The famous cemetery called Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois is located in the town of Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois, 30 km from the southern part of Paris. Along with local residents, immigrants from Russia were buried there. The cemetery is considered Orthodox, although there are burials of other religions. 10,000 immigrants from Russia found peace here. These are great princes, generals, writers, artists, clergy, artists.
In 1960, the French authorities raised the issue of demolishing the cemetery because the lease for the land plot was expiring. However, the Russian government has allocated the necessary amount for further rent and maintenance of the cemetery. In the 2000s, some graves were sent for reburial in the Russian Federation.
How did the Russian cemetery appear in Paris?
During the October Revolution, many emigrated from France, leaving only elderly people who had nowhere to run. In April 1927, an emigrant committee bought a castle near Paris to organize a home for lonely elderly emigrants. The castle bore the private name “Russian House”, in which 150 people lived. Today you can find preserved relics of Russian culture and the life of White emigrants here.
At the very edge of the park adjacent to the castle, there was a small local cemetery, which soon began to be replenished with Russian graves. And later, the dead Soviet soldiers and Russians who took part in the French Resistance movement found their final refuge there.
Church of the Assumption Mother of God
Before the Second World War, the Russians bought the site where construction of the Russian Orthodox Church was completed in 1939. Dormition Mother of God.
The church is the work of the architect Albert Benoit, the brother of the Russian artist, who chose the style of Pskov architecture of the Middle Ages for construction. The architect's wife, Margarita Benois, painted the walls and also restored the iconostasis. The nun Catherine, who worked in the Russian House, and its director Sergei Vilchkovsky, as well as the general treasurer of the cemetery Konrad Zamen, also took a strong part in the construction of the temple.
Subsequently, the architect of the church was buried in the cemetery of Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois
Mention of the Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois cemetery in poetry and song
Many Russian tourists consider it their duty to visit Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois, and creative bohemians from the Russian Federation are no exception. Thus, the poet and bard Alexander Gorodnitsky composed a song with the name of the cemetery; Robert Rozhdestvensky wrote a poem about the famous cemetery, and composer Vyacheslav Khripko wrote music for it; Marina Yudenich wrote a novel of the same name.
Big names on ancient monuments
An incredible number of famous and worthy names are carved on ancient monuments.
Here is a small part of the string of Russian surnames:
- poet Vadim Andreev;
- writer Ivan Bunin;
- architect Albert Benoit;
- Grigory Eliseev, founder of a chain of stores named after him;
- artists Konstantin Korovin and Konstantin Somov;
- General Alexander Kutepov;
- poetess Zinaida Gippius.
Additional Information
The main entrance is through the church. There is also a store where cemetery plans and guidebooks are sold daily. The first entrance from the bus stop is the service entrance.
Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois (France) - description, history, location. Exact address, phone number, website. Tourist reviews, photos and videos.
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The cemetery of Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois lies 30 kilometers south of Paris in a small town, after which the cemetery received its name. It was at the Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois cemetery that, since the beginning of the 20th century, almost all Russian citizens living in Paris and its environs were buried.
In the first half of the century, the Orthodox Assumption Church was built on the territory of Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois according to the design of the architect Albert Benois.
Today, the cemetery is occupied mainly by the graves of Russian emigrants, and throughout the world, Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois is considered a Russian cemetery. Here you can find the graves of more than 10 thousand of our former compatriots, including such famous people as: Princess Obolenskaya Vera Appolonovna, ballerina Semennikova Tamara Stefanovna, Captain Illarion Davidovich Yaganov, officers of the tsarist army and descendants of noble families, Prince Felix Yusupov, the great philosopher and theologian Sergius Bulgakov, touching Ivan Bunin, writer Boris Zaitsev, amazing and talented Teffi, artists Zinaida Serebryakova and Albert Benois, director Andrei Tarkovsky and many others.
Russian tourists often come to the Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois cemetery to pay tribute to all the deceased and their ancestors. The cemetery is located in the town of Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois on Leo-Lagrange Street, open March-September Mon-Sun 7.00–19.00, October-February Mon-Sun 8.00–17.00.
Cemetery of Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois
In the suburbs of Paris is the suburb of Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois, which is often called Russian. The almshouse in this place was built in the 20s of the twentieth century, at that time Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois, which had not yet turned from a small village into a small cozy town, was already associated with Russian emigration, most of which were the nobility who managed flee Russia during the revolution.
In the suburbs of Paris is a suburb Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois(French Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois), which is often called Russian. The almshouse in this place was built in the 20s of the twentieth century, at that time Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois, which had not yet turned from a small village into a small cozy town, was already associated with Russian emigration, most of which were the nobility who managed flee Russia during the revolution.
The construction of the almshouse was carried out according to the idea and personal funds of the Russian princess V.K. Meshcherskaya, this building soon became a shelter for elderly lonely Russian nobles who had neither family nor financial savings; for such citizens, the almshouse became the only place where the elderly could receive care and food. In 1927, a first Russian cemetery, its history began with the allocation of a plot of land for the burial of the permanent inhabitants of the almshouse, who found their last refuge in it. Very little time passed, and Russian nobles from Paris and other cities of France began to be buried in the cemetery in Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois.
And for the funeral services of the dead, a small Orthodox Church in the Russian Baroque style, with a small blue dome decorated with a gilded cross. Under one of the naves lie the ashes of Orthodox clergy, including Archbishop George, as well as Metropolitans Vladimir and Evlogii. The architect, according to whose design the temple was built, and his wife Margarita Alexandrovna, known as an artist during her lifetime, were buried next to them. And next to the church, a small house was subsequently built, dedicated to the memory of the architect, in which visitors to the temple and the Russian cemetery can relax and drink a cup of hot and aromatic tea.
