Decembrist uprising on Senate Square. Ghosts of the Peter and Paul Fortress. Decembrists

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Decembrists at 30 Kim Ave., on Decembrist Island there is a memorial sign to the Decembrists. The Decembrist uprising is an unprecedented phenomenon not only in Russian history, but also in world history. The main thing that causes misunderstanding in the actions of the Decembrists so far is that they (not one of them) laid claim to power. Thus, he deprived those sentenced to death penalty

Decembrists have the right to be shot.

Southern Society of Decembrists

All the Decembrist prisoners were taken to the courtyard of the fortress and lined up in two squares: those belonging to the guards regiments and others. More than 120 Decembrists were exiled for various periods to Siberia, to hard labor or settlement. But at the same time, he petitioned for relief of the fate of other arrested Decembrists. He conducted propaganda among soldiers, being one of the leaders of the Decembrists. The future Decembrist received a good home education, entered service as a cadet in the Cavalry Guard Regiment, and in 1819 he was transferred to the Semenovsky Life Guards Regiment, where he was promoted to lieutenant ensign.

Leaders of the Decembrists: 1. Pavel Ivanovich Pestel

He was buried along with other executed Decembrists on the island. Going hungry. As for torture, it was not used against the Decembrists. In the first half of the 19th century, it was believed that those executed were buried on Goloday Island, which is now called Decembrist Island. There were many other people who indicated Golodai as the final resting place of the Decembrists. Information about the location of the Decembrists’ grave is available in the diaries of Pushkin’s friend Zhandre.

In 1862, after an amnesty was declared for all Decembrists, St. Petersburg Governor-General Suvorov decided to ennoble the famous grave. In June 1917, Petrograd newspapers exploded with headlines: “The grave of the executed Decembrists has been found!” The newly created Society for the Memory of the Decembrists in Petrograd made a similar request to him. According to members of the Decembrist Memory Society, the best preserved skeleton in military uniform

For almost 200 years, the Decembrist uprising has attracted the attention of historians. A huge number of scientific articles and even dissertations have been written on this topic. What explains this interest?

Anna Akhmatova showed another interest in the grave of the Decembrists. Akhmatova believed that Pushkin depicted in these lines the island of Goloday, where the bodies of the Decembrists were secretly buried. Nevelev decided that Pushkin displayed here “ historical information about the execution of the Decembrists."

Convinced that he was right, Nevelev suggested that among many other drawings by Pushkin there was probably also an image of the grave of the Decembrists. Leningrad poet Chernov decided in 1987 to find the grave of the executed Decembrists, guided by the instructions of Pushkin (or rather, Akhmatova and Nevelev).

so Miloradovich was

It became clear that there was a cemetery here, and the discovery of five coffins (according to the number of executed Decembrists) in 1917 was purely an accident. Opposite Decembrist Island, on the banks of the Smolenka River, there is the Orthodox Smolensk cemetery - one of the oldest in St. Petersburg. As for the homosexuality of Muravtev-Apostol and Bestuzhev-Ryumin (they were a couple), it is well known, it is in the memoirs of the Decembrists and in the testimony to the investigation. 5 people (leaders) were executed, shameful for officers. Decembrist participants were exiled to Siberia, some were shot in the Peter and Paul Fortress.

This was the condition of their activity. But two of them took part in the Patriotic War of 1812, had wounds and military awards - and now they were sentenced to a shameful death on the gallows.

The Decembrist sailors were taken to Kronstadt and that morning the sentence of demotion was carried out on them on the flagship of Admiral Krone. The execution took place on the night of July 25, 1826, on the crown of the Peter and Paul Fortress. During the execution, Ryleev, Kakhovsky and Muravyov-Apostol fell from their hinges and were hanged a second time.

He was arrested on the road to Tulchin after the uprising on December 14, 1825, was imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress and after 6 months sentenced to quartering, replaced by hanging. At a meeting on December 13, 1825, at Ryleev’s, he was assigned the murder of Nicholas I (since Kakhovsky did not have his own family), but on the day of the uprising he did not dare to commit this murder. He was a member of the “Free Society of Lovers of Russian Literature” and was the author of the famous satirical ode “To the Temporary Worker.”

Born in St. Petersburg and was the fourth child in the family of a famous writer of that time and statesman THEM. Muravyov-Apostol. In 1820, the Semenovsky regiment, in which Muravyov-Apostol served, rebelled, and he was transferred to the Poltava, then to the Chernigov regiment as a lieutenant colonel.

