The most famous cemetery in Moscow is the Novodevichy Cemetery (Новодевичье кладбище), set next to the Novodevichy Convent.

The famous cemetery houses the tombs of Russian authors, musicians, playwrights, and poets, as well as famous actors, political leaders, and scientists.  More than 27,000 are buried here.

The cemetery was designed by Ivan Mashkov and inaugurated in 1898. In the 1930s, when other Russian cemeteries were demolished, the remains of many famous Russians buried in other abbeys, such as Nikolai Gogol , were disinterred and reburied at the Novodevichy.

Under Soviet rule, burial in the Novodevichy Cemetery was second in prestige only to burial in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis.  Indeed,  Nikita Khrushchev was buried at the Novodevichy rather than at the Red Square. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, the Kremlin Wall is no longer used for burials and the Novodevichy Cemetery is used for only the most symbolically significant burials.

The cemetery is huge and it can be hard to find your way around.   There are boards listing those buried along with a grid reference and maps are available from the cemetery office.

This is posted as part of Frizztext’s Tagged R challenge.  In keeping with the theme, here’s a short list of R’s buried at the cemetery:

• Vyacheslav Ragozin (1908–1962), a chessplayer
  Arkady Raikin (1911–1987), a stand up comedian
  Aleksandr Razumny (1891–1972), a film director
  Sviatoslav Richter (1915–1997), a pianist
  Mikhail Romm (1901–1971), a film director
  Mstislav Rostropovich (1927–2007), a cellist
  Nikolai Rubinstein (1835–1881), a Russian pianist and composer
  Lidya Ruslanova (1900–1973), a folk sing

Also linked to ABC Wednesday.