The entrance to the cemetery passes through a beautiful gate made in the form of an arch, and its main decoration is the image of two archangels - Michael and Gabriel, holding an icon in their hands. Next there is a wide alley, along which you can see Russian birch trees, reminding emigrants of their homeland, many cozy benches, on which you can sit and relax at any time. You can climb into the temple via comfortable steps, and around them you can see trimmed bushes and well-groomed low spruce trees, and then, behind the church, birch trees alternate with poplars. It has been suggested among architects that the cemetery, church and almshouse in Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois, built in the Pskov-Novgorod style, are the only architectural ensemble of this kind in the entire Western European territory. The entrance to the Orthodox church, named after the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is decorated with an unusual fresco depicting the Mother of God. And at some distance from the temple you can see the belfry, as if lost among the already tall trees, it is decorated with two simple arcades, and at the top there is a small dome, with its crown pointing to the sky; on Orthodox holidays, the ringing of the six bells of the belfry can be heard from afar.
Cross-shaped Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary on top it is decorated with a dome, which in color seems to merge with the heavens, and on the dome you can see an eight-pointed cross. The interior of the church is quite restrained; its main component is the iconostasis, made in two tiers; it was painted not only by recognized Russian artists, but also by talented parishioners. Inside the church is decorated with frescoes, some of them depict events from the life of Jesus Christ, on others you can see the Blessed Virgin Mary, these frescoes were painted by the famous painter Albert Benoit. The western part of the temple was painted by another artist - Morozov. The walls, icon cases and lecterns of the church are decorated with numerous icons, all of which were left to the temple by parishioners as a priceless gift.
The almshouse became the center of Russian emigration, and a small village was formed around it within a short time. Russian emigrants from Paris sought to purchase a plot of land here to build their own home, some built dachas intended for relaxation from the noisy and bustling Paris, while others moved to newly built houses and stayed to live here forever. And the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, consecrated in 1939 by Metropolitan Evlogii, was built at the expense of Russian settlers, and the architect Albert Nikolaevich Benois worked on the drama project. This outstanding man was known both as an architect, and as an artist, as an illustrator, graphic artist and book designer, and as a theatergoer, and as a subtle connoisseur of music and dance, and as a theater and art critic. According to contemporaries, Benoit possessed a considerable amount of artistry; he was called the “singer of Versailles and Louis” for his unusual series of works in watercolors depicting the Parisian palace court. The outstanding architect left this mortal coil in 1960 in Paris, and his body was brought for funeral service and subsequent burial in the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, built by him, in the village of Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois.
But the Russian emigration cemetery differs from similar burials on Russian territory. It combines the splendor characteristic only of Russians, and Western cleanliness, and the rule according to which all graves are subordinated to a single idea, all graves, alleys and cemetery areas are well-groomed; here you will not see any wild grass as tall as a person, or garbage. Near the gravestone Orthodox crosses, as well as in special niches of many monuments and tombstones, the lights of the lamps constantly flicker; they do not go out, and a kind of “eternal flame” is maintained by the cemetery servants. The graves are also decorated with icons made on an enamel coating, all of them small. In the cemetery in Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois lies the color of the Russian intelligentsia and, many writers are buried here, including Zinaida Gippius and Dmitry Merezhkovsky, Alexey Remizov and Ivan Shmelev, Nadezhda Teffi and Nikolai Evreinov, Boris Zaitsev, the famous writer Ivan Bunin and his faithful wife Vera Nikolaevna.
The Russian cemetery is also the burial place of heroes of the French resistance, including Kirill Radishchev and Vika Obolenskaya, as well as Zinovy Peshkov, the adopted son of the famous writer Alexei Peshkov, working under the pseudonym Maxim Gorky. The ashes of artists and ballerinas such as Olga Preobrazhenskaya, Vera Trefilova, Matilda Kshesinskaya, Ivan Mozzhukhin, Maria Krzhizhanovskaya are buried in Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois. Philosophers N. Lossky and S. Bulgakov, artists K. Korovin and Z. Serebryakova and K. Somov are buried here, and relatively recently the graves where A. Tarkovsky, A. Galich and V. Nekrasov found their final refuge appeared.
However, the Russian emigration in Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois has many problems, and the preservation of the village and the cemetery itself is under threat. The land allocated for the cemetery does not belong to the Russian community, but to the local municipality, and the site itself was allocated for burials only for a certain period. In the 70s of the twentieth century, it was forbidden to bury all Russian emigrants and their descendants here; the only exceptions were citizens who bought a place in the cemetery long before the relevant order of the authorities, as well as persons whose affiliation with the village of Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois in general , and the Russian cemetery in particular, has been proven. In order to bury the famous director Andrei Tarkovsky in this cemetery, even the country's Minister of Culture had to intervene. And soon a small chapel appeared on the territory of the cemetery, built as a tomb for the remains reburied from old graves whose lease had long expired. Amazingly, many emigrants spent their whole lives cherishing the dream of returning to their homeland, from which they once had to flee. Some nobles did not even bury their dead relatives, storing their ashes in zinc coffins, so that such a coffin could be transported to Russia and buried on Russian soil.
