Why was Khrushchev erected a black and white monument. Celebrity graves at the Novodevichy cemetery

Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev was the most controversial politician in the Soviet Union. His political activities under Stalin did not differ in their cruelty from the activities of the leader he adored. However, Khrushchev's actions after the death of the leader and the debunking of his cult were accepted by society in two ways.

All his life Khrushchev fought against Stalinism with his own methods, removed the "iron" curtain and criticized what he saw. A bright political career turned into seven years of imprisonment. Even Khrushchev's grave is not in the Kremlin wall, like all iconic political leaders, but at the Novodevichy Cemetery.

Khrushchev's biography

Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev was born into a poor peasant family. From childhood, he worked, first as a simple miner in the Donbass, then as a mechanic, and later as a deputy director of a plant. His ability to work, love of life and active life position did not go unnoticed.

He came to power rather late, at the age of 35 he went to study at the Industrial Academy in Moscow. The leader of the peoples liked the ambitious simple man, friendship with Stalin's wife, Nadezhda, became a kind of political lift for him. Khrushchev was a loyal communist, with unconditional determination he went for everything that was offered in those years by Stalin's policy.

In the role of a simple Soviet hard worker, he unexpectedly turned out to be very close to unlimited power. After Stalin's death, he also unexpectedly became the new leader of the Land of Soviets. The stupid Khrushchev turned out to be a strong political opponent, a bold manipulator and a cunning politician.

Contradictory personality

The policy of the new party chairman was controversial. He tried to build communism, but not by communist methods. He released the repressed, but continued to arrest the innocent. He fought for agriculture, planting corn in places unsuitable for cultivation. He tried to provide the entire population with apartments by starting a large-scale construction project, but did not calculate the financial costs for the quality of these apartments. He got involved in the fight with America, recognizing its strength. He built the "Berlin Wall", and in politics he tore down the walls between Russia and the West. He despised the capitalists and sought to give his people the opportunity to live like them. He was evil and merciful, a jester and a cunning manipulator. No one took him seriously, but he took it and for 11 years became the unlimited leader of a vast country.

Gravestone over the grave of N.S. Khrushchev very accurately expresses this contradictory nature of its owner.

The funeral

Like his life after the reign, it was shrouded in mystery. He died on September 11, 1971 in the Kuntsevo hospital. In two days he will be secretly buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery. Khrushchev's grave will be surrounded by soldiers who won't let anyone "extra" in to say goodbye to the former leader. No official will be at the funeral, only relatives and close friends. There will also be no rally in Moscow, which was previously awarded to all Soviet and party leaders. A small obituary in the newspaper, without a photograph and extra words, without the signatures of members of the Politburo, few will notice.

Khrushchev's grave

The former leader of the Soviet Union was buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery by order of Brezhnev. The organization of the funeral was undertaken by a special commission in the Kremlin. Despite the fact that they tried not to advertise the death and funeral of the former Secretary General, and the cemetery was cordoned off by soldiers, there were many who wanted to get to the event.

Khrushchev's grave was desecrated more than once. There were many opponents of his political decisions. After the cemetery was closed. Then, former victims of Stalinist repressions, whom he released as soon as he received a high post, carried flowers to Khrushchev's grave. He will never be forgotten by his many relatives. Nikita Sergeevich left four children.

Monument to E. Neizvestny

The monument on Khrushchev's grave was erected only in 1975. Although the sketch of the memorial, at the request of his son, was made by the Soviet sculptor Ernst Neizvestny much earlier. The authorities did not allow it to be installed. And only after numerous requests and calls to high-ranking officials, relatives finally managed to obtain permission for its construction.

The monument itself is made of two irregularly shaped marble slabs. Slabs of white and black marble on Khrushchev's grave stand opposite each other. They personify the black Stalinist time and the bright future of the Khrushchev thaw. But the composition can also be considered as two sides of the contradictory personality of Nikita Sergeevich. In the center, the good-natured bronze head of Khrushchev is looking at us.

Next to Khrushchev's grave is also the grave of his son, who died during the Great Patriotic War.

Conclusion

Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev lived a long and generally happy life. He went through a difficult political path and saw life from different angles. Growing up in poverty and having tasted all the fruits of unlimited power, he remained true to his ideals and always tried to help a simple Russian peasant. Experiencing the black Stalinist time, he believed that he could create a bright communist future, where all people would be fed, there would always be plenty of food on the table, and each family would have its own home.

Monument on the grave of N.S. Khrushchev fully reflects these two sides of the controversial leader. E. Neizvestny, like no one else, managed to discern in the violent opponent of the modern avant-garde a real innovator of bold ideas. Having once smashed the exhibition of E. Neizvestny to smithereens, Khrushchev did not even imagine that it was he who would be able to capture his ambiguous offender in marble and bronze so accurately forever.

The history of the capital's cemeteries has hundreds of secrets and legends. Reburials, during which the heads of the dead disappeared, encrypted inscriptions on the monuments, Scandinavian marks and bulletproof caps for tombstones...

The network publication m24.ru is launching a new project, in which you will learn about the history, legends and current state of the capital's cemeteries. In the first article, we will talk about the Novodevichy Cemetery, where 57 tombstones of famous figures of art, science and technology have recently been restored.

Gogol and Chekhov, Stanislavsky and Vakhtangov, Shostakovich and Prokofiev found their last refuge at the Novodevichy Cemetery. Yeltsin, Khrushchev, Stalin's wife Nadezhda Alliluyeva and even the head of the Chinese Communist Party Wang Ming are buried here.

Burials on the territory of the Novodevichy Convent arose in the 16th century. By the beginning of the 20th century, there was practically no free space left in the monastery necropolis, and graves began to appear near the southern wall of the monastery.

The territory of the Novodevichy cemetery was repeatedly expanded. The total area of all plots is now more than 7.5 hectares. About 26 thousand people are buried in the cemetery, the territory of which is divided into old, new and new. On the monastery territory, the graves of mainly Decembrists and heroes of the war of 1812, as well as famous professors and public figures, survived.

Chekhov's mark

The body of Anton Chekhov, who died in Germany from tuberculosis, was transported to Moscow in a wagon designed to transport oysters. The writer is buried next to the grave of his own father. At the foot of the monument, a Scandinavian mark has been preserved - an ancient graphic image of a Christian cross.

Stone "Golgotha"

The tombstone on the grave of Mikhail Bulgakov is the stone "Golgotha" (it was named so due to the shape resembling the mountain where Jesus Christ was crucified) from the former burial place of Nikolai Gogol in the Danilov Monastery. This porous Black Sea granite, according to legend, was brought by Konstantin Aksakov from the Crimea. Bulgakov's widow Elena Sergeevna discovered Calvary, according to one version, in the workshops of the Novodevichy cemetery, according to another, in a pit where the craftsmen dumped production waste.

Since Bulgakov considered Gogol his teacher and even looked for inspiration at his monument in Moscow, there was no doubt about the fate of the stone: it was bought and installed on the grave of the author of The Master and Margarita.