He was taken prisoner, seriously wounded. Sentenced to death and hanged on the crown of the Peter and Paul Fortress. Under the bas-relief on the monument there is an inscription: “At this place on July 13/25, 1826, the Decembrists P. Pestel, K. Ryleev, P. Kakhovsky, S. Muravyov-Apostol, M. Bestuzhev-Ryumin were executed.”

Preparing for the uprising

At the conclusion of its activities, the court decided on sentences for each defendant, which were submitted for the Highest approval. Instead of the painful death penalty by quartering, as determined by the Court, he should be hanged for his grave crimes. Prince Meshchersky, Alexander Petrovich, a warrant officer, fled soon after the start of the uprising and reported to his superiors. Petin, Vasily Nikolaevich - appeared in Kyiv, declaring that he had fled from S.I. Muravyov-Apostol.

Re: Two fagots, a murderer, an embezzler and a coward.

Sentenced to imprisonment in a fortress for 6 months, followed by assignment to military service. Kondraty Ryleev, Sergei Muravyov-Apostol and Mikhail Bestuzhev-Ryumin did not renounce either their convictions or their role in organizing the uprising. Although his statements are known about how bitter and offensive it was for him to listen to confessions of treason to the Fatherland from representatives of the Russian elite - officers who bravely fought against Napoleon. And the tsar participated in the process in order to be sure: the materials that were brought to him for approval were not manipulated or falsified.

But at that time this was a common practice throughout Europe. On July 13, 1826, Ryleev, Pestel, Kakhovsky, Bestuzhev-Ryumin and Muravyov-Apostol were hanged in the courtyard of the crown of the Peter and Paul Fortress. The hypothesis that they could be buried on this island was put forward during the years of perestroika by the writer Andrei Chernov.

As soon as you get to the seaside, there it is. This is where they were all buried. And if ordinary people went in crowds to the burial place of the Decembrists, then the relatives of those executed even more so. Ryleev’s widow often came to her dear grave. Bibikova, the sister of the executed Decembrist Muravyov-Apostol, asked to give her her brother’s corpse, to which Nicholas I responded with a decisive refusal.

A monument was erected at the site of the death of the Decembrists. But who knows where the grave of the five executed Decembrists is located? For example, the Decembrists Zavalishin and Stein-gel knew that the bodies of their dead comrades “...the next night they were secretly taken to Goloday Island, and buried there secretly.”

The whole point is that historically the Decembrists in Russia were the first who dared to oppose the power of the Tsar. It is interesting that the rebels themselves began to study this phenomenon; they analyzed the reasons for the uprising on Senate Square and its defeat. As a result of the execution of the Decembrists, Russian society lost the very best of enlightened youth, because they came from families of the nobility, glorious participants in the War of 1812.

Who are the Decembrists

Who are the Decembrists? They can be briefly characterized as follows: they are members of several political societies fighting for the abolition of serfdom and the change state power. In December 1825 they organized an uprising, which was brutally suppressed. 5 people (leaders) were executed, shameful for officers. Decembrist participants were exiled to Siberia, some were shot in the Peter and Paul Fortress.

Causes of the uprising

Why did the Decembrists revolt? There are several reasons for this. The main one, which they all, as one, reproduced during interrogations in the Peter and Paul Fortress - the spirit of freethinking, faith in the strength of the Russian people, tired of oppression - all this was born after the brilliant victory over Napoleon. It is no coincidence that 115 people from among the Decembrists were participants Patriotic War 1812. Indeed, during military campaigns, liberating European countries, they never encountered the savagery of serfdom. This forced them to reconsider their attitude towards their country as “slaves and masters.”

It was obvious that serfdom has outlived its usefulness. Fighting side by side with the common people, communicating with them, the future Decembrists came to the idea that people deserve a better fate than a slave existence. The peasants also hoped that after the war their situation would change in better side, because they shed blood for the sake of their homeland. But, unfortunately, the emperor and most of the nobles firmly clung to the serfs. That is why, from 1814 to 1820, more than two hundred peasant uprisings broke out in the country.

The apotheosis was the rebellion against Colonel Schwartz Semenovsky guards regiment in 1820. His cruelty towards ordinary soldiers crossed all boundaries. Activists of the Decembrist movement, Sergei Muravyov-Apostol and Mikhail Bestuzhev-Ryumin, witnessed these events, as they served in this regiment. It should also be noted that a certain spirit of freethinking was instilled in most of the participants at the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum: for example, its graduates were I. Pushchin, V. Kuchelbecker, and the freedom-loving poems of A. Pushkin were used as inspired ideas.

