ORIGINAL BURIAL PLACE OF MIKHAIL LERMONTOV

The original burial place of the great Russian poet Mikhail Lermontov was supposedly situated in the central part of the old town cemetery. It's a humble tombstone. Lieutenant Lermontov, killed at a duel, was buried in this cemetery on July 17, 1841 "at the confluence of all Pyatigorsk." "A bloody grave awaits me, a grave without prayers and without a cross...", that is how Lermontov prophesied his own death, as the Orthodox Church saw those killed at a duel as suiciders.

"No burial ritual according to the church records was performed for Lieutenant Lermontov", and a simple stone slab bearing the inscription: "Mikhail" was placed on his grave. The poet's body stayed in the Pyatigorsk ground for 250 days, and on March 27, 1842, the servants of the poet's grandmother, E.A. Arsenyeva, upon the Tsar’s personal permission, took the lead and tarred coffin with Lermontov's body to the family crypt in village Tarkhany. It is assumed that a tombstone was dropped into the grave pit as useless and buried.

Sixty years after the death of the poet, in June 1901, Pyatigorsk forest ranger Fyodor Gnevyev suggested "perpetuating the original burial place of the poet at the Pyatigorsk cemetery."

A committee for commemorating Mikhail Lermontov decided to "accurately locate the poet’s burial place, plant a tree there, secure it with a wooden fence and put up a copper plaque".

Live witnesses to the funeral pointed to different places; hence, the exact location was not determined.

After the discussions, it was decided to establish a tombstone near the crypt of Shang-Guirei, the poet's relatives.

Despite the wide-scale fundraiser, they could not collect enough, and the concrete master Schultz, a local contractor, offered his own money to make a tombstone.

They erected a mound with a concrete staircase, expanded the ground, paved it and placed a wooden fence around it. A modest 5-feet tall concrete obelisk was placed in the center, decorated with a cross and a wreath, and the date of Lermontov's death was carved in the middle.

On the marble plaque, just below, it was indicated "The original burial place of M. Lermontov. Made by A.K. Schultz. " Later, the last line was removed.

By July 15, 1903, a monument was erected. The Head of the District Administration Vladimir Khvoshchinsky, believed that since the poet’s grave had not been found, the monument did not make sense, so the local newspaper did not publish the date and time of its opening. Only three people came to the cemetery: a paramedic from Baku, a newsman from the "Russian Word", and master Shultz himself.

The monument was opened two years later, on July 15, 1905, by the new Head of the District Administration, Dmitri Ivanov. The event gathered a large audience.

In 1939, before the poet’s 125th anniversary, the monument was secured with a patterned metal fence.

The concrete obelisk was replaced with an exact Mashuk limestone replica in 1985. The admirers of the great poet’s talent often come here and lay fresh flowers at the obelisk.