Today, in the Russian cemetery in Sainte-Genevieve des Bois, there are also abandoned graves, which currently have no one to rent. The city authorities, by law, have the right to sell all burials that do not have a legal owner, and many French people have already been buried on the site of Russian graves. There is only one way to preserve the Russian cemetery safe and sound, giving it the status of a memorial. But such a decision has not been made and is unlikely to be made in the coming years. The preservation of the cemetery is so far based on intergovernmental agreements that were verbally decided during the trips of the President of Russia, Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin, and subsequently Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin to France, and in particular to the cemetery of Russian emigration in Sainte-Genevieve des Bois.
At the moment, the costs of maintaining the Orthodox part of the cemetery are shared among the relatives of deceased emigrants, parishioners of the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the local municipality. Saint-Genevieve des Bois is growing as a city, and space is needed to expand, so the cemetery is constantly under threat. The Russian government offered the French authorities plots of land in Russia in exchange for the territory of the cemetery, and projects were also put forward to rebury the remains of Russian nobles and intelligentsia from the cemetery in Saint-Genevieve des Bois to other places, or to various Orthodox churches. But the Russian emigration and their descendants simply do not have the funds for such large-scale projects. And only the ashes of the writer Ivan Bunin are not in danger - the rent of the land plot on which his ashes rest has been paid for indefinitely at the expense of the Nobel Committee. And the further fate of all other graves has not been decided.
Small church. The candles have melted.
The stone is worn white by the rains.
The former, the former are buried here.
Cemetery of Saint-Genevieve-des-Bois
This is what the young Soviet poet Robert Rozhdestvensky wrote back in 1970 about the most Russian place in Paris. The suburb of Saint-Genevieve-des-Bois became so at the beginning of the 20th century. At the expense of Princess Meshcherskaya, a nursing home was opened here for Russian nobles who fled from the revolution and were deprived of their means of subsistence. At the same time, the first graves with inscriptions in Church Slavonic appeared at the local cemetery. Gradually, the quiet town became the center of Russian emigration in Paris. A small Orthodox church was built where the first hierarchs of the Russian Church in exile served. This is where they are buried.
Over time, the town of Saint-Genevieve-des-Bois has become part of Greater Paris. But here the atmosphere of a Russian resting place has traditionally been preserved, which is combined with European grooming and cleanliness. Although today most of the residents of the nursing home are French, the administration diligently maintains the “Russian spirit”, in which it is helped by both the local community and the current Russian government.
For quite a long time, burials of White Guard officers prevailed here, but the situation gradually changed. Today, the names of artists, writers, poets and painters are much more common in the alleys of the cemetery. The most famous of them is Ivan Bunin, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature. The Russian language in his books reached incredible perfection and strength. Zinaida Gippius and Tatyana Teffi, Dmitry Merezhkovsky and Ivan Shmelev found their final refuge here.
Here lies one of the brightest Russian poets of modern Russia - Alexander Galich. His name can be safely placed next to Vladimir Vysotsky and Bulat Okudzhava.
At the end of 2007, the local municipality seriously discussed the issue of liquidating the cemetery due to the expiration of the land lease. Burials there have long been stopped; in order to receive this honor, you must either have a plot purchased before the ban, or obtain special permission. In order to bury Andrei Tarkovsky there, the assistance of the Russian Ministry of Culture was needed. The situation worsened at the end of 2007, and then the Russian government decided to allocate 700 thousand Euros, which paid in advance for the rent of the land plot under the cemetery until 2040.
There are more than 7,000 Russian graves in the cemetery, including famous Russian writers, scientists, artists, artists, statesmen and politicians, military men and members of the clergy. The Cemetery Church of the Assumption was built according to the design of the architect Albert A. Benois in the Novgorod style with a Pskov belfry and gates; it was solemnly consecrated on October 14, 1939.
More than 10 thousand Russians are buried in the cemetery. Many famous people are buried there: writer Ivan Bunin (1870-1953), poet-bard Alexander Galich (1919-1977), writer Dmitry Merezhkovsky (1866-1941), his wife poetess Zinaida Gippius (1869-1949), film actors brothers Alexander ( 1877-1952) and Ivan (1869-1939) Mozzhukhins, writer, chief editor. magazine "Continent" Viktor Nekrasov (1911-1987), dancer Rudolf Nureyev (1938-1993), writer Alexei Remizov (1877-1957), Grand Duke Andrei Romanov (1879-1956) and his wife ballerina Matilda Kshesinskaya (1872-1971) , Grand Duke Gabriel Romanov (1887-1955), artist Zinaida Serebryakova (1884-1967), artist Konstantin Somov (1869-1939), economist and statesman Peter Struve (1870-1944), film director Andrei Tarkovsky (1932-1986), writer Teffi (Nadezhda Lokhvitskaya) (1875-1952), writer Ivan Shmelev (1873-1950) was later reburied on May 30, 2000 in his native Moscow, Prince Felix Yusupov (1887-1967).
At the cemetery, the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in the spirit of Novgorod churches, built and painted by Albert Benois in 1938-1939. Buried in the crypt of the church are: the architect of this church, Albert Benois (1870-1970), his wife Margarita, nee Novinskaya (1891-1974), Countess Olga Kokovtsova (1860-1950), Countess Olga Malevskaya-Malevich (1868-1944).
To the right of the iconostasis there is a memorial plaque in memory of the 32 thousand soldiers and officers who served in the Second World War in the German army. They were handed over by the Allies to the Soviet command and executed for treason.
At the very beginning of the 20s, when the first wave of Russian emigration arrived in Paris, a problem arose: what to do with the elderly, the older generation who left Bolshevik Russia? And then the emigrant committee decided to buy a castle near Paris and turn it into a nursing home. Such a castle was found in the Essonne department, 30 kilometers south of Paris in the town of Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois. It was a real outback back then.