Southern Society of Decembrists

It should be understood that the Decembrist movement did not arise out of nowhere: it grew out of world revolutionary ideas. Pavel Pestel wrote that such thoughts go “from one end of Europe to Russia”, even covering such opposite mentalities as Turkey and England.

The ideas of Decembrism were realized through the work of secret societies. The first of them are the Union of Salvation (St. Petersburg, 1816) and the Union of Welfare (1818). The second arose on the basis of the first, was less secretive and included larger number members. It was also dissolved in 1820 due to differences of opinion.

In 1821 there is new organization, consisting of two Societies: Northern (in St. Petersburg, headed by Nikita Muravyov) and Southern (in Kyiv, headed by Pavel Pestel). Southern society had more reactionary views: in order to establish a republic, they proposed killing the king. The structure of the Southern Society consisted of three departments: the first, along with P. Pestel, was headed by A. Yushnevsky, the second by S. Muravyov-Apostol, the third by V. Davydov and S. Volkonsky.

Leaders of the Decembrists: 1.Pavel Ivanovich Pestel

The leader of the Southern Society, Pavel Ivanovich Pestel, was born in 1793 in Moscow. He receives an excellent education in Europe, and upon returning to Russia begins service in the Corps of Pages - especially privileged among the nobles. The pages are personally acquainted with all members of the imperial family. Here the freedom-loving views of young Pestel first appear. Having brilliantly graduated from the Corps, he continues to serve in the Lithuanian Regiment with the rank of ensign of the Life Guards.

During the War of 1812, Pestel was seriously wounded. Having recovered, he returns to service and fights bravely. By the end of the war, Pestel had many high awards, including gold award weapons. After World War II, he was transferred to serve in the Cavalry Regiment - at that time the most prestigious place of service.

While in St. Petersburg, Pestel learns about a certain secret society (the Union of Salvation) and soon joins it. Paul's revolutionary life begins. In 1821, he headed the Southern Society - in this he was helped by magnificent eloquence, a wonderful mind and the gift of persuasion. Thanks to these qualities, in his time he achieved unity of views of Southern and Northern societies.

Pestel's Constitution

In 1823, the program of the Southern Society, compiled by Pavel Pestel, was adopted. It was unanimously accepted by all members of the association - future Decembrists. Briefly it contained the following points:

• Russia must become a republic, united and indivisible, consisting of 10 districts. Public administration will be carried out by the People's Assembly (legislatively) and the State Duma (executively).
• In resolving the issue of serfdom, Pestel proposed to immediately abolish it, dividing the land into two parts: for peasants and for landowners. It was assumed that the latter would rent it out for farming. Researchers believe that if the 1861 reform to abolish serfdom had gone according to Pestel’s plan, the country would very soon have taken a bourgeois, economically progressive path of development.
• Abolition of the institution of estates. All the people of the country are called citizens, they are equally equal before the law. Personal freedoms and inviolability of person and home were declared.
• Tsarism was categorically not accepted by Pestel, so he demanded the physical destruction of the entire royal family.

It was assumed that "Russian Truth" would come into force as soon as the uprising ended. It will be the fundamental law of the country.

Northern Society of Decembrists

Northern society begins to exist in 1821, in the spring. Initially, it consisted of two groups that later merged. It should be noted that the first group was more radical in orientation; its participants shared Pestel’s views and fully accepted his “Russian Truth”.

Activists of the Northern Society were Nikita Muravyov (leader), Kondraty Ryleev (deputy), princes Obolensky and Trubetskoy. Ivan Pushchin played not the least role in the Society.

The Northern Society operated mainly in St. Petersburg, but it also had a branch in Moscow.

The path to uniting Northern and Southern societies was long and very painful. They had fundamental differences on some issues. However, at the congress in 1824 it was decided to begin the process of unification in 1826. The uprising in December 1825 destroyed these plans.

2. Nikita Mikhailovich Muravyov

Nikita Mikhailovich Muravyov comes from a noble family. Born in 1795 in St. Petersburg. Received an excellent education in Moscow. The War of 1812 found him in the rank of collegiate registrar at the Ministry of Justice. He runs away from home for the war and makes a brilliant career during the battles.

