Severnoe Cemetery

Categories / Architecture/Cemeteries (see also Municipal Economy)
Categories / City Services/Cemeteries (see also Architecture and Urban Planning)
SEVERNOE CEMETERY (called Uspenskoe before the 1950s; 3rd Pargolovo). Its area covers about 250 hectares (St. Petersburg's largest cemetery). It was established in 1874, in accordance with recommendations by the City Sanitary Committee for Cemetery Arrangement, "in a place...remote from the capital". Its former name was given after the name of the Holy Assumption Church (architect P.Y. Suzor; built in 100 days in 1874, closed in 1934, demolished in the early 1950s). Lots for military men were allocated in 1887 (in 1897-1900, the stone St. Alexander Nevsky Church was built; not survived); in 1903, there was a special section allocated to policemen. Aside from six Orthodox lots, some area was allocated for Non-Orthodox burials (initially Lutheran, and form 1911, Catholics), and in 1914 a wooden Roman Catholic Church was built on the land by architect I.V. Padlevsky; the church building did not survive. In 1918-19, mass burials of victims of the St. Petersburg famine took place at the Severnoe Cemetery. During the Great Patriotic War of 1941-45, Soviet soldiers were buried in common graves here. By order of the Executive Committee of the Leningrad Soviet of Working People's Deputies, "the construction and improvement of the new Severnoe Cemetery on the territory of the former Uspenskoe Cemetery" was started In 1958, resulting in demolition of the majority of the old graves, among them the graves of architect A.K. Bruni; artist M.P. Vereschagin (brother of V.P. Vereschagin); priest G.A. Gapon; opera singers I.P. Pryanishnikov and A.Y. Chernov; veterinarian I.I. Ravich; and Korean prince Chin Pom In. Among those buried at the Severnoe Cemetery are artist V.P. Vereschagin; physician V.A. Manassein; one of the leaders of St. Petersburg Union for Liberation of Workers, S.I. Radchenko; Socialistic competition organizer M.E. Putin; two-time Hero of Socialist Labor A.V. Chuev; folklorist V.Y. Propp; Director of the Hermitage, M.I. Artamonov; actors P.B. Luspekaev, and S.N. Filippov; basketball player A.A. Belov, and many others. A special section of the cemetery was allocated for the graves of theatre veterans; there were also two military sections with common graves and individual tombs. Over 10 historical grave sites are under the protection of the state.

Reference: Берташ А. В. Северное кладбище // Исторические кладбища Петербурга: Справ.-путеводитель. СПб., 1993. С. 508-520.

Y. M. Piryutko. Artamonov Mikhail Illarionovich
Belov Alexander Alexandrovich
Bruni Alexander Konstantinovich
Chernov Arkady Yakovlevich
Chin Pohm In, Prince
Chuev Alexey Vasilievich
Filippov Sergey Nikolaevich
Gapon Georgy Apollonovich
Luspekaev Pavel Borisovich
Manassein Vyacheslav Avksentievich
Padlevsky (Podlevsky) Iosif Vladimirovich
Propp Vladimir Yakovlevich
Pryanishnikov Ippolit Petrovich
Putin Mikhail Eliseevich
Radchenko Stepan Ivanovich
Ravich Iosif Ippolitovich
Suzor Pavel Yulievich
Vereshchagin Mitrofan Petrovich
Vereshchagin Vasily Petrovich
Берташ А. В. Северное кладбище // Исторические кладбища Петербурга: Справ.-путеводитель. СПб., 1993 Union of Struggle for Liberation of the Working Class, St. Petersburg