On April 7, 1927, a nursing home was opened here with a large park adjacent to it, at the end of which there was a communal cemetery. At the very beginning of its existence, the Russian House in Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois was destined to become the custodian of the relics of pre-revolutionary Russia. When France officially recognized the Soviet Union, the ambassador of the Provisional Government in Paris, Maklakov, had to cede the embassy building to the new owners. But he managed to transport portraits of Russian emperors, antique furniture and even a royal throne made of wood and gilding to the Russian House. Everything is still located in Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois.
This first Russian nursing home in France was inhabited by 150 residents. Wonderful and even outstanding people ended their earthly journey here. Many Russian diplomats, artists Dmitry Stelletsky, Nikolai Istsenov... The last famous person who died in this house at the age of 94 was Princess Zinaida Shakhovskaya. So by the beginning of the 30s, Russian graves appeared here, on the foreign side.
Shortly before the war, the Russians prudently bought a plot of land here of about a thousand square meters and, according to the design of Albert Benois (a relative of Alexander Benois), built a church in the Novgorod style. On October 14, 1939, this church was consecrated and thus the graveyard, called the Russian Cemetery in Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois, was formed. Later, both Soviet commanders and soldiers were buried here.
*****
The road to the cemetery from the bus stop. It’s sunny and deserted, with occasional cars passing behind us. Ahead is a cemetery fence.
The cemetery's central gate, behind it is a church with a blue dome. On the occasion of Saturday everything is closed. The entrance to the cemetery is a little further.
Ivan Alekseevich Bunin. Calm and quiet.
Nearby is Nadezhda Teffi.
Monument to Russians who fought and died in World War II on the side of the French Resistance.
Rimsky-Korsakov
Rudolf Nureyev
Sergey Lifar
Alexander Galich
Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich Romanov and “Little Girl” Kshesinskaya
Merezhkovsky and Gippius
"In the trenches of Stalingrad." Writer Viktor Platonovich Nekrasov
Writer Vladimir Emelyanovich Maksimov
Captain Merkushov
Grand Duke Gabriel Konstantinovich Romanov
Archpriest Sergius Bulgakov
Veniamin Valerianovich Zavadsky (Writer Korsak) is a very interesting monument.
Professor Anton Vladimirovich Kartashev
Shmelevs. Symbolic grave.
Felix Yusupov, Rasputin's killer. And his (Felix's) wife.
Monument to Drozdovites
General Alekseev and his faithful comrades (Alekseevtsy)
Alexey Mikhailovich Remezov. Writer.
Andrei Tarkovsky (“To the Man Who Saw an Angel” - this is what is written on the monument)
The symbolic grave of General Kutepov (for those who have read “The Invisible Web” by Pryanishnikov, it should be clear why it is symbolic).
Galipolians...
Famous theologian Archpriest Vasily Zenkovsky
One of the first actors of Russian cinema Ivan Mozzhukhin
The alleys of the cemetery are clean... and quiet... only the birds are singing
Cossacks - sons of Glory and Freedom
View from the altar of the Assumption Church.
A Russian nursing home in Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois, where fragments of the first post-revolutionary emigration still survive. Among them is Lydia Alexandrovna Uspenskaya, the widow of the famous icon painter Leonid Uspensky, who painted the Trinity Church and was buried in this cemetery. In October of this year. she will turn 100 years old. She ended up in France in 1921, she was 14...
Lidia Alexandrovna Uspenskaya before the funeral service at the cemetery:
Memorial service on February 13, 2006 at the Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois cemetery for all compatriots who died and were buried here (as part of the celebration of the 75th anniversary of the Three Hierarchs' Metochion of the Russian Orthodox Church MP in Paris).
The memorial service was led by Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad (V.R. - currently Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church).
And here they are already burying complete strangers...
Tomorrow other Russian people will come here and a silent prayer will sound again...
Buried here:
- Father Sergius Bulgakov, theologian, founder of the Theological Institute in Paris
- L.A. Zander, professor at the Theological Institute
- Archpriest A. Kalashnikov
- V.A. Trefilova, ballerina
- V.A. Maklakov, lawyer, former minister
- N.N. Cherepnin, composer, founder of the Russian Conservatory. Rachmaninov in Paris
- A.V. Kartashev, historian, professor at the Theological Institute in Paris
- I.S. Shmelev, writer (only a symbolic grave remains)
- N.N. Kedrov, founder of the quartet. Kedrova
- Prince F.F. Yusupov
- K.A. Somov, artist
- A.U. Chichibabin, chemist, biologist
- D.S. Steletsky, artist
- Grand Duke Gabriel
- S.K. Makovsky, artist, poet
- A.E. Volynin, dancer
- I.A. Bunin, writer, Nobel Prize laureate
- M.A. Slavina, opera singer
- S.G. Polyakov, artist
- V.P. Krymov, writer
- S.N. Maloletenkov, architect
- A.G. Chesnokov, composer
- Archpriest V. Zenkovsky, theologian, professor at the Theological Institute in Paris
- Princes Andrei and Vladimir Romanov
- Kshesinskaya, prima ballerina
- K.A. Korovin, artist
- N.N. Evreinov, director, actor
- I.I. and A.I. Mozzhukhins, opera and film artists
- O. Preobrazhenskaya, ballerina
- M.B. Dobuzhinsky, artist
- P.N. Evdokimov, theologian
- A.M. Remizov, writer
- Gallipoli common grave
- Common grave of members of the Foreign Legion
- Z. Peshkov, adopted son of Maxim Gorky, general of the French army, diplomat
- K.N. Davydov, zoologist
- A.B. Pevzner, sculptor
- B. Zaitsev, writer
- N.N. Lossky, theologian, philosopher
- V.A. Smolensky, poet
- G.N. Slobodzinsky, artist
- M.N. Kuznetsova-Massenet, opera singer
- S.S. Malevsky-Malevich, diplomat, artist
- Common grave of members of the Russian Cadet Corps
- L.T. Zurov, poet
- Common grave of the Cossacks; Ataman A.P. Bogaevsky
- A.A. Galich, poet
- P. Pavlov and V. M. Grech, actors
- V.N. Ilyin, writer. Philosopher
- Common grave of parishioners
- S. Lifar, choreographer
- V.P. Nekrasov, writer
- A. Tarkovsky, film director
- V.L. Andreev, poet, writer
- V. Varshavsky, writer
- B. Poplavsky, poet
- Teffi, writer
- Rudolf Nureyev, dancer, choreographer
- D. Solozhev, artist
- I.A. Krivoshein, resistance member, prisoner of Nazi and Soviet camps
- S.T. Morozov, the last representative of the Morozov family in France.
