Editing Novodevichy Cemetery (section)

== Interments ==
{{Main|Burials at the Novodevichy Cemetery}}
During the [[Soviet Union]], burial in the Novodevichy Cemetery was second in prestige only to burial in the [[Kremlin Wall Necropolis]].{{Citation needed|date=January 2019}} Among the Soviet leaders, [[Nikita Khrushchev]] and [[Mikhail Gorbachev]] would be buried there.<ref name=laidtorest>{{cite news|url=https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-putin-mikhail-gorbachev-soviet-union-5d4fa7856a597b7ff912021ab206164f|title=Gorbachev buried in Moscow in funeral snubbed by Putin|first1=Jim|last1=Heintz|publisher=Associated Press|date=3 September 2022|accessdate=3 September 2022}}</ref> Since the fall of the Soviet Union, the Kremlin Wall is no longer used for burials and the Novodevichy Cemetery is used for only the most symbolically significant burials. In 1997, former premier [[Nikolai Tikhonov]] was buried in the cemetery at state expense (since he didn't have any money of his own).<ref>{{Cite web|title=Министр СССР: о реформах Брежнев говорил — "не дергайте людей, дайте людям отдохнуть"|url=https://tass.ru/interviews/3883597|access-date=2021-03-30|website=ТАСС}}</ref> In April 2007, within one week both the first [[President of Russia|President of the Russian Federation]] [[Boris Yeltsin]] and cellist [[Mstislav Rostropovich]] were buried there.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/30/world/europe/30rostropovich.html|title=Rostropovich Is Laid to Rest Near Another Russian Titan|first=Sophia|last=Kishkovsky|work=New York Times|date=April 30, 2007|accessdate=September 3, 2022}}</ref>

Today, the cemetery holds the tombs of Russian authors, musicians, playwrights, and poets, as well as famous actors, political leaders, and scientists.<ref name="Jewish Search">{{cite book|last=Roskies|first=David G.|title=The Jewish search for a usable past|publisher =Indiana University Press|date=1999|page=217|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ebMvIU5XJxQC&pg=PA144|isbn=978-0-253-33505-0}}</ref><ref name="Brooke">{{cite book  | last =Brooke  | first =Caroline  |  title =Moscow: a cultural history|publisher=Oxford University Press|date=2006|page =268|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M-Fz-xAHVSoC&pg=PA118|isbn=978-0-19-530952-2}}</ref> More than 27,000 are buried at Novodevichy. There is scant space for more burials. [[Federal Military Memorial Cemetery|A new national cemetery]] is under construction in [[Mytishchi]] north of Moscow. Notable burials include [[Dmitry Shostakovich]], [[Sergei Prokofiev]] and [[Anton Chekhov]].<ref name=laidtorest />

The cemetery has a park-like ambience, dotted with small chapels and large sculpted monuments. It is divided into the old (Divisions 1–4), new (Divisions 5–8) and newest (Divisions 9–11) sections; maps are available at the cemetery office.<ref name="Frommer">
{{cite book|last=Gilbert|first=Hillary|title=Frommer's Moscow Day by Day|publisher=Frommer's|date =2009|pages=192|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aF6V0lFPut0C&pg=PT23|isbn=978-0-470-72304-3}}</ref>