Nikolskoe Cemetery () is part of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra in the centre of Saint Petersburg, and contains a large number of burials as well as monuments and memorials to notable figures in Russian Imperial history, as well as those of Soviet and post-Soviet times.

The cemetery, opened in 1863, was the third cemetery in the monastery complex, after the original Lazarevskoe Cemetery in the 1710s, and the Tikhvin Cemetery in 1823. It became known as the Nikolskoe after the construction of the Church of St. Nicholas between 1868 and 1871 to the design of diocesan architect Grigory Karpov. From its inception burial there was restricted to the elite of society, the monastery's Spiritual Council noting that "the Lavra cemetery is not open to everyone, as are the city cemeteries, but only a few persons from the government service and persons with honorary titles are buried here." Part of the cemetery also served as the burial site for the Monastery's monks and the metropolitans of St. Petersburg, leading to the name Bratskoe (), or "Brotherhood" section. Wealthy patrons commissioned large chapels and crypts, with elaborate decorations and reliefs from prominent artists such as Nikolay Laveretsky, Ivan Podozerov, and .

Despite this the cemetery was not considered to have any particular artistic or historical value during the Soviet period. It was closed in 1927 and sporadic efforts were made during the 1930s and 1940s to eliminate it, with the graves of several prominent figures were transferred to the Lazarevskoe, Tikhvin and Volkovo cemeteries; including Vera Komissarzhevskaya, Ivan Goncharov, Anton Rubinstein and Boris Kustodiev. Other graves were lost or destroyed. The Church of St Nicholas was closed in 1932, and the cemetery fell into neglect.

The Nikolskoe Cemetery was restored and landscaped in the 1970s, with a columbarium built between 1979 and 1980. The cemetery church was repaired and reconsecrated on 22 April 1985. Burials resumed in the late 1970s, and since 1989 a comprehensive restoration of monuments has been underway.

