Vostryakovo Cemetery

Welcome to Vostryakovo Cemetery, one of Moscow's most significant and diverse necropolises. Situated in the southwestern part of the city, this vast 'city of the dead' is divided into several sections, primarily the Old…

We stand now on the Central Alley of the New Vostryakovo Cemetery, before the grave of Iosif Kobzon, the People's Artist of the USSR and perhaps the most iconic voice of the late Soviet and early post-Soviet period. Kobzon, often…

Deep within the cemetery, in a location that even regular visitors sometimes find difficult to navigate, lies the grave of Wolf Messing. Born in 1899, Messing was a world-famous psychic and 'mind reader' who claimed to have…

In Section 80 of Vostryakovo, we find the grave of Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov, the physicist who became the 'father of the Soviet hydrogen bomb' and later the nation’s most prominent human rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize…

Tucked away behind the central and northern sections of Vostryakovo is the Iudeyskoye—Jewish—cemetery. Despite its size and significance, it is a place that even many local residents of sixty years are unaware of. …

Vostryakovo is the final stage for many of Russia's most beloved performers. One of the most original and striking monuments belongs to Viktor Avilov, a legendary theater and film actor best known for his haunting portrayal of…

The newest layers of Vostryakovo history are represented by contemporary figures like the rapper Gino (Nikita Ostrovsky), who died in 2023 at the age of 41. His grave, located near the main road, features a large photograph of a…

Our journey through Vostryakovo Cemetery comes to a conclusion. We have walked past the 'megascale' memorials of pop icons and the quiet, scholarly graves of Nobel laureates. …