Novodevichy Cemetery

The final resting place of Russia’s most important personalities
Word to the wise: It goes without saying that the graves are labeled in Cyrillic lettering, so it pays to brush up on the Russian alphabet beforehand.

Since the late 19th century, this leafy cemetery has served as the burial place for the elite of Russian society. Hundreds of poets, actors, composers, leading scientists and the top echelons of the Soviet military are buried here in grand style, alongside 27,000 other prominent people whose names have long since been forgotten, but whose faces still stare out in stone from huge, richly decorated gravestones.
The Soviet-era gravestones are the most monolithic in style and imposing in size, whilst it’s the smaller graves of the greats of Russian literature such as Chekhov, Bulgakov, Mayakovsky and Gogol that are permanently covered in fresh flowers. Other famous names to keep an eye out for include Yeltsin (whose giant Russian flag gravestone is difficult to miss), Nikita Khrushchev, cellist Rostropovich and the composer Dmitri Shostakovich.