PYATIGORSK NECROPOLIS

Pyatigorsk necropolis is the oldest cemetery in the Caucasus Mineral Waters District. The gravestones and monuments bear the names of those who wrote the history of the resort town, who made a significant contribution to the literary heritage of Russia; doctors, architects, artists, the elite of that time.

The Necropolis was founded in 1824 on the initiative of the regional Governor, General Karl von Stal. Riding past a hill on the slope of Mashuk he wished that the first person to be buried there was "someone significant". Ironically, von Stahl was the one, having soon died of a hemorrhage. Von Stal’s tombstone in the form of a sarcophagus can be seen on the main alley.

Mikhail Lermontov was originally buried here. In 1842, his grandmother moved her grandson's body to be reburied in a family estate (village Tarkhany), and the original burial place was forgotten. However, many years later the monument was restored.

According to the project of the first town architects, the Bernardazzi brothers, a church was built in the center of the Necropolis, but an earthquake destroyed it.

Each nationality and religion had its own designated land for burial. Orthodox Christians, Catholics and Protestants, Armenian-Gregorian and Greek tombstones neighbored here. By the middle of the 19th century, when the number of graves increased, the Necropolis was fenced off and a stone gate was erected on the south side.

In 1902, a new St. Lasarus church was built near the gate with the donations raised. The stone from the old church was used for the base and foundation.

Pyatigorsk Necropolis is often called "an open-air museum", it is rightfully considered a chronicle of the town’s history.