The Tsar's Horses Necropolis
It tells about a man's stuggle to save this graveyard where horses were buried for nearly a century, between the reign of Nicolas I and Nicholas II.Frozen under a thick blanket of snow lies this place, like if one was at the frontier of a lost world . This place is not on any maps nor on any tourist guides, no sign, no markings. At the end of a road in the woods, anonymous and quiet, as if we had been lost in time. In fact we are just few hundred meters from a famous tourist attraction, one of the most visited in Russia: the summer residence of the tsars, 20 km south of St. Petersburg. Millions of visitors discover each year the spendor of Catherine Palace or walk along the alleys of the park at Alexander's . But none set foot at the far corner of Tsarskoïe Selo. Will the lost tourist even notice this place that looks like a small farm, surrounded by a rusted fence with few sheds?
Just the red brick building gets attention at first. The two story building is topped with a rounded tower cover like some sort of ceramic hat. Behind the building, under the snow, one can guess the presence of tombs. All perfectly aligned, russian cemetaries have the characteristic to be alot more chaotic then this... No fuss, even less crosses, all aligned in rows of ten. If at first they look human sized, no man has ever been buried here. For almost a century, the tsars as a habit to bury their most "praised" horses--those which had the privilege to spend their retirement days in the small castle built for them, in recognition for their merits and courage. This building, ordered in 1826 by Nicholas I, by the architect Adam Menelaws was the first "retirement home" for horses in the world. Until the abdication of Nicholas II in march 1917, 122 imperial burials had been made.
The place is not a secret but it is not well known. The Soviet Union has ignored this tiny piece of tsarist land and history, which nearly disappeared forever, victim of the revolution, wars, vandalism, and from general lack of care. For a long time people walked its ground without paying it any attention. Then in 1952, the russian administration blocked the access to transform it into a workshop to make fireworks. The trucks' traffic finally destroyed many tombs and about 30 stones. The retirement house was then used by a team from the art department who turned the place into a restoration workshop and the suroundings were used as a dump. In the mid 80's, talks about a "clean-up" were heard of and the use of a bulldozer was considered. Who would really care? This Tsarskoïe Selo cemetery and its gothic pavillon had long since been erased from memories.
Today, this same little piece of land will soon ressusitate. "If all goes well, we will be able to open it to the public next fall."says Alexander Kedrinski, Historical Monuments of Tsarskoïe Selo chief architect. A small miracle , the fruit of 15 years of hard work by a Frenchman, Jean-Louis Gouraud, and a handful of friends. Both a writer and a horselover, this "russophile" had learned about the cemetery in Paris, while reading an old encyclopedia at the National Library. "I found an article from 1860 in Le Magasin pitoresque- sort of Science&Life of that time" On the drawing made by the journalist who visited the place, "one can see the stones with the name of the horse, the name of the tsar it has served, its date of birth and also the date of it death, also sometimes some historical facts."
The idea of a retirement house for horses came to Nicholas I in the early days of his reign, just at the time of the "coup d'état" and the battle against the Decemberists.He had those responsible hung, and sent the others to Siberia. Called "The Iron Tsar" or "Nicolas la trique" (trique for rope). After those events nothing seem to be more important to him than the comfort of his brother and predecessor Alexander I's horse, L'Ami, the horse on which he entered Paris in 1814, at the head of the coalition. This champion spent the rest of its life in this unique "retirement home" spending days in the fields surounding it before being buried in the cemetery.
The retirement home for horses- seven boxes on the ground level, the first floor being used to house the staff- was a four star establishment. After its inauguration, in1830, the tsar himself made sure that the temperature was right and he often checked on the quality of the hay given to them. "Some horses died at 36 or 37 years old because of those good conditions", adds Alexander Kedrinski. Beside L'Ami & Segaï, two of his brother horses, Nicholas I added three of his own, Milaya, Beauty and Alexander, also some belonging to his wife, Mathilda and Fritz. From the start, the hostel sign could have read "no vacancy", from now on more space would always be made available. When the first roomer died, on april 7th 1834, the tsar gave the order to "bury it beside its home"; he dictated what was to engrave on Beauty's stone himself, "which has served his imperial highness for 24 years". This inscription would serve as a model to all the other orders made to the marble expert Stiepan Anisinov. From 1844 other stone than marble was to be used. To this date, there were already ten tombs on three rows. One the first floor the horses' equipment were to be stored. It was like the start of a museum.