After the Patriotic War, he begins to work as part of secret societies: the Union of Salvation and the Union of Welfare. In addition, he writes the charter for the latter. He believes that a republican form of government should be established in the country; only a military coup can help this. During a trip to the south he meets P. Pestel. Nevertheless, he organizes his own structure - the Northern Society, but does not break ties with like-minded people, but, on the contrary, actively cooperates.

He wrote the first edition of his version of the Constitution in 1821, but it did not find a response from other members of the Societies. A little later he will reconsider his views and release new program, offered by the Nordic Society.

Muravyov's Constitution

The Constitution of N. Muravyov included the following positions:

• Russia should become a constitutional monarchy: the legislative branch is the Supreme Duma, consisting of two chambers; executive - emperor (part-time - supreme commander). It was separately stipulated that he did not have the right to start and end the war on his own. After a maximum of three readings, the emperor had to sign the law. He had no right to veto; he could only delay the signing in time.
• When serfdom is abolished, the landowners' lands will be left to the owners, and the peasants - their plots, plus 2 tithes will be added to each house.
• Suffrage is only for land owners. Women, nomads and non-owners stayed away from him.
• Abolish the institution of estates, level everyone with one name: citizen. Judicial system one for everyone. Muravyov was aware that his version of the constitution would meet fierce resistance, so he provided for its introduction with the use of weapons.

Preparing for the uprising

The secret societies described above lasted 10 years, after which the uprising began. It should be said that the decision to revolt arose quite spontaneously.

While in Taganrog, Alexander I dies. Due to the lack of heirs, the next emperor was to be Constantine, Alexander's brother. The problem was that he secretly abdicated the throne at one time. Accordingly, the reign passed to the youngest brother, Nikolai. The people were in confusion, not knowing about the renunciation. However, Nicholas decides to take the oath on December 14, 1825.

Alexander's death became the starting point for the rebels. They understand that it is time to act, despite the fundamental differences between Southern and Northern societies. They were well aware that they had catastrophically little time to prepare well for the uprising, but they believed that it would be criminal to miss such a moment. This is exactly what Ivan Pushchin wrote to his lyceum friend Alexander Pushkin.

Gathering on the night before December 14, the rebels prepare a plan of action. It boiled down to the following points:

• Appoint Prince Trubetskoy as commander.
• Occupy the Winter Palace and the Peter and Paul Fortress. A. Yakubovich and A. Bulatov were appointed responsible for this.
• Lieutenant P. Kakhovsky was supposed to kill Nikolai. This action was supposed to be a signal to action for the rebels.
• Conduct propaganda work among the soldiers and win them over to the side of the rebels.
• It was up to Kondraty Ryleev and Ivan Pushchin to convince the Senate to swear allegiance to the emperor.

Unfortunately, the future Decembrists did not think through everything. History says that traitors from among them made a denunciation of the impending rebellion to Nicholas, which finally convinced him to appoint the oath to the Senate in the early morning of December 14.

The uprising: how it happened

The uprising did not go according to the scenario that the rebels had planned. The Senate manages to swear allegiance to the emperor even before the campaign.

However, regiments of soldiers in order of battle lined up on Senate Square, everyone is waiting for decisive action from the leadership. Ivan Pushchin and Kondraty Ryleev arrive there and assure the imminent arrival of the command, Prince Trubetskoy. The latter, having betrayed the rebels, sat out in the tsarist General Staff. He was unable to take the decisive action that was required of him. As a result, the uprising was suppressed.

Arrests and trial

The first arrests and executions of the Decembrists began to take place in St. Petersburg. An interesting fact is that the trial of those arrested was not carried out by the Senate, as it should have been, but by the Supreme Court, specially organized by Nicholas I for this case. The very first, even before the uprising, on December 13, was Pavel Pestel.

The fact is that shortly before the uprising he accepted A. Maiboroda as a member of the Southern Society, who turned out to be a traitor. Pestel is arrested in Tulchin and taken to the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg.

Mayboroda also wrote a denunciation against N. Muravyov, who was arrested on his own estate.

There were 579 people under investigation. 120 of them were exiled to hard labor in Siberia (among them Nikita Muravyov), all were dishonorably demoted to military ranks. Five rebels were sentenced to death.

Execution

Addressing the court about possible way execution of the Decembrists, Nikolai notes that blood should not be shed. Thus, they, the heroes of the Patriotic War, are sentenced to the shameful gallows...

