Okhta Church. Bolsheokhtinsky cemetery (St. Petersburg) - history, scheme, contacts and interesting facts

The largest cemetery in St. Petersburg, located within the city. It occupies an area of ​​about 70 hectares and is one of the oldest cemeteries in St. Petersburg, which is still active today.

Now the main cemetery river Chernavka has turned into a nondescript ditch. Only one wooden bridge is thrown across it, in the most nondescript and most poorly lit part of the necropolis. However, three hundred years ago the river was quite a powerful tributary of the Okhta. Carpenters and shipbuilders settled on the banks of the Okhta and its tributaries; It was they who built in 1725. on Chernavka is a temple that was consecrated in the name of the righteous Joseph Drevodel, the patron saint of carpenters. Then a bell tower appeared, equipped with a 100-pound bell, one of the best in the city.

Then the cemetery expanded, grew, was renamed Georgievsky and again returned the historical name. Here is a list of churches built in the cemetery over two hundred years (XVIII-XIX centuries):

• Joseph Treemaker (the very first church)
• In the name of the Holy Trinity (built on the site of the Church of Joseph, stone. Closed after the first winter. The reason is “it’s too cold to conduct services, others who were frozen were buried right there”)
• Pokrovskaya (built at the direction of the authorities next to the Church of the Holy Trinity; closed at the end of the 18th century after an epidemic of typhus and smallpox swept through the city, dismantled 30 years after closing)

in the name of St. George the Victorious (after this construction, the cemetery was renamed St. George's)

Nicholas the Wonderworker (Nikolskaya), the patron saint of sailors and shipbuilders (next to the Church of St. George the Victorious)

Spiritual Church (on the site of the Church of the Holy Trinity)

Demetrius of Thessalonica (Edinoverie church in the southern part of the cemetery)

• Church of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God (family burial vault of the merchants Eliseevs)

The only building that survived after the revolution is St. Nicholas Church. It functions to this day and has not stopped working for a day, the cemetery also works, but you will not find the graves of famous ancestors.

And here are the most famous people buried under the thickness of the Okhta earth:

the first director of the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum V.F. Malinovsky, Professor A.P. Kunitsyn, composer P.I. Turchaninov, Decembrist A.M. Bulatov, maid of honor E.I. Nelidova, censor A.I. Krasovsky, architect V.P. Apyshkov, the founder of the puppet theater E.S. Demmeni, dancer R.I. Gerbek, sculptor V.A. Sinaisky, surgeon G.I. Turner. Representatives of the most famous noble families - Vsevolozhsky, Muravyov, Musin-Pushkin, Shuvalov, Beloselsky-Belozersky, Obolonsky, Shakhovsky - once rested at the Bolsheokhtinsky cemetery, but in Soviet times, almost all of these burials were destroyed.

in the 70s of the last century, Energetikov Avenue was led through the cemetery (yes, right over the graves !!!) and the area of ​​​​the cemetery was sharply reduced. At the moment, there is a corner dedicated to the victims of the blockade, killed in the Soviet-Finnish war and just burials.

And now from the personal. The post was published because I live next door to this cemetery. Many houses were built on the site of former churches and graves, even the local hypermarket and sausage factory stand on the bones. Being young and inexperienced, my friends and I walked along the cemetery paths. So. There is a crematorium in the cemetery. The smoke from the people burned there strangely falls down, spreads along the ground, as if it does not want to blow the ashes of the dead around the neighborhood behind the cemetery. The sight is frightening; especially in winter - the snow on the graves turns black.

Silent gravediggers and the suspicious red color of the water from the well have been seen many times.

But these are urban horror stories))

The Bolsheokhtinsky cemetery is one of the most famous historical places of the great and unsurpassed St. Petersburg. It is considered the largest necropolis located within the city itself. Its approximate area is seventy hectares. These lands have not yet been fully explored and are an amazing mystery. Someone's secrets are stored here, about which time can only tell the most persistent, inquisitive and seeking. This cemetery is very ancient and still active. Its official history dates back to the beginning of the 18th century. For observant people, it should be noted that near the cemetery there is a small river called Chernavka, which already looks more like a narrow and swampy, overgrown with grass groove. A small bridge is thrown over it, which is located in the most unprepossessing and poorly lit place of the ancient necropolis.

