Gravestone Depicting a Young Woman

myminifactory

This sculpture portrays a young man named Evgeny in a state of profound grief. A broken branch rests on her tomb, an emblem often associated with untimely demise. The State Museum of City Sculptures was established in 1932 to study, restore, and safeguard city sculptures and headstones, as well as maintain numerous iconic St Petersburg sculptures. This esteemed institution operates several satellite branches across the city, primarily within the former boundaries of the Aleksandro-Nevsky Lavra, which was bequeathed to the museum upon its inception. The Aleksandro-Nevsky Lavra's Tikhvinskoe Cemetery was founded in 1823 and named after the Our Lady of Tikhvin Church, built between 1869 and 1873. In 1931, the church was shuttered, and two years later, the cemetery became a branch of the State Museum of City Sculptures, known as the Necropolis of Masters of Culture. This designation honors the fact that many prominent figures from Russian culture are laid to rest here, including acclaimed writers Fyodor Dostoevsky, Nikolai Karamzin, and Ivan Krylov; celebrated composers Aleksandr Borodin, Mikhail Glinka, Modest Musorgsky, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, and Pyotr Tchaikovsky; as well as renowned artists Boris Kustodiev, Ivan Kramskoy, and Ivan Shishkin, among numerous other legendary names.