Plaksina (ur. Snitko) Nadezhda Damianovna, 28-7-1899 - 1-9-1949. Sister of Mercy, Knight of the Order of St. George of three degrees
I managed to find only a few words about Nadezhda Plaksina herself. But they are worth a lot; behind them you can feel her character, faith and perseverance, which she was able to pass on to her children. Here are small excerpts from an interview with actor Gleb Plaksin, the son of Nadezhda Plaksina, one of the “returnees” of the post-war era, when many Russian people, for one reason or another, who found themselves in the West, decided to return to Soviet Russia:
-...Where did you get the American awards? After all, during the war you were a French citizen!
- Yes it is. My parents are Russian. Dad is an officer of the hussar regiment, a nobleman. He is originally from Nizhny Novgorod. And my mother grew up in St. Petersburg. She is a sister of mercy, a Knight of St. George of three degrees. By the way, my grandmother on my mother’s side is a relative of the famous Polish writer Henryk Sienkiewicz. Remember he received the Nobel Prize in 1905? My parents met during the First World War in a hospital in the city of Sevastopol. It just so happened that both mom and dad were undergoing treatment there after battle wounds. A short time later we got married...
During the revolution of 1917, parents were forced to emigrate to France. We settled in the city of Lyon. Do you know anything about Lyon? Yes, yes, this is the center of French silk and velvet production.
— It is known that in emigration, representatives of the Russian nobility, as a rule, worked as drivers or laborers. Did your parents suffer the same fate?
“My parents were simply lucky.” Dad received a position as an engineer at the Grand Bazar de Lyon department store. And at first my mother could not find a job in her medical specialty and sewed clothes for rich people, as they say, “haute couture.” Later she got a job in a private surgical clinic as an assistant surgeon. I remember my parents often repeated to me: “We are Russian, sooner or later we will return to Russia, and you will serve the Russian people.” It was absorbed, as they say here, with mother's milk. I sincerely wanted to serve Russia. I dreamed of touring Russian cities. After all, I am a musician, I have been performing concerts since I was four years old.
- Did you happen to visit France after you settled in the Soviet Union?
In 1976. I saw my beloved Paris again... You know, it’s hard for me to remember this. After all, on the one hand, only there, in France, did I experience the golden time of my creativity. Only in France could I freely travel around Europe and tour. So I’m telling you, and it gives me goosebumps... But on the other hand, this is how I was raised, Russia is my home. I remember, when I was still three inches from the pot, my mother often said: “You need to marry a Russian, even a peasant woman, but one of your own, a Russian.” And so it happened, however, my wife is not a peasant, but a chemical engineer. We lived with her for 47 happy years.
At one of the graves
Lossky Vladimir Nikolaevich, 8-6-1903 - 7-2-1958, philosopher, theologian
Losskaya Magdalina Isaakovna, 23-8-1905 - 15-3-1968, his wife
The famous philosopher Nikolai Lossky, the father of Vladimir Lossky, was expelled from the St. Petersburg gymnasium during tsarist times “for promoting atheism and socialism,” and under the Bolsheviks he was deprived of his university chair for his Christian views. In 1922, the Lossky family was “permanently expelled” from Russia. They left the country on the notorious “philosophical ship”, together with Berdyaev, Ilyin, Krasavin, Bulgakov and almost two hundred of the best minds in Russia. The operation took place under the personal control of Lenin; everyone deported was required to sign a document indicating that if he returned to the RSFSR, he would be immediately shot.
The Losskys lived first in Prague, then Vladimir moved to Paris to complete his education at the Sorbonne. He enters the St. Photius Brotherhood, whose members sought to unite efforts to protect Orthodoxy from possible heretical distortions. Soon, in the field of the St. Sergius Metochion and the St. Photius Brotherhood in Paris, a galaxy of remarkable Russian philosophers, theologians, and Church historians grew up - and Russian theological thought began to work fruitfully in emigration. In 1940-1944. V. Lossky participated in the French Resistance. He was engaged in research work and taught dogmatic theology and Church history at the Institute of St. Dionysius in Paris. From 1945 to 1953 dean of the institute. Through the efforts of Vladimir Lossky, the first French-speaking Orthodox parish was opened on Rue Sainte-Geneviève in Paris.