The history of the Bolsheokhtinsky cemetery in St. Petersburg

However, some three hundred years ago this river was a powerful tributary of the navigable river Okhta. Attracted for work by decree of Peter I, carpentry and ship craftsmen settled on its banks. These people were very devout, so in 1725, according to the project of the architect Potemkin, a small wooden church was built here. She was consecrated in honor of Joseph Drevodel, patron of carpenters. Over time, a bell tower appeared, which was decorated with a hundred-pound bell, which was considered one of the best and most beautiful in the city. But time spares nothing, and soon this temple fell into disrepair. And in winter it was very cold in it, so it was impossible for the priesthood to conduct long services. And it was then that it was decided to rebuild a new stone church in honor of the feast of the Intercession of the Mother of God, but already in the center of the cemetery, according to the project of M. Zemtsov (1746-1748).

Celebrities of the necropolis

It is very impressive that A. Pushkin, F. Dostoevsky, V. Izmailovich and many other famous people visited the Bolsheokhtinsky cemetery in St. Petersburg. Buried on it: the first graduate of the Smolny Institute E. Nelidova, the Decembrist A. Bulatov, the ballerina A. Istomina. There are many graves of soldiers of the Soviet-Finnish war (1939-1940) and the Great Patriotic War here.

In 1732, the Holy Synod decided to use the Okhta cemetery (this is its original name, because it was originally based on Okhta) as a citywide one, along with others. By the end of the 18th century, terrible epidemics of plague and smallpox began, which claimed many thousands of lives. Because of this, the cemetery became so overcrowded that it was decided to close it.

In 1773, on May 16, a new cemetery was opened, which became known as Bolsheokhtinsky. People were only occasionally buried in the old closed cemetery.

The years passed, and over time, the Church of the Intercession of the Mother of God also fell into disrepair, which was also dismantled in order to erect the Church of St. George the Victorious. After that, the cemetery became known as Georgievsky.

Petersburg: Bolsheokhtinsky cemetery

In 1812 near the church of St. George, another new church appeared, which was consecrated in honor of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, patron of sailors and shipbuilders. Funds for its construction were allocated by a wealthy St. Petersburg merchant Grigory Nikonov. Members of the Nikonov family and Lieutenant General P. Orlovsky, the head of the Okhta shipyard, were later buried in this temple.

In addition to them, prominent shipbuilders who worked at the shipyard are buried at the Bolsheokhninsky cemetery. The remains of the ancient families of Musin-Pushkin, Shuvalov, Muravyov, Vsevolozhsky, merchants Stroganovs, director of the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum V. Malinovsky, composer P. Turchaninov, etc. are also buried here.

Old Believers and the Common Faith Church

In 1832, a special place was allocated for "warriors who labored for the glory of the Fatherland". Here they began to bury the soldiers who died in military hospitals. In the southernmost part of the Bolsheokhtinsky cemetery, a place was also set aside for the Old Believers, and soon a church of the same faith appeared there.

In 1846, on the site for co-religionists, the church of St. Demetrius of Thessalonica, which was demolished already in Soviet times.

In 1847, Smolny was also allocated a plot.

Patron Eliseev

To this day, the church of St. George the Victorious (1817-1860, project by K. Brandt and K. Kuzmin) has not been preserved.

Edinovercheskaya Church of St. Mary, built in 1898, was demolished in 1929.

In 1885, at the expense of patron Stepan Eliseev, a five-domed church of the Kazan Mother of God was built. This temple became the tomb of the Eliseev family. It cost a tidy sum - one million rubles. The church was named after the icon of the Mother of God in the Kazan Cathedral, in front of which Eliseev prayed every morning before work.

In the hard times of the revolution, the cemetery endured all the destructive power of mankind. Temples were destroyed, devastated and looted, a significant number of monuments and crypts were demolished and taken to landfills.

New era of destruction

The only surviving was St. Nicholas Church. Built in 1926, the Church of Our Lady of Kazan was demolished in 1929. In 1930, three more churches of the same faith section of the cemetery were destroyed.

In 1935, the Church of St. George the Victorious.

In 1939, soldiers of the Soviet-Finnish war began to be buried at the former common faith site. In the east of the cemetery during the Great Patriotic War, the defenders of Leningrad were buried.

In the period from 1940 to 1970, intensive burials took place at the cemetery. Old graves were destroyed. Only a part of them remained near St. Nicholas Church.

Already in our time, in 1984, a part of the central Leningrad highway, called Energetikov Avenue, passed through the cemetery. He divided the necropolis into two parts: the old site and blockade burials.

Today the Bolsheokhtinsky cemetery functions as a citywide one.

