Preobrazhenskoye Cemetery (Moscow)
The Preobrazhenskoe Cemetery ( Russian Преображенское кладбище , German Christ Transfiguration Cemetery ) is a cemetery in the northern part of Moscow , which is closely related to the history and present of the Old Believers in Russia . It was founded in 1777 by a merchant of the Fedosejewzy denomination , a split of the priestless Old Believers (Bespopowzy) in connection with a quarantine facility, in order to conceal the existence of a monastery of the persecuted Bespopowzy. At that time, the area of the cemetery was close to the city limits, but outside Moscow. The cemetery soon became the spiritual and administrative center of the Fedoseevtsy in Russia (just as the Rogozhskoye Cemetery became an administrative and cultural center for most of the priestly Old Believers (Popovtsy)).
The Preobrazhensky site consisted of two identical pieces of land, one for a male and one for a female monastery, separated by a road to the cemetery. Construction work was carried out in the 1790s and 1800s. At that time the monastery became a refuge for up to 1,500 persecuted Old Believers, while the chapels were visited by over 10,000 Old Believers. Each church within the monastery was built in the style of a chapel. Like the other priestless people, the Fedosejewzy rejected the priesthood, so their largest houses of worship are chapels (molenna) rather than churches, as they have no altar. The area was surrounded by brick walls with decorative pseudo-Gothic towers.
In the middle of the 19th century the “male” part of the monastery was confiscated by the Tsar’s administration in order to be converted into a monastery of the “ believers ” (Jedinowerzy), the only legal branch of the Old Orthodox in the Russian Empire . The so-called "St. Nicholas Monastery of the Jedinowerzy" possessed the largest collection of old-faith literature ( Chludow legacy ) and more than 1,300 old icons .
After the October Revolution , the Nikolaikloster was used by the pro-Bolshevik " Living Church ", while the icons and books were taken to the State Historical Museum and the Tretyakov Gallery . Later the monastery was shared between the Pomorjan Old Believers (Pomorzy) and the nearby parish of the official Russian Orthodox Church . The Orthodox community uses a church in front of the gates as well as the surrounding quarter, a bell tower and the western part of the church. The eastern part of the Molenna and various facilities in the western part of the area belong to the Pomorzy. The two parts of the Molenna are separated by a thick wall. Such a separation was avoided in the women's area of Preobrashenka; it is still owned by the Fedosejewzy.
In the Preobrazhenskoye Cemetery, Moscow's first Eternal Flame was lit to commemorate those who died in World War II . In addition, the athlete and Olympic champion Volodymyr Kuz is buried in the cemetery.
Web links
- History of the Preobrazhenskoe Cemetery (Russian)
Coordinates: 55 ° 47 '25.4 " N , 37 ° 43' 3.7" E