Who were the executed Decembrists? Their surnames are as follows: Pavel Pestel, Pyotr Kakhovsky, Kondraty Ryleev, Sergei Muravyov-Apostol, Mikhail Bestuzhev-Ryumin. The sentence was read on July 12, and they were hanged on July 25, 1826. The place of execution of the Decembrists took a long time to be equipped: a gallows was built with special mechanism. However, there were some complications: three convicts fell from their hinges and had to be hanged again.

In the place in the Peter and Paul Fortress where the Decembrists were executed there is now a monument, which is an obelisk and a granite composition. It symbolizes the courage with which the executed Decembrists fought for their ideals.

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“I didn’t sleep,” Obolensky recalls, “we were ordered to get dressed. I heard steps, heard whispers... Some time passed, I heard the sound of chains; the door opened on the opposite side of the corridor. The chains rang heavily, I heard the drawn-out voice of my unchanging friend, Kondraty Fedorovich Ryleev: “Sorry, sorry, brothers!” - and the measured steps moved away to the end of the corridor. I rushed to the window.

"At two o'clock in the morning last time the chains rang,” Rosen writes. - Five Martyrs were led to hang in the ditch of the Kronverk curtain. On the way, Sergei Muravyov the Apostle said loudly to the accompanying priest that you are leading five thieves to Golgotha ​​- and “who,” the priest answered, “will be at the right hand of the Father.” Ryleev, approaching the gallows, said: “Ryleev dies like a villain, may Russia remember him!”

Dawn came gloomy and damp. Ryleev came out cleanly dressed - in a frock coat, well shaven. The shackles were supported by a handkerchief threaded through one link. The others also cleaned themselves up before leaving. Except for Kakhovsky, who didn’t even comb his hair.

They were led first to mass in the Peter and Paul Cathedral. Then, accompanied by Myslovsky, police chief Chikhachev and a platoon of grenadiers from the Pavlovsky regiment, they went to the scaffold.

Myslovsky remembered the words of Pestel, who, seeing the gallows, said: “Don’t we deserve better death? It seems that we have never turned our heads away from bullets or cannonballs. They could have shot us."

Myslovsky turned to Ryleev with consolations. He took his hand and put it on his heart: “Listen, father, it doesn’t beat stronger than before.”

Before they were brought to the place, in the square, in sight of the prepared gallows - a crossbar on two pillars, a civil execution was carried out over all the other Decembrists. The sentence was read to them again, then their swords were broken over their heads, the military uniforms were torn off and thrown into the fires. In these fires - there were four of them - uniforms and epaulettes were still smoldering, and red-hot orders were glowing when five suicide bombers came here. They tore off their outer clothing, threw it into the fire, put white robes on them, and tied a leather bib with the inscription - white on black - to each of them. From Ryleev: “Criminal Kondrat Ryleev.”

Engineer Matushkin and his assistants were busy at the gallows - not everything was ready there. The executioner and his assistant, discharged either from Sweden or from Finland, set up the loops. The gallows turned out to be too high - they sent to the Merchant Shipping School for benches. While they were being transported, the five convicts sat on the grass and talked. Having plucked blades of grass, they cast lots to see who should go first, who should go second, and so on - to execution. They sat on the benches in the order they were drawn by lot. Nooses were placed around their necks, and caps were pulled over their eyes. Here Ryleev calmly remarked that his hands should be tied. The executioners came to their senses and did it.

The drums beat a measured beat. The soldiers stood in silence. Governor-General Golenshtsev-Kutuzov and adjutants-general Chernyshov and Benckendorff watched the execution on horseback. Chief Police Officer Knyazhnin, Adjutant Durnovo, and several military and police officers were also there. On the shore - near the walls of the fortress - St. Petersburg residents crowded. A lot of people also gathered on the Trinity Bridge - Baron Delvig, Nikolai Grech, and relatives of many Decembrists were there. From there the huge gallows was clearly visible. There was not an indifferent face in the crowd - everyone was crying.

The ropes turned out to be of different thicknesses and Bad quality. When the executioner pressed the lever, the benches and platform fell into the pit. Pestel and Kakhovsky hung, and three ropes broke - Muravyov-Apostol, Bestuzhev-Ryumin and Ryleev fell into the same pit with a roar (they were in shackles) - following the boards and benches. Bestuzhev-Ryumin lost consciousness from hitting the boards. Ryleev hit his head - blood was pouring down his face. One of the soldiers remarked: “You know, God doesn’t want them to die.” Yes, and there was a custom all over the world, from time immemorial: the hanged man fell - his happiness - and they did not hang him twice.

