Preobrazhenskoye Cemetery, Historic cemetery in Preobrazhenskoye District, Moscow, Russia.
Preobrazhenskoye Cemetery occupies 16.5 hectares on Preobrazhensky Val in eastern Moscow. Its core is a cloister of two equal square courtyards, one for men and one for women, separated by the road into the cemetery and enclosed by brick walls with pseudo-Gothic towers. The walled grounds hold chapels, cells and dense rows of merchants' graves.
The grounds opened in 1771 during a time of urban growth, serving as a burial site for Old Believers who had separated from the mainstream Eastern Orthodox Church. Over the following centuries, the cemetery expanded several times and received graves from different Orthodox communities, each maintaining its own rituals.
The Fedoseevtsy reject priesthood, so every temple in their part is called a chapel, not a church, and has no altar. The men's courtyard was taken over in the mid-19th century by the Edinovertsy and became the St Nicholas Monastery; the women's part stayed Fedoseevtsy. After the Revolution the former monastery was split: the Pomortsy hold the eastern part of the temple, the Russian Orthodox parish the gate church and bell-tower, with a thick brick wall between them.
The cemetery entrance is at 17a Preobrazhensky Val Street, in Moscow's Preobrazhenskoye District. The grounds cover 16.5 hectares, split into a former men's cloister and a women's cloister separated by a road. The women's half still belongs to the Fedoseevtsy community, while the former men's half is divided between Pomortsy Old Believers and a Russian Orthodox parish, whose parts of the former St Nicholas Monastery are cut off from each other by a thick brick wall.
The site holds the first Eternal Flame in Moscow, commemorating those who died in World War II. This memorial was installed here before similar monuments appeared elsewhere in the city, making it an early reference point for collective remembrance.
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