of art history at Kharkov University, then moved 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 seizure of church valuables, and in his presence the graves of the Peter and Paul Cathedral were opened. The commission did not find the 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 now deceased professor of history N.M. Korobov... I know the following.
A member of the Grabbe Academy of Arts, 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 had helped during the autopsy recoiled in horror.
The tomb of Alexander I turned out to be empty.”
It is strange, but then conversations on this topic were conducted only about the supposedly empty tomb of Alexander I. But even this fact is now refuted. So, when an Interfax correspondent asked this question to Alexander Kolyakin, the current director of the State Museum of the History of St. Petersburg (located in the Peter and Paul Fortress), he categorically stated: “Nonsense. There has been talk about it, but it's just a rumor." However, he did not cite any facts, adding only that the best reason to convince the doubters is the opening of the emperor's grave, but, in his opinion, there are no grounds for such a procedure.
Writer Mikhail Zadornov said in LiveJournal that at one time the mayor of St. Petersburg, Anatoly Sobchak, told him about this secret. According to Zadornov, while walking along the sea coast of Jurmala, he asked Sobchak, who was the mayor during the reburial of the family of Nicholas II in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in 1998: “I heard that other sarcophagi were being opened at that time. Tell me, I promise you that for ten years I won’t tell anyone about our conversation, are his remains in the sarcophagus of Alexander I? After all comparative analysis spent at 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 tsar's brother, Georgy Alexandrovich, in order to take a particle of the remains for examination. The exhumation was carried out with the participation of the clergy. When the marble sarcophagus was removed from above, they found a thick monolithic slab. Under it was a crypt, in which stood a copper ark, in it was a zinc coffin, and in it already - a wooden one. Despite the fact that the crypt was flooded with water, they still managed to find bones suitable for examination. Samples were seized in the presence of attesting 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 an official act on the opening of the tombs in 1921 have not yet yielded anything. For many years, the historian N. Eidelman, who has been dealing 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 subjected 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 completely clear whether all the graves were opened, and most importantly, the problem arises: in what condition, after the looting of the 1920s, are the remains of Russian emperors in their graves ? 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: are not all these graves of Russian emperors, whose remains the Bolsheviks pulled out of the 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, the nephew of the powerful head of the Petrograd Cheka, M. Uritsky, also participated in the opening of the royal tombs. At that time, Kaplun was engaged in the creation of 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 familiar ladies to the crematorium to admire the rite of the “red fiery burial”.
So maybe this nephew of Uritsky came to the cathedral to open the tombs with a secret task to take out the remains of the emperors and destroy them later in the crematorium? Otherwise, what was he doing there? The confiscation of the jewels was clearly not the responsibility of the Kaplun in charge of the crematorium.
And the very fact of burning would look symbolic. After all, the Bolsheviks near Yekaterinburg tried to burn the corpses of the members of the royal family they killed ...
The first crematorium was built on the 14th line of Vasilyevsky Island in the premises of the former baths. The idea of its creation was generally attractive to representatives of the new government. Leon Trotsky appeared in the Bolshevik press with a series of articles in which he called on all the leaders of the Soviet government to bequeath their bodies to be burned. But this crematorium did not last long in Petrograd. 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 the 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 tsars and their servants, and the development of projects for monuments to the Russian socialist revolution." It was a deliberate destruction of historical memory, the initial stage of the desacralization of the past and the cult of the dead, in particular. Monuments began to be demolished first of all in former capital Russian Empire. It was at this time that the epic begins 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, to take out the coffins from the Peter and Paul Fortress, for some reason to store them in another place, etc.? After all, if the Bolsheviks wanted to preserve the remains of the emperors, it would be 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?
For two centuries, almost all Russian emperors, from Peter I to Alexander III, were buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral.
The tombstones of the kings were repeatedly remade and replaced with new ones, due to their dilapidation and unsightly appearance. Stone ones were replaced by marble, gray Karelian marble gave way to white Italian, etc. The royal tomb survived two large-scale replacements of tombstones: in the 1770s (during the rebuilding of the Cathedral) and in 1865.
Initially, tombstones made of white alabaster stone were placed over the burial places in the cathedral. In the 1770s, during the restoration of the cathedral, they were replaced with others made of gray Karelian marble.
In 1865, by decree of Alexander II, 15 tombstones were replaced with new ones at once. It must be assumed that the tombstones of the last seven emperors and their wives were remade.