Nicholas Church

The history of St. Nicholas Church tells that once a wealthy merchant Grigory Nikonov wanted to build a church in the cemetery - at the very entrance, next to the graves of his loved ones. In 1812, it was laid, and construction began, for which 10 thousand rubles were spent. Two years later it was consecrated in honor of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker.

Ancient icons are still kept in this church: Christ the Almighty, the Theotokos, called the “Quick Apostle”, the Mother of God of Smolensk and St. vmts. Paraskeva Fridays. These icons were revered in the previously destroyed temples of Okhta, including the temple of rights. Joseph Treemaker. St. Nicholas Church has never been closed, and services are still held in it. A separate belfry was built at the temple (1951), the left aisle was rebuilt (1976).

Patriarch

His Holiness Patriarch of All Rus' Kirill also visits this mournful place, as his pious parents, acquaintances and friends are buried here. So in 2016, after the service of the Liturgy in the Cathedral of St. Apostles Peter and Paul in the Peter and Paul Church, together with Metropolitan Varsonofy of St. Petersburg and Ladoga, he visited the Bolsheokhtinsky cemetery, where he performed a litiya near the grave of his parents, Archpriest Mikhail and Raisa Gundyaev. His Holiness also visited the graves of his other relatives.

Bolsheokhtinsky cemetery: how to get there

Today it is the largest cemetery in the northern capital, located in the Krasnogvardeisky district of the city. The nearest metro stations are Ladozhskaya and Novocherkasskaya. The administration building of the Bolsheokhtinsky cemetery, along with the main gate and the St. Nicholas Church, is located along the western borders of the churchyard - along Metallistov Avenue. The cemetery is open every day from 10:00 to 17:00.

Many are interested in exactly where the Bolsheokhtinsky cemetery is located. Address: 195248, St. Petersburg, Metallistov Avenue, 5. This impressive necropolis occupies a large area between Metallistov Avenue, Boksitogorskaya and Partizanskaya streets. You can get the information of interest by calling the number listed on the official website.

In general, many priests advise visiting cemeteries more often when something happens to us - no matter good or bad: it can cool, sober and calm.

Church at the Bolsheokhtinsky cemetery

It is located in the Krasnogvardeisky district in the east of St. Petersburg, between Degtyarev and Partizanskaya streets. Over the years of its existence, the churchyard has been expanded several times. Today it is the largest cemetery in the city, its total area exceeds 70 ha. The western border of the necropolis is Metallistov Avenue, here are the main gates, Nicholas Church and administrative buildings.

History of the Bolsheokhtinsky cemetery in St. Petersburg

Bolsheokhtinsky cemetery traces its history back to 1775, it was opened to replace the old, overcrowded Okhtinsky churchyard. At that time it was called Georgievsky, on behalf of the Church of St. George the Victorious, erected in the same year (the temple has not survived to this day, it was demolished in 1935). The events of the October Revolution were reflected in the external appearance of the cemetery: almost all church buildings, as well as a large number of monuments, were eliminated, only Nicholas Church.

During the Soviet-Finnish war, Soviet soldiers were buried in the southern part of the cemetery, where the site of the same faith was previously located, and the eastern section was later taken away for the burial of the fallen defenders of Leningrad. These and subsequent intensive burials led to the fact that a significant part of the ancient graves disappeared. The oldest tombstones have been preserved near St. Nicholas Church.

Burials of the times of the Soviet-Finnish war

Historical burials at the Bolsheokhtinsky cemetery

On the territory of the memorial complex there are 28 monuments of federal significance. The remains of representatives of the noble family Shuvalovs and Musin-Pushkins, merchants Stroganovs are buried here. The director of the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum V. F. Malinovsky, the Decembrist A. M. Bulatov, and the composer P. I. Turchaninov are buried there.

The administration pays great attention to the improvement of the territory: new water intakes have been made, garbage containers have been installed, roads have been repaired, a new site for burying urns with ashes in the ground has been opened, several modern columbar walls.

The Bolsheokhtinsky cemetery continues to operate as a citywide one, but has semi-closed status. All types of burials are carried out only in related graves.

On October 13, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' visited the Bolsheokhtinsky Georgievskoye Cemetery in St. Petersburg, where His Holiness's parents, Archpriest Mikhail and Raisa Vladimirovna Gundyaev, are buried.

In the Nikolo-Bolsheokhtinsky Church, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill celebrated the Divine Liturgy.

His Holiness was co-served by Archpriest Gennady Gordeev, Head of the Administrative Secretariat of the Moscow Patriarchate, Rector of the Bolsheokhtinsky Church, Archpriest Nikolai Gundyaev, Rector of the Transfiguration Cathedral, and the clergy of St. Petersburg.

