Ruzveltova 50, Belgrade, Serbia
At the New Cemetery, located in the municipality of Zvezdara in the Serbian capital (about a kilometer from Kralja Aleksandra Boulevard), lies the Russian Necropolis. It is situated deep within the cemetery, where many Russians who left Russia after the October Revolution of 1917 and the end of the Civil War are buried. Here rest notable figures of that time: the last governor of Tomsk, Vladimir Nikolaevich Dudinsky, General Dmitry Konstantinovich Abatziev, and others, along with their relatives and children who remained living in Yugoslavia. Also buried here is Nikolai Petrovich Krasnov — a famous Russian architect, author of the renowned Livadia Palace in Crimea, who during his life in Belgrade participated in the construction of the famous buildings of the National Assembly and the Government of Serbia, the reconstruction of the Ruzhitsa Church, and others.
Visitors are greeted by the figure of an Angel with a sword, standing on a pedestal shaped like a shell, on which is inscribed a short line of great gratitude to Russia: “Eternal memory to Emperor Nicholas II and 2,000,000 Russian warriors of the Great War…”. The monument was erected on the initiative of Colonel Mikhail Skorodumov of the Russian army in 1935, who organized the collection of funds provided both by Russian emigrants and citizens of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, including members of the royal family. Next to the monument is a small Iveron Chapel, also built from donations modeled after the Iveron Chapel of the Mother of God, demolished by the Bolsheviks in Moscow. Slightly below the angel is the coat of arms of the Russian Empire, and further below, a Russian officer. Beneath the monument is a crypt where the remains of about 400 Russian soldiers and officers of the Russian army who died in the Great War of 1914–1918 on the Salonika front — the so-called Russian Expeditionary Corps — rest. Above the entrance to the crypt-chapel is a cross with the words “For Faith, Tsar, and Fatherland,” and above the entrance one can read: “Sleep, battle eagles,” while on the large cross made of rails inside the chapel is inscribed: “Russian heroes who gave their lives for the freedom of Serbia.” People bring white flowers here — as a symbol of freedom and the Russian spirit. The sculptors and architects of this monument are Verkhovsky and Stashevsky.
Next to the monument is a small Iveron Temple-Chapel, built from donations modeled after the Iveron Chapel of the Mother of God, demolished by the Bolsheviks in Moscow. Beneath it in the crypt rest the remains of Metropolitan Anthony (Khrapovitsky), who led the Russian Synodal Foreign Church (1921–1936) and was buried in 1936. The chapel’s replica serves as a symbol of love and longing for the abandoned Motherland. The architect of this structure is Stashevsky.
Nearby is also buried Archbishop Theophan of Kursk, who saved the Kursk-Korennaya Icon of the Mother of God — the patroness of the Russian diaspora — which is now kept in New York. The “Russian Necropolis” complex includes four sections of the New Cemetery, a monument to soldiers who died in the First World War — the graves of Rodzyanko and Mikhail Alekseev — the Chief of Staff and leader of military operations, and the Iveron Chapel. In 2012, the city authorities decided to preserve the inviolability of the Russian burials.
The necropolis complex includes Military Cemeteries, cemeteries of the liberators of Belgrade, and a Jewish cemetery. There is an Alley of the Honored (Great) and an Alley of Honorary Citizens. One of the first Russian burials in the Alley of Giants is the grave of Nikolai Genrikhovich Hartwig, a Russian diplomat. In 1914, the envoy of Tsarist Russia died of a heart attack in the Austrian embassy while trying to prevent an attack by Austria-Hungary.
Sources:
https://ria1914.info/index.php/Новое_кладбище_в_Белграде,_Сербия
