A stroll along Swan Lake in Moscow
leads to the extensive Novodevichy complex. It's said that this lake
inspired Tchaikowsky to create one of his best-known works. The
Cossak-like army cadets here and there in the park invoke a retro
nineteenth century feeling. Our local guide Vera is articulate and
irrepressible.
Fourteen buildings comprise the complex
including Smolensky Cathedral among other churches. The sixteenth
century convent is a UNESCO
World Heritage site of outstanding historical "Moscow Baroque"
architecture. The convent was the destination for women of
aristocratic families who preferred the cloistered life. It was also
where a wealthy nobleman could stash a wife who didn't please him.
Ironically it became part of the old city's defence network with
twelve watch towers along its high walls.
Burials of earlier centuries are in the
old Necropolis, a desirable, prestigious resting place for the
nobility and even some royals. Time constraints ―
always the bugbear on a tour ―
allowed us to visit only Novodevichy Cemetery outside the
wall. Opened in 1898, it too features prominent citizens along with
political, military, and cultural heroes.
Here lies Krushchev because he did not
die during, but after, his official service as Soviet leader;
otherwise he would have joined some predecessors in the Kremlin. Many
of the Soviet-era monuments are particularly stark and ugly; this one
is not too extreme.
RIP Gorby's beloved wife Raisa. She was
a novelty as "first lady" in the Soviet Union, very visible
at charity fundraising and promoting women's participation in
politics. We in the west loved her high profile and Russian fashions,
but she
was not popular at home. Most Russians thought she was immodest and
should remain faceless like her predecessors. According
to Vera, Gorbachev is not well-liked in Russia, being called "Man
of the Past," but she forcefully stated the country would still
be in the dark ages if not for him. His reforms were too much, too
fast. Gorbachev will join Raisa here one day. His successor Boris
Yeltsin was buried in Novodevichy six months after our visit.
Unfamiliar to us, but this great
Russian actor-comedian, Yuri Nikulin, has perhaps the most memorable
monument of all. His dog Mouftard is immortalized near his feet. The
plot is always strewn with flowers.
Writer Anton Chekov was one of the
first to be interred in the new cemetery. Some of the other artistes
here are the writer Gogol; composers Shostakovich, Prokoviev,
Scriabin; singer Chaliapin; musicians Oistrakh, Rubinstein,
Rostropovich; theatre director Stanislavski.
Guide Vera, by the stone for Stalin's
sad wife. Vera only hinted at the
rumour that Stalin murdered her but having recently
read Sullivan's biography of their daughter Svetlana Alliluyeva, I
tend to agree. You can see the weather-protective
covering used on some monuments.
My personal heroine in younger days, supreme ballerina Galina Ulanova, 1910-1998. Ulanova embodied, symbolized, the
fabulous tradition of Russian ballet. In 2001 her apartment became a
museum, a part of Moscow's dedication to theatrical history.
Unknown; he's far from being the only
smoker depicted in stone holding a cigarette!
And this. Also unknown, a huge chunk of
amber. An extravagant statement of lost love?
The brave journalist and political
critic Anna Politkovskaya was assassinated in her Moscow apartment
building two weeks after our visit. The world reacted in horror.
Suspects were originally acquitted at trial and rumours of the
highest political involvement were never confirmed. She is not
buried in Novodevichy.
What a paradox is this great sprawl of
a country. Muscovites like to joke
(says Vera). One of them is about the proliferation of expensive and beautifully
decorated restaurants ... that they are like churches. When you enter
you are dazzled and say Jeezus!
Then when you get the shocking bill after dinner you say Christ!
Some of
our group are probably not into irreverent humour.
©
2017 Brenda Dougall Merriman
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