The tombstones on the graves of Alexander II and his wife were in turn replaced by Alexander III in 1887, less than a decade after their deaths.
Thus, all the royal tombstones in the Peter and Paul Cathedral are replicas of the second half of the 19th century.
There are no graves in the Peter and Paul Cathedral:
- Peter 2 (who died in Moscow and was buried in the Archangel Cathedral of the Kremlin)
- John VI Antonovich, who was killed in the Shlisselburg fortress.
In the autumn of 1921, the then government in again required gold and jewels.
Orders, pectoral crosses, rings, gold buttons from uniforms, silver vessels in which the entrails of the dead were stored - all this, in the eyes of the Bolsheviks, was subject to expropriation. Precious wreaths and ancient icons that once adorned the royal tombstones had already been taken away in an unknown direction by the Provisional Government.
Under the pretext of helping the starving Volga region, the tombs of all Russian emperors and empresses, from Peter I to Alexander III, inclusive, were opened.
This action gave rise to many rumors about the fate of the remains. According to one version, the remains of the kings were transferred to oak coffins and taken to the crematorium, which had been established shortly before and soon closed.
Naturally, the exhumation was not carried out in the interests of historical science. Values were described and confiscated "in favor of the starving."
Eyewitness accounts of this outrageous action contain some important details.
These memoirs - oral, transmitted from other people's words - were once collected by L. Lyubimov and later supplemented by the historian N. Eidelman for his book "The First Decembrist". The act of exhumation, which was signed by all members of the commission, has not yet been found.
Who was found?
In the memoirs, they report finding the remains of all the kings and queens, except for Alexander I. Alexander's coffin is completely empty, only at the very bottom "a little dust". Some of the members of the commission recall on this occasion the legend of the elder Fyodor Kuzmich, I have my own explanation for the loss of Alexander.
Others contain minimal bones and clothing. Paul's skull is allegedly split into several pieces. Others report that Paul was embalmed, covered with a wax mask, which was swollen in places and they even saw a grimace of horror on Paul's face.
At the same time, without exception, all eyewitnesses noted the perfect preservation of Peter I.
The emperor was dressed in a green uniform and leather boots and looked like himself, as he was depicted in the paintings.
These days, the opening of the grave of Alexander III, carried out at the initiative of the church, is expected. A genetic examination will be carried out to identify the remains of his son, Nicholas II. Whether it will come to the revision of all the royal remains is not yet known.
Materials used:
He founded the fortress, calling it St. Petersburg, in the name of his heavenly patron. This summer, along with other buildings, a wooden church was laid, which was named in honor of the saints and Paul. After Poltava victory In 1709, St. Petersburg began to be built up with magnificent buildings, because now it is the capital of the Russian State.
dynasty necropolis
The Peter and Paul Cathedral is an outstanding architectural monument early XVIII century, it is widely known, and the sparkling gold spire is one of the symbols of the city. But not everyone is aware that the cathedral is the burial place of the Russian Imperial House. , , as well as all subsequent crowned heads of the dynasty.
But contemporaries perceived the cathedral primarily as a crypt of the Romanov dynasty, only those sacraments that were dedicated to these sad events took place in it, baptisms and weddings were not held. The design of the mourning ceremonies was carried out by the best architects and artists of St. Petersburg. Unfortunately, only contemporaries of the events could see the funeral processions, after all the decoration was dismantled and the temple took its usual form.
Traditionally, not only embalmed bodies were buried in hermetically sealed coffins in the cathedral, but also internal organs laid out in vessels. The day before the official ceremony, they were placed at the bottom of the grave. At this procedure, as a rule, only the members of the "Sad Commission" who were involved in organizing the funeral, and the clergy were present.
From the history of the cathedral
In 1712, on the birthday of the city, in front of many high-ranking persons, he laid the first stone of the cathedral on the site of a wooden church. The temple was consecrated in 1733. It is designed in the Baroque style and is one of the majestic monuments of architecture. The cathedral is a rectangular building located from west to east, a drum with a dome rises above its eastern part, and a bell tower with a gilded spire of 122.5 meters rises from the western side, which is still the tallest building in St. Petersburg. Since 1858, the temple has been called "Peter and Paul". In the second photo you see the interior of the cathedral where Peter the Great is buried.
