Novodevichy Cemetery

Novodevichy Cemetery is located in Moscow, Russia and because of its famous residents, it is the city’s third most popular tourist site. The cemetery was built next to the 16th century Novodevichy Convent, immediately upon completion of the convent. The cemetery was first used primarily as a burial place for Moscow's feudal rulers and church officials; later, for Russia's intellectuals and merchants, while in the 20th century, as burial place for many of the Soviet Union's most well-known citizens.

Today, the cemetery holds the tombs of Russian authors, playwrights, and poets, as well as famous actors, political leaders, and scientists. More than 27,000 are buried at Novodevichy.

In its park-like ambience, dotted with small chapels and large sculpted monuments, some of the famous Russians buried in the Novodevichy Cemetery include:

• Nadezhda Alliluyeva-Stalin, (1902-1932), "First Lady" of the Soviet Union
• Pavel Belyayev, (1925-1970), cosmonaut
• Georgi Beregovoi, (1921-1995), cosmonaut
• Sergei Bondarchuk, (1920-1994), actor/director
• Boris Bruinov, (1922-1997), actor
• Valery Bryusov, (1873-1924), writer
• Mikhail Bulgakov, (1881-1940), playwright and author
• Nikolai Bulganin, (1895 - 1975), statesman
• Anton Chekhov, (1860-1904), writer
• Fyodor Chaliapin, (1873-1938), opera singer
• Nikolai Gogol, (1809-1852), writer
• Raisa Gorbachev, (1932-1999), "First Lady" of the Soviet Union
• Nikita Khrushchev, (1894-1971), statesman
• Aleksandr Lebed, (1950-2002), soldier and politician
• Isaak Levitan, (1860-1900), painter
• Vladimir Mayakovsky, (1893-1930), poet
• Nikolai Ogaryov, (1813-1877), writer/poet
• Sergei Prokofiev, (1891-1953), composer
• Valentin Serov, (1865-1911), writer and artist
• Dmitri Shostakovich, (1906-1975), composer
• Konstantin Stanislavski
• Andrei Tupolev (1888-1972), aircraft designer

See also: List of other famous cemeteries

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Photographs