Among the Orthodox theologians of his generation, Vladimir Lossky was one of those who sought to show the West that Orthodoxy is not a historical form of Eastern Christianity, but an enduring truth. His works are imbued with the desire to conduct a dialogue with the Christian West, while preserving the entire integrity of Orthodoxy. Lossky was closely associated with Catholic theologians and researchers,
who asked him to explain the essence of Orthodoxy specifically to Catholics,” said his son. Then the philosopher gave them a course of lectures at the Sorbonne, at a very high level, with the participation of famous professors, scientists and philosophers. These lectures were subsequently combined in a work entitled "Essay on the Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church." This work has now become a classic and has been translated from French into many languages, including Russian. Vladimir Lossky gives in it a systematic presentation of what theology itself and Eastern Orthodoxy were.
1-3-1876 - 27-3-1963
From the cemetery plaques you can see how the Russian language is gradually being lost among the descendants of emigrant families. Either “I” will turn into “N”, then the letter “I” will be turned upside down and not corrected, then a Russian surname suddenly turns out to be a reverse translation of the French version... This is a common problem for immigrants of all generations and all waves: the most difficult thing is not to teach children a foreign language, but to keep your own, dear. As sad as it may be, by the third generation the Russian language in an emigrant family usually dies.
8-12-1884 - 4-12-1949, submariner, writer
Merkushova Maria Ivanovna, 1887 - 28-2-1962, his wife.
A graduate of the Naval Cadet Corps, V. Merkushov begins service in the Baltic, where he is assigned to the Sig submarine “for scuba diving training.” After training, he received the rank of submarine officer, which was first introduced in the navy and awarded to 68 people. In December 1908, in Vladivostok, commanding the submarine "Mullet", V. Merkushov participated in a unique experiment - diving under the ice of the Amur Bay.
In December 1912, V. Merkushov received command of the submarine “Okun” and began the First World War on it, becoming one of the most famous submarine commanders of the Baltic Fleet. On May 21, 1915, while in the Baltic Sea, the “Perch” met a formation of German ships escorting destroyers. Having overcome the guards, the "Perch" attacked one of the ships, which, having discovered the boat, tried to ram it. The "Perch" managed to fire a torpedo salvo and dive, although it was heavily dented by the hull of the German ship. For this attack, which forced the enemy ships to retreat, the commander of the boat was awarded the Order of St. George, 4th degree, and the crew was awarded the Cross of St. George of the same degree. In June 1915, near Vindava, the Okun attacked the German cruiser Augsburg, for which Lieutenant Merkushov was awarded the Arms of St. George and the Cavalier Cross of the French Legion of Honor.
Merkushov was prevented from further service on submarines by a spinal injury sustained during the ramming of the Okun. The First World War ends for him on February 25, 1918 in the Revel fortified area, which was surrendered to the Germans on that day. After the surrender of the fortress, he himself remained in Revel, and after the conclusion of the Brest Peace, he moved to Odessa. In the fall of 1918, V. Merkushov was already in Sevastopol, as part of volunteer units, he participated in the liberation of Odessa from the Petliurists, and in 1919 he participated in the landing at the Sukhoi Estuary and the capture of Odessa by the Armed Forces of the South of Russia. In November 1920, on the ship "Kharaks" Merkushov evacuated the Don Cossacks from Kerch. In March 1921, the service of the 36-year-old captain in the Russian navy ended in Constantinople.
In November 1922, Merkushov, commanding the tug Skif, took part in the ferrying of Russian minesweepers and tugs requisitioned by the French government from Constantinople to Marseille. This is how he ends up in France. Vasily Alexandrovich spent the first years of emigration near Lyon, where he was a worker at a cable factory. Then he settled in Paris, lived, overcoming progressive illnesses; towards the end of his life he had difficulty moving and was blind in one eye.
In exile, Merkushov wrote two books - “Submariners. (Essays from the life of the Russian submarine fleet 1905 - 1914)" and "Diary of a Submariner." The scale of the work is indicated by the following fact: the typescript of the three volumes of “The Diary of a Submariner” totaled 1983 pages, not counting maps, plans, and text appendices. And there was also a third manuscript - “The Agony of Revel” (about the events of February 1918). But none of these books were published abroad. V.A. Merkushov also collaborated with the Russian naval magazine “Chasovoy”, published in Paris. It contains 41 of his lifetime publications and several materials published after his death. In addition, since 1927, Merkushov’s articles appeared in the Parisian newspapers “Vozrozhdenie” and “Russian Invalid”, and since 1947 - in “Russian Thought”.
Dubentsev Petr Andreevich, 22-9-1893 - 6-9-1944. Miner, Baltic.
Dubentseva (ur. Antonovskaya) Elizaveta Aleksandrovna, 20-10-1901 - 30-9-1983
Andro de Langeron Alexander Alesandrovich, 30-8-1893 - 14-9-1947, captain, marquis
Andro de Langeron is a well-known family in France, from which one of the founders of Odessa, Russian army general Alexander Andro de Langeron (1763-1861), came. I could not find information about who the general’s namesake captain was. But the poems on the grave are about Russia...
Eismont-Eliseeva (ur. Kozhina) Elena Petrovna, 13-4-1901 - 3-5-1953
Another grave with poems about Russia. The following inscription is carved on the slab:
I love you, Petra's creation,
I love your strict, slender appearance,
Neva sovereign current,
Its coastal granite.