Burials and monuments

Image Name Born Died Occupation Monument Reference 1842 1901 Opera singer, contralto, mezzo-soprano, Mariinsky Theatre, Alexandrinsky Theatre 1890 1913 Аviation pioneer, test pilot, altitude and endurance records 1949 2005 Railway manager and politician, Minister of Railways, First Deputy Prime Minister of Russia. 1811 1898 Composer, musicologist, music critic, choral conductor, theorist and music educator. 1836 1905 Playwright, theatre critic, novelist, publicist and translator. Frol Skorbeyev and Old Times in Kashira 1863 1919 Army officer, general and military writer. First World War, Caucasian Native Cavalry Division, Kornilov affair, Red Army, High Cavalry School 1914 2001 Painter, member of the Leningrad Union of Soviet Artists, Leningrad School of Painting. 1919 2006 Combat pilot, World War II, colonel and Hero of the Soviet Union. 1857 1920 Philologist, editor (Kosmopolis, Mir Bozhy), literary critic, theatre and literary historian. 1844 1915 Naval officer, admiral, member of the State Council, Minister of the Navy 1945 2022 Military officer, general, commander of the Leningrad Military District 1864 1937 Explorer, Bolshevik activist, 1901 arctic expedition. Eduard von Toll, Aleksandr Kolchak. 1937 2000 Historian, revisionist interpretations of Russian history. 1820 1882 Naval officer, admiral, Crimean War. Steam-powered ship tactics, New Principles of Steamboat Tactics, Demidov Prize, State Council 1823 1909 Architect, Vilnius, Crimea. Byzantine Revival, Nativity Cathedral, Riga, Cathedral of the Theotokos, Vilnius. 1845 1898 Scientist, electrical eningeering. 1841 1891 Lexicographer, linguist, and scholar of Georgian literature. 1834 1877 Military officer, general, 1877–1878 Russo-Turkish War. Battle of Lovcha, Siege of Plevna. 1838 1901 Military officer, general, Priamur and Governor-General of Turkestan, Ataman of the Priamur Cossack host. 1828 1898 Journalist, editor, historian, state official. Russkaya Rech. 1944 1998 Statesman, political and public figure, industrialist, member of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union, supervisor of industry of the Leningrad Regional Committee of the Communist Party, head of State Tax Inspection in St. Petersburg. 1854 1910 Army officer, general, Russo-Japanese War, Governor-General of Moscow. 1862 1916 Physicist, inventor of the electromagnetic seismograph, seismologist, president of the International Seismology Association, member of the Royal Society. 1838 1907 Military officer, statesman, Caucasian War, Governor of Uralsk Oblast; Governor of Transcaucasia. 1853 1930 Naval officer, admiral, Minister of the Navy, Russo-Japanese War, First World War, member of the State Council. Initially buried in France, reburied in the family vault in the Nikolskoe Cemetery in 2005. 1912 1992 Historian, ethnologist, anthropologist and Persian translator. Ethnogenesis, historiosophy, eurasianism. 1845 1922 Singer and teacher, Saint Petersburg Conservatory. 1805 1881 Translator, children's author. Little Star, Rays of Light, History of Russia in Stories for Children, Demidov Prize. 1841 1918 Journalist, memoirist and publicist, translator and publisher. 1842 1908 Military officer, painter and writer. Imperial Academy of Arts, January Uprising, Russo-Turkish War. 1823 1885 Writer, historian, journalist and editor. Sovremennik, Golos. 1834 1893 Architect. St Petersburg Academy of Arts, Ciniselli Circus, Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia, Vladimir Palace. 1849 1907 Flautist and composer. 1871 1918 Lawyer and politician, State Duma deputy, a founding member of the Constitutional Democratic Party, Controller general of the Provisional Government. 1818 1893 Mineralogist, crystallographer, army officer, major general. 1923 2003 Flying ace, Second World War, Hero of the Soviet Union 1857 1904 Army officer, general, Russo-Japanese War, Siege of Port Arthur 1809 1889 Dramatist, theatre critic and literary historian, editor and memoirist 1863 1925 Author, publicist, literary critic and historian. Moscow University, The Nineteenth Century 1851 1916 Sociologist, president of the International Institute of Sociology, Psycho-Neurological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences. 1828 1891 Theologian, historian, translator, Archaeological Commission. 1839 1908 Military officer, General of Infantry, Russo-Turkish War, Boxer Rebellion, Battle of Peking, Russo-Japanese War. 1869 1905 Poet, Pushkin Prize, the "Russian Sappho", Silver Age of Russian Poetry. 1852 1904 Bible commentator, Lopukhin Bible. 1925 2000 Ballet dancer and professor, leading soloist at the Kirov Ballet, director of the Saint Petersburg State Academic Ballet, USSR State Prize, People's Artist of the USSR 1839 1915 Painter, Peredvizhniki. Beneath the Crown, representative of Academic art. 1956 2000 Military officer, general, missing in Grozny, Chechnya. Posthumous Hero of Russia. 