Gravestone Depicting Angel Holding the Cross

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This sculpture depicts an angel grasping the cross, a powerful symbol of faith. The State Museum of City Sculptures was established in 1932 to study, restore, and protect city sculptures and gravestones, taking on responsibility for many of St Petersburg's most iconic statues. With multiple branches scattered throughout St Petersburg, the museum's main locations are concentrated within the former territory of the Aleksandro-Nevsky Lavra, which was gifted 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, constructed between 1869 and 1873. In 1931, the church was shuttered, and in 1932, the cemetery became a branch of the State Museum of City Sculptures, known as the Necropolis of Masters of Culture. This designation is well-deserved, given that many influential figures from Russian culture are laid to rest here, including writers Fyodor Dostoevsky, Nikolai Karamzin, and Ivan Krylov; composers Aleksandr Borodin, Mikhail Glinka, Modest Musorgsky, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, and Pyotr Tchaikovsky; and artists Boris Kustodiev, Ivan Kramskoy, and Ivan Shishkin, to name a few.