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Donskoy Crematorium
Avant-garde Center on Shabolovka
2020
2020
Created in collaboration with International Memorial, a human rights organization studying political repressions in the USSR and present-day Russia, this research exhibition explored the architecture and history of Moscow’s first crematorium. The project built on the Museum of the Avant-Garde's ongoing research into local historical and architectural landmarks. The opening of the first crematorium in the Shabolovka neighborhood was a significant event in post-revolutionary Moscow, where agitational campaigns for the "new way of life" sought to reshape all aspects of human existence—from birth to death—through avant-garde architectural forms.
The repurposing of the Church of Seraphim of Sarov and Anna Kashinskaya (built in 1914) into a crematorium marked the transition to a new burial practice—"fire burial"—accompanied by an unprecedented propaganda campaign. From the early 1930s, the new Donskoye Cemetery existed in two parallel realities: by day, it hosted the ceremonial funerals of prominent figures, while by night, it became the site of secret cremations and burials of those executed by the NKVD, orchestrated by the crematorium’s first director, Pyotr Nesterenko—a man whose own biography reads like a detective thriller.
As a result, the same ground became the final resting place for the elite of Soviet science and culture, buried in graves and urns that today merit cultural heritage status; Party officials and Chekists responsible for mass terror; and their victims, interred in unmarked mass graves. Often, the same individuals embodied both executioner and victim within their own lifetimes. This layered history makes Donskoye Cemetery and its hybrid structure—a church turned constructivist crematorium turned church again—a unique historical necropolis, a dense microcosm of the 20th century in all its contradictions.
The exhibition featured competition projects, architectural sketches, and photographs of the Donskoye Crematorium and its interiors, reflecting 1920s architects' visions for a modern civic funerary structure. It also presented works by contemporary artists, interpreting the present-day state of the columbarium. Photographs, newsreels, and archival documents illuminated the stories of individuals buried under different circumstances within the new Donskoye Cemetery.
The repurposing of the Church of Seraphim of Sarov and Anna Kashinskaya (built in 1914) into a crematorium marked the transition to a new burial practice—"fire burial"—accompanied by an unprecedented propaganda campaign. From the early 1930s, the new Donskoye Cemetery existed in two parallel realities: by day, it hosted the ceremonial funerals of prominent figures, while by night, it became the site of secret cremations and burials of those executed by the NKVD, orchestrated by the crematorium’s first director, Pyotr Nesterenko—a man whose own biography reads like a detective thriller.
As a result, the same ground became the final resting place for the elite of Soviet science and culture, buried in graves and urns that today merit cultural heritage status; Party officials and Chekists responsible for mass terror; and their victims, interred in unmarked mass graves. Often, the same individuals embodied both executioner and victim within their own lifetimes. This layered history makes Donskoye Cemetery and its hybrid structure—a church turned constructivist crematorium turned church again—a unique historical necropolis, a dense microcosm of the 20th century in all its contradictions.
The exhibition featured competition projects, architectural sketches, and photographs of the Donskoye Crematorium and its interiors, reflecting 1920s architects' visions for a modern civic funerary structure. It also presented works by contemporary artists, interpreting the present-day state of the columbarium. Photographs, newsreels, and archival documents illuminated the stories of individuals buried under different circumstances within the new Donskoye Cemetery.
Curators
Liza Kazakova
Pavel Parkin
Exhibition Design
Aleksandra Selivanova
Contributors
Natalia Baryshnikova
Ksenia Guseva
Alexandra Polivanova
Katerina Telegina
Photography
Elena Balakireva
Liza Kazakova
Pavel Parkin
Exhibition Design
Aleksandra Selivanova
Contributors
Natalia Baryshnikova
Ksenia Guseva
Alexandra Polivanova
Katerina Telegina
Photography
Elena Balakireva