At the end of the Liturgy, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill performed a memorial service for Metropolitan Nikodim (Rotov), ​​Archpriest Mikhail and Raisa Vladimirovna Gundyaev.

Then the Primate of the Russian Church addressed the worshipers in the church with.

“Every time I visit this temple of God, I mentally go back to the time when my parent was rector here,” His Holiness the Patriarch said, in particular. “These walls carry a memory that is dear to me, just like some of the faces that I remember when I meet the eyes of this or that person, with this or that parishioner who has been visiting this holy temple for many years.

The memory of parents is a special state of the human soul. Each of us experiences this, and therefore there is no need to talk much about it here. I would just like to thank you from the bottom of my heart for your prayer, participation with me in this remembrance of the ever-memorable servants of God, Metropolitan Nikodim, Archpriest Michael and Rais.”

His Holiness Vladyka said that he served in this church more than once, being both a priest and a bishop. Today, the first Patriarchal service in the history of this church took place.

“This temple was one of the few that was opened in what was then Leningrad,” continued the Primate. — I remember what a huge number of people came here, because there was not a single temple nearby. Today we have many churches, but those that were at that very difficult time, they are especially revered by the people of St. Petersburg, because they really were some kind of lights, beacons in that life from which the name of God was banished.”

In memory of the first Patriarchal service, the Primate donated to the temple the image of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker with a commemorative inscription.

Then His Holiness Patriarch Kirill celebrated the Litiya at the grave of his parents, located at the altar wall of the church in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker.

Archpriest Mikhail Gundyaev served as rector of St. Nicholas Church on Bolshaya Okhta from 1972 until his death on October 13, 1974.

In 1773, the church of St. George the Victorious was built on the territory of the Bolsheokhtinsky cemetery, in connection with which the cemetery became known as Georgievsky. In 1812, next to the Church of St. George the Victorious, a new church was founded at the expense of the merchant Nikonov, consecrated in 1814 in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker.

In Soviet times, the temple was not closed. Icons from the destroyed St. George's Church were transferred to it. In the Church of St. Nicholas there are many shrines transferred here from demolished and closed churches.

Press Service of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus'

In the Krasnogvardeisky district of St. Petersburg there is an old cemetery, the history of which has become part of the history of the city itself, it is so inextricably linked with it. Once it was called Georgievsky. It is only two decades younger than the city itself and remembers the times of Peter I. Today it is the largest city necropolis. Its area is almost seventy hectares. It is called the Bolsheokhtinsky cemetery. How to get to it and what interesting things you can see there - this is what we will try to find out now.

Wooden church on the bank of Chernavka

In order to start a conversation about its history, one should mentally return to the beginning of the 18th century. A new capital was being built on the banks of the Neva, and artisans flocked here from all over Russia, most of whom were free carpenters. Here for them, by order of the sovereign Peter Alekseevich, a place was allotted near the mouth of the Okhta River. Here they settled, lived and died.

But an Orthodox person cannot do without a temple of God, and in 1725 a wooden church was built according to the project of the architect Potemkin. It was consecrated in honor of the patron saint of carpenters - St. Joseph the Woodworker. That is how Saint Joseph, the betrothed of the Blessed Virgin Mary, was called in Rus'. He is known to have been a carpenter. Soon, on the bank of a small river Chernavka - a tributary of the Okhta - a cemetery was formed. They called it Okhtinsky - after the name of the river itself.

Construction of the Church of the Intercession

After some time, the wooden building fell into disrepair. And instead of it, a new stone church was built. However, a mistake came out - they did not take into account the severe frosts of St. Petersburg. The temple was built “cold”, that is, without heating, and it turned out to be completely impossible to hold services in it in the winter.

There was nothing left but to fork out again, and next to it to build another temple, this time taking into account our northern climate. This is how the Church of the Intercession appeared, the author of the project of which was the architect. Petersburgers are well aware of his other work - the church of the saints and righteous Simeon and Anna at the corner of Belinsky and Mokhovaya streets.

Epidemics of the late 18th century

Meanwhile, Petersburg was growing, and more and more space was required for the last refuge for those who ended their earthly journey in it. In this regard, in 1732, by order of the Holy Synod, the Okhta cemetery received the status of a citywide one and was used along with the rest of the cemeteries of the capital. But the Petersburgers angered the Lord, and at the end of the century He allowed two terrible epidemics to happen - smallpox and typhus. Many residents were taken to the Okhta cemetery, and it turned out to be overcrowded.