1821 or 1825 1903 Russian Orthodox Church clergy, Bishop of Lublin, Bishop of Kamianets-Podilskyi, Bishop of Polotsk. Initially buried in the Isidorovskaya Church, reburied in the Nikolskoe Cemetery in 1932. 1822 1884 Writer, essayist, journalist, and literary critic; author of Marina of the Aluy Rog, A Quarter of a Century Ago, The Turning Point and The Void. 1917 2004 Military officer, aviator, Second World War, twice Hero of the Soviet Union 1835 1896 Artist, House of Romanov, Imperial Academy of Arts, Millennium of Russia, "Orthodoxy, Autocracy, and Nationality". 1834 1909 Engineer, Alexander Railway Bridge, Novomariinsky Canal, Volga–Baltic Waterway, railways, Actual Privy Councillor. 1921 2016 Military officer, naval aviation pilot, Second World War, Major General of Aviation, Hero of the Soviet Union 1837 1905 Army general, Caucasian War 1835 1910 Diplomat, Russo-Turkish War, Treaty of San Stefano and Treaty of Berlin. Ambassador to Saxony, Italy and France. 1907 Hague Peace Conference. Nikodim 1929 1978 Russian Orthodox metropolitan of Leningrad and Novgorod, World Council of Churches, Second Vatican Council 1830 1904 Military officer, general staff officer, military statistician, planner and chief of the Main Staff. Voyenny Sbornik, Russo-Turkish War. 1827 1901 Statesman, Minister of State Property. 1827 1898 Orthodox bishop, Metropolitan of St. Petersburg and Ladoga, member of the Holy Synod. Initially buried in the Isidorovskaya Church, reburied in the Nikolskoe Cemetery in 1932. 1857 1913 Pathologist, endocrinologist, immunologist and microbiologist. Institute of Experimental Medicine, until his death Member of the Paris Anatomical Society and Member of the Imperial Military Medical Academy 1939 2005 Volleyball player and coach. Avtomobilist Leningrad, coach of Russia men's national volleyball team, Volleyball Hall of Fame. 1855 1920 Military officer, infantry general, Minister of War, chief of the General Staff. Appointed to State Council. First World War, Red Army service. 1870 1929 Historian, Russian Academy of Sciences, Princely Law in Old Rus, The Tsardom of Muscovy , The Development of the State of Great Russia, revisionist biographies of Alexander I and Nicholas I. Institute of Historical Studies. 1909 1996 Military pilot, Soviet Naval Aviation, twice Hero of the Soviet Union, Winter War, Second World War, Major-General. 1923 2003 Military officer, Soviet Air Force colonel, Hero of the Soviet Union, Second World War. 1820 1887 Poet, editor, publicist and translator. 1934 2010 Linguist, scholar, Professor of Semitic languages, orientalist, politician, former paratrooper, wrestling champion. 1834 1902 Stage actor, Alexandrinsky Theatre, Alexander Ostrovsky, The Seagull. 1869 1918 State Duma deputy, Constitutional Democratic Party. Provisional Government, Minister of Agriculture, Minister of Finance. 1834 1913 Historian, journalist, military officer. Old and New Russia, Istorichesky Vestnik. 1937 2000 Politician, co-author of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, first democratically elected mayor of Saint Petersburg, mentor and teacher of Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev. 1846 1916 Music critic, composer, and teacher at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory. 1946 1988 Dissident, politician and ethnographer. 1834 1912 Newspaper and book publisher, journalist, Novoye Vremya, Istorichesky Vestnik. 1840 1903 Infantry general, commandant of the Ivangorod fortress, commander of the 3rd Army Corps. 1858 1916 Politician, Vice President of the Russian Imperial Academy of Arts, Minister of Education. 1809 1881 Composer, music critic and writer. 1830 1898 Military officer, general. 1849 Hungarian campaign, the Caucasian War, Russo-Turkish War, Imperial Military Council. 1868 1920 Ancient Near East scholar, Russian Academy of Sciences, University of St Petersburg 1930 2018 Olympic rower, 1952 Summer Olympics, 1956 Summer Olympics, 1960 Summer Olympics 1904 2008 Medical professional, oldest practicing surgeon in the world. Winter War, Second World War. 1876 1916 Cyclist, sportsman and aviator. Anthony Vadkovsky18461912Russian Orthodox bishop and Metropolitan of Saint Petersburg and Ladoga from 1898 to 1912 1822 1904 Statesman and military leader, general, Crimean War, Minister of War. 1842 1916 Meteorologist and climatologist, Russian Geographical Society, Voeykov axis. 1835 1909 Director of the Imperial Theatres, director of the Hermitage Museum. 1871 1913 Mezzo-soprano, specializing in Gypsy art songs. 1827 1891 Landowner, musician, philanthropist, Active State Councillor, Chamberlain. 1829 1879 Noblewoman and lady-in-waiting to Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. 1866 1907 Prose writer and dramatist, Silver Age of Russian Poetry. 1890 1916 Aviator, first woman in Russia to earn a pilot's license. Air show competitor, aircraft manufacturer.

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