____
She was from this big
cold city
Schoolgirl, orphan and
On a foreign land, an uncomplaining toiler
7-2-1889 - 27-12-1982, Kuban Cossack
, 1891 - 1972, his wife
Isidor Zakharyin was a sub-squire of the Kuban army, a full Knight of St. George. For some time he served in the Cossack division in Persia, which he described in his work “In the Service of the Persian Shah”
A brief history of the service of the Russian Cossacks in the Shah's troops is as follows. In 1879, the Persian Shah Nasser ad-Din turned to the Russian government with a request for assistance in creating a combat-ready military formation capable of actually carrying out the tasks assigned to it. Lieutenant Colonel of the Russian General Staff Domantovich, together with Cossack officers, created a Persian regular cavalry regiment modeled on the Russian Cossack regiments. The regiment soon grew to the size of a brigade. The command of His Majesty the Shah's Persian Cossack brigade was commanded by a Russian officer who reported directly to the Shah...
During the First World War, the brigade was deployed into a division, numbering more than ten thousand people, its units were located in all major cities of the country. Under the leadership of Russian officers who trained and armed the Persian Cossacks, the brigade became not only the support of the throne, but also the most combat-ready regular formation of the Persian army with modern artillery and machine-gun platoons. It was commanded by Colonel Lyakhov, who actually turned out to be the commander of the country's Armed Forces, while the Supreme Commander-in-Chief was the Shah himself.
Everything in the brigade was reminiscent of Russia: the brigade was commanded by a colonel of the Russian General Staff; the personnel were trained by Russian officer-instructors and non-commissioned officers, and treated by a Russian military doctor; The Russian papakha, boots and shirt served as the daily uniform; the military regulations were Russian; Russian language was subject to compulsory study. The Shah personally supervised the brigade that guarded the most important government institutions. Every year, in the Kasr-Kojara camp, six kilometers north of Tehran, the Persian Cossacks, in the presence of the Shah, underwent a review, which usually ended with a demonstration horse show. In terms of discipline and combat training, the Cossack brigade was completely superior to all military units in the country.
Since 1916, the Cossack Brigade was commanded by the ambitious Colonel Reza Khan. It was he who organized a military coup in February 1921, removed the Turkic Qajar dynasty from power, resisted England’s attempts to establish a protectorate over Iran and became the Iranian Shah Reza-Pahlavi...
I have not yet been able to find any materials about the emigrant life of Isidor Zakharyin. He died in the Russian House in Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois.
17-3-1921 - 3-01-1949
These photographs on the tombstone immediately attracted my attention with both their unusual unity and tragic separation. For a long time I could not find any mention of these people and their grave. And then, quite by accident, the name Georgy Orcel appeared on the Internet. And I saw this entry in the memoirs of Father Boris Stark, a priest at the churches of the Russian House in Sainte-Genevieve des Bois:
"A young Frenchman had a Russian girl - a bride. She studied ballet art from the famous ballerina O.O. Preobrazhenskaya... Some kind of quarrel, some kind of stubbornness... The young man took it all too close to his heart and... ended the The grief-stricken bride, reproaching herself for her frivolity, almost followed him. We had to put in a lot of effort and effort to move on with life. We prayed together at the fresh grave. Now she has been married for a long time, has three sons, and sometimes comes to visit her relatives. to the Soviet Union, and we meet with her. But the memory of Georges remains an unhealed wound."
Weeping Orthodox cross on a French grave...
4-4-1932 - 29-12-1986, film director
Tarkovskaya (ur. Egorkina) Larisa Pavlovna, 1933 - 19-2-1998, his wife
The monument at the grave of A. Tarkovsky was created by the famous sculptor Ernst Neizvestny. It symbolizes Golgotha, and the seven steps carved into the marble represent Tarkovsky’s seven films. The Orthodox cross was made according to the director’s sketches.
“Does death scare me?” Andrei Tarkovsky reflected in Donatella Balivo’s documentary film dedicated to his work. “In my opinion, death does not exist at all. There is some kind of act, painful, in the form of suffering. When I think about death, I think about physical suffering, and not about death as such. Death, in my opinion, simply does not exist. I don’t know... Once I dreamed that I died, and it seemed like the truth. I felt such liberation, such lightness. incredible, that perhaps it was the feeling of lightness and freedom that gave me the feeling that I had died, that is, freed from all connections with this world. In any case, I do not believe in death. There is only suffering and pain, and often a person. confuses this - death and suffering. I don’t know. Maybe when I face this directly, I will become scared, and I will think differently... It’s hard to say.”
- This year is the anniversary of Tarkovsky’s death. Was there any idea to transport his remains to his homeland?
I have a negative attitude towards this: since fate brought Andrei to the Saint-Genevieve-des-Bois cemetery, then it’s necessary. After all, he had already been reburied once: the first time his body was buried in the grave of Captain Grigoriev, and later the mayor of Saint-Geneviève allocated a special place for Tarkovsky’s grave. At first there was a simple wooden cross on the grave, which I personally liked. And then, without telling me anything about her plans, Andrei’s widow created a project for the monument. The inscription on it is incorrect from the point of view of the Russian language: “Andrei Tarkovsky. To the man who saw the angel." It seems to me that such an inscription is simply unacceptable on a monument (and the priest told me about this). You can't write such things. Even if he saw him...
Unknown
Fortunately, there are few such graves in the cemetery (much less than can be seen in old cemeteries in Russia), but they still exist...
On a winter Saturday, there are almost no people in the cemetery. A few of our tourists, a couple of Frenchmen, a couple of Japanese (and where are they not?) ... Nevertheless, candles are lit at many graves, and the cemetery attendant is actively scurrying back and forth, removing garbage or placing flowers on the graves. Apparently, someone pays for the care of the graves, and then these burials are “looked after”, giving the impression that someone has recently visited.