Under the leadership of the king, the cathedral was built very quickly. Domenico Trezzini - a Swiss engineer - was appointed architect, he was given the best craftsmen. After 8 years, the construction of the cathedral was completed from the outside. Clocks with chimes were brought from Holland, they were purchased for a huge amount of money - 45,000 rubles. After 3 years, a gilded spire was installed. The iconostasis, the work on which Peter I laid on the shoulders of the architect Zarudny, was made for 4 years. Under his leadership, the artists Ivanov and Telega worked on the drawings.
Where is Emperor Peter the Great buried?
Most likely, already at the beginning of construction, the king, following the example of Constantine - the first Christian emperor - wanted to turn the cathedral into the tomb of his dynasty. Before the construction of the cathedral, all the tsars were buried in the Archangel Cathedral of the Kremlin (Boris Godunov rests in
For two centuries, the Peter and Paul Cathedral, where Peter 1 is buried, was the burial place of almost all emperors before Alexander III and many family relatives, only John VI was buried elsewhere. The very first in 1708, still in a wooden church, was laid to rest at the age of one and a half years, Catherine, daughter of Peter 1.
Celebrity graves. Peter I and his descendants
Before the completion of construction, other burials were made in the cathedral. In the summer, in 1715, the remains of the daughters of Peter the Great, Natalia and Margarita, were brought here. In winter - the queen Marfa Matveevna (Apraksina), who was the wife of the king. In 1717, the son of Peter 1, Pavel, was buried, the following year, the soul of the eldest son of Peter 1, Alexei Petrovich, from his first wife Lopukhina, who was executed by order of his father for anti-state activities, rested. 5 years later, in 1723, Maria Alekseevna was buried here - the disgraced graves of Tsarevich Alexei and Tsarina Marfa Matveevna are located under the bell tower in the chapel of St. Catherine. The grave where Peter 1 is buried is pictured below.
It was here, in the unfinished cathedral, on March 8, 1725, that the body of Emperor Peter the Great, who had fallen asleep forever (January 28), was placed. According to the project of D. Trizini, a temporary wooden church was built inside the cathedral, and the deceased Peter the Great and his daughter Natalia, who died on March 4, were transferred there with a magnificent ceremony.
The tightly closed coffin, where Peter 1 was buried, was installed on a hearse lined with gold fabric, under a canopy. In the summer of 1727, a coffin with his dead wife, Empress Catherine 1.
Dust to earth
Empress Anna Ioannovna in May 1731 ordered that the ashes of the spouses be buried in the earth. The burial took place with a special ceremony on May 29. Among those present were persons from the Admiralty, generals, collegiate ranks. When the coffins were placed in a specially designated place at the Imperial Cemetery, 51 volleys were fired from the fortress.
Emperor Russian empire Peter 1, died January 28, 1725. It happened within the walls of the Winter Palace of his family. At that time, Peter 1 was 52 years old. The main cause of his sudden death is, by all indications, the inflammatory process of the bladder. At first, this mild inflammation was severely neglected and eventually developed into gangrene. After the emperor died, his body was exhibited in the Winter Palace in the mourning hall. Anyone wishing to say goodbye to their emperor could come here to see him off last way. For more than one month, people from different parts of the empire came to say goodbye to him. In the coffin of Peter 1 they put on him a brocade camisole, which was sheathed with lace fabric. On his feet were high boots with spurs on the heels. On his chest was attached the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called, and next to him lay his faithful sword. As a result of the protracted wires, the corpse of the emperor 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 years, until the decision was finally made to bury it. The burial was made in the Peter and Paul Cathedral, in the Tsar's tomb. Until that moment, the coffin with the body of the emperor was in the walls of the chapel, which was gradually completed.
Catherine, who was the wife of Peter 1, lived only two years more 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 Marta Skavronskaya, was born in the Baltic states in a simple peasant family. During the Northern War, she was taken prisoner Russian army. Peter 1 was simply bewitched by her beauty, which made a hasty decision to marry her and give her the title of empress. The body of Catherine was buried in 1731 with the permission of Anna Ioannovna.
Almost all the tsars of the Russian Empire are buried within the walls of the Peter and Paul Cathedral, starting with Peter 1 and ending with Alexander 3. 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 the floor made of stone. In this crypt there is an ark made of pure metal, in which the coffin with the emperor is located. Above the grave there is a huge and thick slab carved from marble. They are decorated with paintings and crosses made of pure gold.