In connection with these sad events, in May 1773, a new one was opened - the Bolsheokhtinsky cemetery. It was located on the banks of the same river Chernavka and closely adjoined Okhtinsky. Although the old cemetery was considered closed, they continued to bury the dead at the graves of their relatives for a long time. In the same year, a new church was built at the Bolsheokhtinsky cemetery. It was consecrated in honor of St. George the Victorious, which gave the name to the whole complex.

Construction of St. Nicholas Church

Petersburg was originally a city of shipbuilders and sailors. And they have their own heavenly patron - St. Nicholas the Wonderworker of the World of Lycia. Here in his honor on the territory of the cemetery in 1812 a new church was laid. It was built on the donations of the merchant Nikonov, and was located just at the place of their family burial. Since ancient times, there has been a pious tradition among Russian people - to bequeath what they have acquired for charitable deeds.

In this temple, before burial, many masters - shipbuilders and seafarers were buried, and a little later a special site was created for the burial of soldiers and officers who died from wounds in a military hospital. In official documents, they were referred to as "warriors who tied up for the glory of the Fatherland."

Plots - Old Believers and the Institute of Noble Maidens

Around the same time, the Bolsheokhtinsky cemetery, in its southern part, became the burial place of the Old Believers. In the middle of the 19th century, according to the project of the architect K. I. Brandt, a common faith church in the name of Demetrius of Thessalonica was erected on the plot allotted to him. It has not survived to this day, as it was destroyed along with many other temples during the Soviet period.

The Bolsheokhtinsky cemetery became the resting place of the pupils of the Institute for Noble Maidens, a closed educational institution for girls from noble families, who died untimely. It was located on the opposite bank of the Neva. The current bridge of Peter the Great was not yet in sight, and in the summer by boat, and in the winter they crossed the ice of the frozen river to the right bank, where the Bolsheokhtinsky cemetery was located. How to get to it on the melted spring ice or the first autumn one is hard for us modern people to even imagine.

Family tomb of the Eliseev family

In the early eighties of the XIX century, another church was built at the Bolsheokhtinsky cemetery. It was erected at the expense of famous Russian entrepreneurs - the Eliseev brothers. The church was consecrated in honor of the icon of the Kazan Mother of God, a shrine especially revered by them. It is known that the elder brother - Stepan Petrovich - never started a working day without praying in front of her. The construction of the church cost a record sum for those times - one million rubles, and since then it has become the ancestral burial place of the Eliseev family.

Petersburg is glorious for many saints who shone on the banks of the Neva. The Bolsheokhtinsky cemetery is mentioned in the life of one of them - the holy blessed Xenia of Petersburg. It was there that she sent the daughter of an officer's widow, who had sat up in girls, and miraculously arranged her marriage to a young man who buried his wife. More than once we read about that cemetery in the biography of another beacon of Orthodoxy - the holy righteous John of Kronstadt.

Cemetery after the revolution

The revolution and the period of rebellion that followed it largely changed the appearance of the ancient necropolis. The temples for which the Bolsheokhtinsky cemetery was so famous were destroyed. Monuments and crypts, tombs and tombstones were barbarously destroyed during the years of atheistic obscurantism. Miraculously, only St. Nicholas Church survived.

In 1939, the Bolsheokhtinsky cemetery became the site of a mass grave of Soviet servicemen who died during the Finnish War. For their graves, significant areas were allotted in the southern part of the cemetery, and a few years later, vast territories were occupied by the burials of the fallen defenders of Leningrad during the Great Patriotic War.

Cemetery today

The scheme of the Bolsheokhtinsky cemetery, given at the end of the article, shows what this largest urban necropolis is like today. It is clearly seen that it consists of two parts. Built in the late seventies of the last century, Energetikov Avenue separated the site with old burials from the territory where the victims of the Leningrad blockade are buried. It should be noted that as a result of the fact that a very large number of residents of the city were buried in the period of the forties - seventies, many sites with old graves were reused, and at present, ancient tombstones can only be seen around St. Nicholas Church.

Many guests of St. Petersburg, wishing to get the most complete picture of the city, try to visit the Bolsheokhtinsky cemetery. How to get to it? You can use trolleybus number 16 or bus number 132, departing from the metro station "Alexander Nevsky Square", as well as trolleybus number 18 from the metro station "Novocherkasskaya". Its address: Metallistov Avenue, 5.