There's a candle burning here. And so on many graves
The “Drozdovites,” soldiers of the Volunteer Army, wore a monogram on crimson shoulder straps and, to the tune of the march of the Siberian Riflemen (well known to us from the song “Across the Valleys and Along the Hills”), sang their own, the Drozdovsky march:
From Romania by hike
The glorious Drozdovsky regiment was marching,
To save the people
He bore a heroic, difficult duty.
Colonel of the General Staff Mikhail Gordeevich Drozdovsky (1881-1919) in December 1917 in Romania began to form a volunteer detachment from the Russians who fought on the Romanian front. In March 1918, a detachment called the 1st separate brigade of Russian volunteers set out from Yassy to the Don. “There is only the unknown of a long journey ahead. But a glorious death is better than a shameful refusal to fight for the liberation of Russia!” - Drozdovsky admonished his fighters. The Drozdovites made a 1,200-verst march, fought to occupy Novocherkassk and Rostov, and in June 1918 joined the Volunteer Army of General A.I. Denikin, which had just emerged from the Ice Campaign. Colonel M.G. Drozdovsky took command of the 3rd division, the basis of which was his detachment.
In November 1918, in a battle near Stavropol, Drozdovsky was wounded and on January 14, 1919, he died of blood poisoning in a Rostov hospital. His body was transported to Yekaterinodar and buried in the Military Cathedral. In memory of M.G. Drozdovsky, who was promoted to major general before his death, his patronage was given to the rifle and cavalry regiments. In March 1920, a detachment of Drozdovites burst into Yekaterinodar, already occupied by the Red troops, and took away the coffin of the major general, so that the unheard-of outrage that was committed in April 1918 in the same Yekaterinodar over the ashes of General L.G. Kornilov would not be repeated. The coffin with the body of General M.G. Drozdovsky was taken by sea from Novorossiysk to Sevastopol and buried there in a secret place. Where - now no one knows...
The Drozdovsky units were among the most combat-ready. During the three years of the civil war, the Drozdovites fought 650 battles. Their element was special attacks - without shots, at full height, with commanders in front. More than fifteen thousand Drozdovites remained lying on the battlefields of the fratricidal war, which became a tragedy in Russia. The last Drozdov units ended their existence in Bulgaria, where they ended up after the evacuation of the Gallipoli camp. And at the site of Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois, called “Drozdovsky”, buried next to each other were those who survived the civilian “drozdy”, as they called themselves, and who remained loyal to their regimental brotherhood in a foreign land.
Lieutenant Golitsyn, here are your birches,
Cornet Obolensky, here is your epaulette...
Assumption Church
At the very beginning of the 20s, when the first wave of Russian emigration arrived in Paris, a problem arose: what to do with the elderly, the older generation who had left Bolshevik Russia. The Russian emigrant committee decided to create a shelter for elderly compatriots. And so on April 7, 1927, in the town of Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois, a shelter house was opened with a beautiful park adjacent to it - the “Russian House”. Nearby there was a communal cemetery, where over time they began to bury not only the inhabitants of the Russian House, but also other Russians, first mainly living in Paris, and then from other cities. Shortly before World War II, through the efforts of Princess Meshcherskaya, a small plot was purchased near the cemetery, where, according to the design of Albert Benoit, a church was built in the Novgorod style of the 15th-16th centuries. The temple was painted by A. Benois himself and his wife Margarita. The church was consecrated on October 14, 1939. Since then, many of our compatriots, whose names have gone down in history, have been buried there.
Assumption Church after construction (photo from the archive of Father B. Stark)
Under the nave, in the crypt, the ashes of Metropolitans Evlogii and Vladimir, Archbishop George and other clergy are buried. The architect A. Benois himself and his wife Margarita Alexandrovna also rest there. On the arched gate at the entrance to the cemetery the archangels Gabriel and Michael are depicted with an icon. Immediately outside the gate, on both sides of a well-groomed alley, there are birch trees and benches, and on the sides of the steps leading to the temple and around the temple there are fir trees and bushes. In the greenery of trees and bushes to the right of the temple there is a belfry with a small dome over two arches. They say that this is the only ensemble in Western Europe created in the Pskov-Novgorod style.
Inside the temple there is a strict two-tiered iconostasis, painted by artists and parishioners Lvova and Fedorov. On the wall to the left of the entrance are depicted themes from the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary, on the opposite wall - scenes from the life of Christ. Like the paintings above the apses, this is the work of Albert Benois. The western (entrance) wall was painted by the icon painter Morozov. There are many icons in the temple - on the walls, on lecterns, and in icon cases. Almost all of them were donated by Russian emigrants.
“Whether our ashes will rest in our native land or in a foreign land, I don’t know, but let our children remember that wherever our graves are, these will be Russian graves and they will call them to love and loyalty to Russia.”
Prince S.E. Trubetskoy
In addition to the sources indicated in the text, the following literature was used:
1. Grezine I. Inventaire nominatif des sépultures russes du cimetière du Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois. - Paris, 1995.
2. Nosik B. M. On the churchyard of the 20th century. - St. Petersburg: Golden Age; Diamond, 2000.
3. Unforgotten graves. Russian abroad: obituaries 1917-1997 in six volumes. Compiled by V.N. Chuvakov. - M.: Russian State Library, 1999-2007.
Paris - St. Petersburg, 2009-2010
