The cemetery opened in 1823 to relieve overcrowding in the monastery's Lazarevskoe Cemetery. Initially called the "New Lazarevsky" (Russian: Ново-Лазаревским), it quickly expanded to cover a large area. Its cemetery church was consecrated in 1871 in the name of the icon of the Tikhvin Mother of God, from which the cemetery took its name.[1][2][3] Burials initially took place in the eastern part of the cemetery, and in 1826 the writer Nikolay Karamzin was buried in the cemetery, followed in 1833 by Nikolay Gnedich, a contemporary of Alexander Pushkin's.[4][5][6] From then on a number of figures associated with the arts' world were buried there, including Pushkin's contemporaries Ivan Krylov, Pyotr Vyazemsky, Pyotr Pletnyov, and Alexey Olenin.[4][7] In 1844 another contemporary poet of Pushkin's, Yevgeny Baratynsky, was buried in the cemetery.[8]
Over time the cemetery became a popular and prestigious burial ground for those of many areas of society. The wealthy merchant A.I. Kosikovsky was buried under a monumental sarcophagus on a high pedestal surmounted by a canopy on eight fluted columns.[4] Opposite it stood a similarly grand monument to the statesman Pavel Demidov, which has since been lost.[4] In 1857 the remains of the composer Mikhail Glinka were returned from Berlin and buried in the cemetery, with a grand monument erected two years later to the design of architect I. I. Gornostayev, with sculptures by Nikolay Laveretsky.[4][9] On 1 February 1881 the author Fyodor Dostoevsky was buried in the cemetery, with a similarly large monument.[4][10] During the 1880s composers Modest Mussorgsky and Alexander Borodin were buried in the northern part of the grounds, with Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky following in 1891.[4][11][12][13]
By the beginning of the 20th century the Tikhvin cemetery contained 1,325 monuments of various designs and sizes, including monumental crosses on pedestals, sarcophagi and steles.[2] There were several family plots with chapels and large crypts of granite and marble.[2]
Soviet necropolis
During the early Soviet period a number of monuments were stolen or destroyed. The cemetery was officially closed for burials in 1927, though they continued until 1932, and it was decided to turn it into a necropolis museum, displaying historically and artistically significant graves.[2][1] Alongside this was concept of gathering together the graves of the friends and contemporaries of Alexander Pushkin for the 1937 centenary commemorations of the poet's death. The architectural and planning department of Lensovet, the city administration, was tasked with creating a memorial park project.[2] Plans were drawn up by architects E.N. Sandler and E.K. Reimers, with further input from the city's chief architect L.A. Ilyin.[2] The Funeral Affair Trust was established to run the necropolis museum, including removing abandoned gravestones for sale as building materials.[4] The reconstruction radically altered the nature and appearance of the Tikhvin cemetery. With the intention being to create an "artists' necropolis", graves of those from other sections of society were removed. Fewer than a hundred of the original monuments were preserved.[2] Meanwhile, the remains of prominent artists, sculptors, composers and musicians were reburied in the cemetery. Among them were personal friends of Pushkin, including Konstantin Danzas, Anton Delvig, and Fyodor Matyushkin.[2]
The organisers were faced with the problem that despite designating the cemetery to be the artists' necropolis, historically the Tikhvin had primarily been the burial ground of statesmen, military leaders, scientists, and composers.[4] There were relatively few graves of writers, who had tended to prefer the Smolensky Cemetery; or artists, who had traditionally chosen the Nikolskoe or Novodevichy Cemetery.[4] This necessitated the transfer of a large number of burials and monuments, which took place in two main periods, from 1936 to 1941 and from 1948 to 1952.[4] There were also several burials of prominent Soviet citizens, as the cemetery gained the status of an urban pantheon.[2] Those buried here included the scientist Sergey Lebedev in 1934, artist Mikhail Avilov in 1954, and actor Nikolay Cherkasov in 1966. In 1972 the remains of the composer Alexander Glazunov were transferred from Paris.[2] In 1968 Fyodor Dostoevsky's wife Anna Dostoevskaya was reburied next to her husband, while theatre director Georgy Tovstonogov was interred in the cemetery in 1989. So far Tovstonogov's has been the last burial to take place in the cemetery.[2][4]
Physiologist and science populariser. Head of the Department of Physiology at the Academy of Military Medicine, discovery of the skin galvanic reflex, influence of X-rays on the central nervous system, animal behavior, the heart and circulation, and embryonic development.
