St. Petersburg
30F
A few weeks ago, on a snowy afternoon, I decided that I need to visit a “green place” on the map because it had been far too long since I had seen a tree. In the very center of Vasilevsky Island is just such an area-- an enormous Russian Orthodox cemetery. Yet, for something so big on the map, it was unusually difficult to locate on foot. Only after about an hour of wandering around the island, I saw a dense area of trees surrounded by a wrought iron fence and decided to head in that direction.
Russian Orthodox cemeteries are very different than the type that most people have a familiarity with. Instead of granite headstones, they are filled with countless crosses of every type imaginable. Wooden, stone, steel, wrought iron crucifixes shoot up from the ground every few feet as if a packet of seeds were spread from somewhere high above. Additionally, the graves lay wherever the plans for the area dictate, even if it means in the middle of the forest.
As the sun was starting to set, I ventured into the Смоленское православное кладбище. At first I was confused because I did not see any of the graves, but as my eyes adjusted to the darkness, they seemed to jump out from between the trees all around me. It was an amazing sight. Everything was dusted with a clean layer of snow, and the darkness was slowly creeping in.
After about fifteen minutes of walking through the woods, I stumbled on these two beautiful cathedrals. Some sort mass had just let out from the one, and everyone was walking over to light candles on a stand beside the other. The whole scene was like something out of a movie. I tried to take some pictures, but they do not capture it very well. Certainly another “uniquely Russian” moment that I will not forget.
30F
A few weeks ago, on a snowy afternoon, I decided that I need to visit a “green place” on the map because it had been far too long since I had seen a tree. In the very center of Vasilevsky Island is just such an area-- an enormous Russian Orthodox cemetery. Yet, for something so big on the map, it was unusually difficult to locate on foot. Only after about an hour of wandering around the island, I saw a dense area of trees surrounded by a wrought iron fence and decided to head in that direction.
Russian Orthodox cemeteries are very different than the type that most people have a familiarity with. Instead of granite headstones, they are filled with countless crosses of every type imaginable. Wooden, stone, steel, wrought iron crucifixes shoot up from the ground every few feet as if a packet of seeds were spread from somewhere high above. Additionally, the graves lay wherever the plans for the area dictate, even if it means in the middle of the forest.
As the sun was starting to set, I ventured into the Смоленское православное кладбище. At first I was confused because I did not see any of the graves, but as my eyes adjusted to the darkness, they seemed to jump out from between the trees all around me. It was an amazing sight. Everything was dusted with a clean layer of snow, and the darkness was slowly creeping in.
After about fifteen minutes of walking through the woods, I stumbled on these two beautiful cathedrals. Some sort mass had just let out from the one, and everyone was walking over to light candles on a stand beside the other. The whole scene was like something out of a movie. I tried to take some pictures, but they do not capture it very well. Certainly another “uniquely Russian” moment that I will not forget.
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