Hang them up, hang them up quickly! - Golenishchev-Kutuzov yelled furiously. The executioners dragged the unfortunate people out of the pit.

Ryleev rose to his feet and looked Kutuzov in the eyes. In complete silence his slow words were heard:

You, General, have probably come to watch us die. Please your sovereign that his wish is being fulfilled: you see, we are dying in agony.

Hang them again soon! - shouted Kutuzov. Even Benckendorff could not stand it - he fell face down on the neck of his horse and remained in this position until the end of this massacre.

The vile guardsman of the tyrant! - Ryleev shouted back. - Give the executioner your aiguillettes, so that we don’t die a third time!

A cursed land, where they can neither form a conspiracy, nor judge, nor hang, - said Sergei Muravyov-Apostol.

Bestuzhev-Ryumin could not stand on his feet - the executioners lifted him onto the platform for the second time. The nooses were put on them again...

I forgive and allow! - Myslovsky shouted, raising the cross, but immediately staggered and fell unconscious. When he woke up, it was all over.

The wife of Nicholas I, Alexandra Feodorovna, wrote on Monday, July 13: “What a night it was! I kept imagining the dead... At 7 o’clock Nicholas was woken up. In two letters, Kutuzov and Dibich reported that everything had passed without any disturbances. .. My poor Nikolai has suffered so much these days!”

The report of Golenishchev-Kutuzov said: “The execution ended with due silence and order both from the troops who were in the ranks and from the spectators, of whom there were few. Due to the inexperience of our executioners and the inability to arrange gallows the first time, three and namely: Ryleev , Kakhovsky and Muravyov (Kakhovsky is mistakenly named here instead of Bestuzhev-Ryumin) fell foul, but were soon hanged again and received a well-deserved death.”

“I thank God,” wrote Nikolai Dibich, “that everything ended well... I ask you, dear friend, to be as careful as possible today and ask you to tell Benckendorff to redouble his vigilance and attention; the same order should be given to the troops.” .

On the same day, the tsar’s manifesto was drawn up and printed, which stated that “the criminals received an execution worthy of them; the Fatherland has been cleared of the consequences of infection” and that “this intention was not in the properties, not in the morals of the Russians,” which was supposedly drawn up "a handful of monsters." “Let all fortunes unite in trust in the government,” cried Nicholas I.

“The first task of history is to refrain from lying, the second is not to conceal the truth, the third is not to give any reason to suspect oneself of partiality or prejudiced hostility.” “Not knowing history is always being a child.” Cicero Marcus Tullius

In the early morning of July 13, 1826, the leaders of the armed uprising on Senate Square were executed on the ramparts of the Kronverksky bastion of the Peter and Paul Fortress. Five of more than one and a half hundred arrested in the “December 14th” case: Pavel Pestel, Kondraty Ryleev, Sergei Muravyov-Apostol, Vladimir Bestuzhev-Ryumin and Pyotr Kakhovsky were hanged. The bodies of the executed Decembrists were not given to their families for burial. The burial place of the leaders of the uprising is still a mystery.

This was the highest will of the emperor. And they carried it out so thoroughly that after forty years the new governor-general of the capital, acting at least with the knowledge of Nicholas’s son, Emperor Alexander II, could not even detect traces of the mysterious burial.

However, based on the principle: “Everything in Russia is a secret, but nothing is a secret” a large number of contemporaries of the execution left written evidence of the burial place of the Decembrists. Here are some of them:

“They were buried in the fortress ditch with quicklime, near the gallows”;

“The bodies were taken to the seaside and there thrown with stones tied to them into the depths of the waters”;

“A box with the naked bodies of five people was taken to some island in the Gulf of Finland and buried in a hole along with lime”;

“At night, the bodies were transported in a boat in matting and buried on the shore of Goloday Island.”

The last statement is believed to be closer to the truth. By at least, it is on this island, currently part of St. Petersburg, that two monuments in honor of the Decembrists are located. On each of them it is written that this is where the remains of the leaders rest. December uprising. The straight line distance between the monuments is one kilometer. The island itself was renamed Dekabristov Island in Soviet times.”

Let's try to trace the path of the bodies of the executed Decembrists until the moment of their burial. After doctors recorded the death of all five hanged men, the bodies were placed in an empty barn located next to the merchant shipping school. Officially it is believed that due to the authorities' fear of transporting bodies during daylight hours. However, already in the morning a rumor was spread among the people that the bodies were thrown into the water of the fortress canal.