Statesman, Governor of Courland and Governor of Moscow. Deputy of the Minister of State Property, Deputy of the Minister of Interior, Executive Director on the petitions of the Imperial Chancellery, Director of the Ministry of Interior, Minister of Interior.
Composer, musician, balalaika, traditional folk music and instruments. Originally buried in the Nikolskoe Cemetery, transferred to the Tikhvin in 1936.
Music publisher, philanthropist. Founder of the Belyayev circle. Originally buried in the Novodevichy Cemetery, transferred to the Tikhvin in 1936. Monument is not original.
Composer, harpsichordist and conductor. Liturgical works and choral concertos. Originally buried in the Smolensky Cemetery, transferred to the Tikhvin in 1939. Monument is not original.
Operatic composer, organist and conductor, father of Alberto Cavos. Opera Ivan Susanin. Originally buried in the Volkovo Cemetery, transferred to the Tikhvin in 1936.
Composer and music critic, member of the Belyayev circle and The Five. Army officer, Engineer-General, fortifications. Originally buried in the Smolensky Lutheran Cemetery, transferred to the Tikhvin in 1936.
Composer, music teacher, conductor of the late Russian Romantic period. Director of the Saint Petersburg Conservatory. Originally buried in France, monument installed in 1951. Reburied in the Tikhvin in 1972, monument transferred in 1975.
Pianist. Royal Prussian Court Pianist, Professor at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory. Originally buried in the Nikolskoe Cemetery, transferred to the Tikhvin in 1948. Monument is not original.
Stage actress, Imperial Theatres. Originally buried in the Smolensky Cemetery, transferred to the Tikhvin in 1936. Monument bust destroyed by bomb in 1943 during the siege of Leningrad. Replaced with a copy in 1955.
Actor, Russian Neoclassicism, tragedian. Plays of Alexander Sumarokov, Russian Academy. Originally buried in the Volkovsky Orthodox cemetery, transferred to the Tikhvin in 1939. Monument is not original.
Actor, playwright. Woe from Wit, head of Drama department in Theatre College. Originally buried in the Smolensky Cemetery, transferred to the Tikhvin in 1936.
Neoclassical sculptor. Statues of Kutuzov and Barclay de Tolly at the Kazan Cathedral, angel on the Alexander Column. Originally buried in the Smolensky Cemetery, transferred to the Tikhvin in 1936.
Graphic artist, engraver and illustrator, curator of prints at the Hermitag, superintendent of the museum at the Imperial Academy of Arts. Originally buried in the Smolensky Cemetery, transferred to the Tikhvin in 1936.
Painter, draftsman and professor of history painting. Originally buried in the Smolensky Cemetery, transferred to the Tikhvin in 1936. Monument is not original.
Writer and stage actor, forefather of Russian "literary theatre", Maly Theatre, Alexandrinsky Theatre, Scenes from the People's Life, theatre historian. Originally buried in the Nikolskoe Cemetery, transferred to the Tikhvin in 1936. Monument is from 1951.
Fabulist, poet, novelist, publisher, pedagogue, vice-governor of Tver and Arkhangelsk Governorates. Russian Enlightenment. Originally buried in the Smolensky Cemetery, transferred to the Tikhvin in 1936. Monument is not original, but typical of the 1830s.
Playwright and theatre director. Early Autumn, Alexandrinsky Theatre, Griboyedov Prize, Meritorious Theatre Director of the Republic. Originally buried in the Nikolskoe Cemetery, transferred to the Tikhvin in 1936. Monument is not original.