The Kremlin Necropolis is turning 100. Despite its century-long history, the debates on moving it from the festive grounds are still going on. Only one thing remained unchanged: being buried at the wall of Kremlin signifies great merits to the Motherland and its people.
Dmitry Kaystro is reporting on the origins of this tradition.
The Kremlin Necropolis is the most tranquil and solemn spot at the Red Square. The decision to create a common grave for the victims of the October Revolution was made by the Military Revolutionary Council. 240 victims were buried in two common graves in November 1917.
Sergey Devyatov, PhD in history: "A new state, a new society, and a new tradition to bury the ones who fought for Revolution".
The first separate grave belonging to Yakov Sverdlov, chairman of VTsIK appeared in 1919. Since then the top Soviet executives were buried here. Irrespective of the type of the grave, Soviet media claimed the person was "buried at the Red Square at the wall of Kremlin".
However, the linguists from the Academy of Sciences suggested the CPSU Central Committee change it, in case a person was cremated: "The cinerary urn was embedded into the wall of Kremlin". As there was no official response from the Party, the phrase remained the same.
Lenin's Mausoleum became the center of the Necropolis. The shrine occupied the highest spot of the Red Square.
The Necropolis quickly became the national pantheon. Not only the leaders of the state were buried there but also eminent pilots, cosmonauts, scientists and military generals.
Ariadna Rokossovskaya, grand-daughter of Marshal Rokossovsky: "People come to the grave to lay flowers, that's wonderful".
Politbureau decided on every grave. The politicians who were retired or in disgrace had no place at the wall. Khrushchev, Mikoyan, and Podgorny were buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery.
Later on, a ceremony took shape: a gun carriage, an honor guard, and salvo. "The procession is heading to the wall of Kremlin". In1953 the ash of the revolutionaries including Lenin and Stalin was to be moved to the Pantheon. It was supposed to be built in Taynitsky Garden in Kremlin. There were several projects, all united by the main concept — a Roman pantheon dome.
The idea was later discarded. There are some foreign names: John Reid, the author Sen Katayama, the leader of the Japanese Communists Clara Zetkin, the revolutionary and the inventor of the International Women's Day.
Natalya Koneva, daughter of Marshal Konev: "Going along this line, one delves into 70 years of our history. The true history. And this whole mosaic makes us be proud of this place".
Soviet Marshal Dmitry Ustinov was the last one whose ashes were embedded into the wall in 1984. Konstantin Chernenko, the General Secretary of the Soviet Union, was buried there a year later. After that, nobody was buried in the national pantheon.
Dmitry Kaystro, Maksim Shepilov, Andrey Dubinin for Vesti.