“People came and went all day, looked, saw nothing and nodded their heads,” one of the eyewitnesses of the execution recorded. All this time the bodies continued to lie in the barn. The authorities waited until nightfall. By the morning next day the barn was already empty. Only shrouds taken from the deceased and boards with the inscription “regicide” remained in it.

In the report of the head of the Kronverk bastion, Colonel Berkopf, it is written: “The next night, a driver from the butchers came with a horse to the fortress, and from there he carried the corpses towards Vasilyevsky Island. But when he took them to the Tuchkov Bridge, armed soldiers came out of the booth and, having taken possession of the reins, put the cabman in the booth. A few hours later the empty cart returned to the same place. The driver was paid and he went home.” According to Chief Police Chief Tuchkov, the bodies of those executed were buried in a common grave in the bushes on the shore of the Gulf of Finland so that no signs of burial were left.

However, there were rumors in St. Petersburg that the burial place was known to Ryleev’s widow. But, as it turned out, not only her. Every St. Petersburger knew about a certain secret grave on a secluded island for at least four months before the first snow fell. A relative of Bestuzhev later wrote: “They were buried on Golodai for Smolensk cemetery, and probably not far from Galernaya harbor, where there was a guardhouse. Because the guards from this guardhouse were dressed up to prevent people from going to the grave of the hanged men. This circumstance was the reason for people to flock there in droves.”

The sentries stood at the “grave” for only four months. After this, interest in her fades away, moreover, she soon turns out to be completely forgotten. Soon a rumor spread throughout St. Petersburg that the bodies of those executed had been stolen. Late autumn In 1826, the third department of the Chancellery of His Imperial Majesty received a denunciation from the famous informer Sherwood, awarded by Nicholas the First for revealing plans for an uprising under the second name Verny. The denunciation reported that someone dug up the bodies of the executed Decembrists and secretly reburied them in another place.

Who this someone was remained unknown. But it is known that Benckendorf’s department did not even open a case on this denunciation. There can only be one reason - he didn’t find anything, and he couldn’t find it. The fake grave diverted the attention of potential grave diggers until snow fell, which hid all traces of the real grave.

After 1917, the search for the grave of the Decembrists is more like a joke.

At the beginning of June 1917, Petrograd newspapers exploded with sensational headlines: “The grave of the executed Decembrists has been found!” Since the February Revolution that recently occurred in Russia seemed to be a continuation of the work of the Decembrists, the report of this find aroused unprecedented interest in the widest circles of the public.

Here is how it was. In 1906, the city authorities decided to develop Goloday Island with a complex of buildings called “New Petersburg”. Owner construction company, Italian Richard Gualino heard that the Decembrists were buried somewhere on the site of the current construction site, and tried to find the grave. However, in 1911, the police learned about the Italian’s activities and forbade him to carry out excavations.

After February Revolution In 1917, he left for Turin, leaving in his place the engineer Gurevich as manager, whom he asked to continue the search. The newly created Society for the Memory of the Decembrists in Petrograd made a similar request.

On June 1, 1917, Gurevich informed the secretary of the society, Professor Svyatlovsky, that while digging a trench for a water supply behind the garrison outbuilding in an area previously called the “dog cemetery”, where animals were once buried, someone’s coffin was found. The next day, at the request of the professor, General Schwartz allocated soldiers of the 1st Automobile Company for further excavations.

As a result of the measures taken, 4 more coffins were dug out of the ground, which lay in a common grave along with the first. Thus, a total of 5 human skeletons were found, which corresponded to the number of executed Decembrists. In the first, best-preserved coffin, a skeleton was found, dressed in an officer's uniform from the time of Alexander I. The coffin was rich, once upholstered in brocade, and had wooden legs in the shape of lion paws.

The rest of the dominos were much more modestly made and were less well preserved. Therefore, the bones in them represented only fragments of human skeletons. Judging by the surviving remains of clothing, three of the people buried here were military, and two were civilians. This was completely true - Pestel, Muravyov-Apostol and Bestuzhev-Ryumin were military men, and Ryleev and Kakhovsky were civilians.

Another surge of interest in the grave of the Decembrists arose in 1925 in connection with the upcoming 100th anniversary of their execution. Then an organization engaged in studying the history of the party and the revolutionary movement in Russia began to clarify the circumstances of the finds of 1917. Skeletons found earlier were found in the basements of the Winter Palace. As it turned out, in 1918 they were placed in a box, sealed and transported to the Museum of the Revolution, which was then located in the palace.

At the site where the skeletons were found in 1917, it was decided to conduct new excavations, and medical experts from the Military Medical Academy, Vikhrov and Speransky, were instructed to give an opinion on the bones stored in the basements of the palace. An expert from the Main Science Department, Gabaev, was invited as a specialist in military uniforms.

Before new excavations were carried out on Golodai, it was found out that in fact in 1917 not 5, but 6 coffins were dug (nothing had been previously reported about the last one, and it disappeared somewhere). Medical examination of the remains found in 1917 gave sensational results. It turned out that they belonged not to five, but to only four people: three adults and one teenager aged 12-15 years!

A historical examination of the uniform found in one of the coffins showed that it belonged to an officer of the Life Guards of the Finnish Regiment of the 1829-1855 model. Thus, the Istpart commission came to the conclusion that the remains found in 1917 on Goloday “cannot belong to the executed Decembrists.” The fact that the executed Decembrists had to be naked - remember the shrouds in the barn of the Merchant Shipping School - was not even remembered then.

All this did not prevent a monument from being erected on Goloday in 1939, and the island itself being renamed Decembrist Island.

Currently, Dekabristov Island is densely built up. And, if the Decembrists are really buried there, and not drowned in the waters of the Gulf of Finland, the real grave will apparently never be found.

Here, on the eastern earthen rampart of the crownwork, on the night of July 13 (25), 1826, the leaders of the Decembrist uprising P. I. Pestel, K. F. Ryleev, S. I. Muravyov-Apostol, M. P. Bestuzhev-Ryumin were executed and P. G. Kakhovsky.

Nicholas I ordered that every half hour, through horse couriers, the situation in and around the Peter and Paul Fortress be reported to him in Tsarskoe Selo during the execution of the sentence.

At three o'clock in the morning, the civil execution of the Decembrists, sentenced to various terms of hard labor, took place on the crownwork. Following this, five people sentenced to death by hanging were taken out of the fortress.

The last report from the Governor-General of St. Petersburg, Nicholas I, said: “The execution ended with due silence and order, both on the part of the Weisks who were in the ranks, and on the part of the spectators, of whom there were few. Due to the inexperience of our executioners and inability to arrange gallows, the first time three, namely: Ryleev, Kakhovsky and Muravyov-Apostol, fell through, but were soon hanged again and received a well-deserved death. Which I most faithfully report to your Majesty.”

Due to an unforeseen delay, the execution ended later than planned... It was already dawn and passers-by appeared. The funeral of the executed Decembrists had to be postponed. The following night their bodies were secretly taken away and buried, it is believed, on Golodai Island.

In connection with the centenary of the execution of the Decembrists, on July 25, 1926, an obelisk monument made of black polished granite was erected at the site of the supposed burial of the Decembrists, and Goloday Island was renamed Decembrist Island. Senate Square, where the rebel regiments were lined up on December 14, 1825, was renamed Decembrist Square. The names of the leaders of the uprising - Pestel, Ryleev, Kakhovsky - are immortalized in the names of streets, alleys, bridges of St. Petersburg.

In 1975, in connection with the 150th anniversary of the Decembrist uprising, a granite obelisk was built on the shaft of the crownwork - a monument to the five best representatives of the first generation of Russian revolutionaries. It was created according to the design of architects V. Petrov, A. Lelyakov and sculptors A. Ignatiev and A. Dema. (During the excavation work for the construction of the monument, the remains of a decayed pillar and shackles rusted from time to time were found.)

On the front side of the monument there is the date of execution and a bas-relief with the profiles of the Decembrists. Such a bas-relief was first made at Herzen’s request and placed on the cover of the Polar Star magazine he published in recognition of the freedom-loving ideas of the Decembrists.

Under the bas-relief on the monument there is an inscription: “At this place on July 13/25, 1826, the Decembrists P. Pestel, K. Ryleev, P. Kakhovsky, S. Muravyov-Apostol, M. Bestuzhev-Ryumin were executed.” On the other side of the obelisk are carved the fiery words of A. S. Pushkin:

Comrade, believe: she will rise,
Star of captivating happiness,
Russia will wake up from its sleep,
And on the ruins of autocracy
They will write our names!

In front of the obelisk, on a square granite pedestal, there is a forged composition: a sword, epaulettes, broken chains.