Venice. San Michele Island

"And along the edges of the road the dead with scythes stand"
Alighieri Dante
"... and silence"
Brodsky Joseph

Since I've led you through the back alleys, let's take a look at the island of San Michele. First there was a monastery on this island, then a prison. In 1807, for sanitary reasons, Napoleon forbade the Venetians to bury the dead on the inhabited islands and ordered all burials to be made here henceforth. Since then, San Michele has been the island of the dead. On the island is the church of San Michele in Isola ("San Michele on the Island", what do you think?) - the oldest (1469) Renaissance church in Venice.

The input is a diagram. If you look closely, you will see that in a purely Catholic Venetian cemetery, Recinto (fence) XIV and Recinto XV are provided to the Greek Orthodox and Evangelists.

Don't be afraid: no one is rushing you. We are so... see :-)
Vaporetto (a lagoon boat like Moshka), running past the monument "Virgil leads Dante to the kingdom of the dead" (where we are),

brings you to the tiny yellow-and-white pier Cemetereo.

We will not swim to it - why should we? Let's go to the cemetery!
We enter the territory of the monastery.

Here, somehow not in a Venetian way, it is spacious and not crowded. And green.

Crosses stand in even rows over the graves of English sailors who died in World War I.

Across the path - a clearing with the graves of the townspeople. Venetians are buried in San Michele to this day. Here they are in front of you.

Within the walls are crypts of noble families (these still remain in the city).

This is the coolest headstone we've come across. Just some kind of crypt! Giuseppe and Agostino Scarpa. Do you know them? And by the way - know!

But you and I - through this door. Recinto Greco.

It is here that Sergei Diaghilev is buried. The girls bring him fresh pointe shoes. See, tied to the monument?

And next to them are the Stravinskys. There are no other acquaintances here.
Except for the pretentious monument to the royal (Alexander II) favorite Musina-Pushkina, who died at the age of almost 90 years. But how does she know us?

The Greek (intended for Russians) section of the cemetery is clean and empty. Places are still dofiga. Don't rush to sign up. Empty and clean.

What can not be said about the evangelical compartment. Where chaos and ruin reign.

The tombstones are broken like crowbars. This Champion "from whom did it get it? Were the Zenit fans showing off?

Here our everything is buried - Joseph Brodsky. Why evangelists? And what should the Venetians do in the Jewish compartment on San Michele? Or maybe even Muslim?

They don't have enough space. After a short time after burial, the mortal remains are dug up and placed in columbarium niches. And a place in the earth - for the next Venetians.

The coffins with the bodies of which will not be brought to those pretentious central gates in the first photo, but to such an inconspicuous, but convenient door.

How I love Google Earth. Really great?! In front of you is the cemetery of San Michele with the church of San Michele in Isola in the corner.

Again.
Entrance from the pier - on the yellow arrow. At the end of the blue arrow is Diaghilev's grave. At the end of the red one is Brodsky's grave.

San Michele is the city cemetery of Venice. The place is very remarkable, with an amazing (as everywhere in Venice) history and connected with Russia.

When there were two islands. San Michele was called "Cavana de Muran" - a stopover on the way to Murano. There has been a church on San Michele since the 10th century, in 1212 the island was transferred to the monastery of the Kamadul order. In 1469, Mauro Caldussi built a church there, called San Michele de Isola (meaning "on the island"). When Venice was subjugated by Napoleon in 1797, the monastery was abolished, and for 30 years there was a prison on San Michele, where Italian patriots who fought against the French and Austrians were kept. In 1829 the monastery was returned to the Franciscans.
Another islet, San Cristoforo, was called the “Pace Affairs” - Peaceful, as it was presented to the theologian Fra Simeone for preparing for the conclusion of the Peace of Lodia in 1454, when the Italian states decided to end the conflicts in the Apennines and create the “Italian League”. On the island there was a Benedictine monastery, a small church of San Cristoforo, which had a cemetery. It was this cemetery that in 1807, by order of Napoleon, was to become the only city cemetery in Venice. The architect Gian Antonio Selva was the author of the structures.
In 1836, the channel between the islands was filled in, the new island was named San Michele, and the whole was transferred to the cemetery. Many Russians who came to Venice, representatives of noble families, and emigrants in the 20th century are buried here, including Igor Stravinsky, Sergei Diaghilev, Joseph Brodsky.
The main part of the island is Catholic burials, there is a section of the Greek church (where Russians are buried) and the Lutheran church. There is a problem with places in the cemetery, the island is cramped, burials can be transferred to the columbarium in a few years. But the graves of famous people enjoy attention, there are signs to them.

Arnold Böcklin. Dead island. A painting by a 19th-century Swiss artist represents a type of cemetery island.

Giovanni Antonio Canale - Canaletto. View of San Cristoforo, San Michele and Murano. What did the islands look like in the 18th century?

Now at the entrance to the cemetery there is a beautiful courtyard

View of the Protestant cemetery

Joseph Brodsky (1940-96) is buried here

View of the Greek cemetery

Many Russians are buried here

Greek chapel, services are held several times a year on days of special commemoration of the dead.

Princess Trubetskaya, née Musina-Pushkina

Grave of Sergei Diaghilev (1872-1929)

Volkova - Muromtseva

Vera Volkova-Mitrofan (1872-1950)

Princess Ekaterina Bagration

De Bem, née Martinova

Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) and his wife Vera Arkadievna, née de Bosse (1889-1982)

Catholic part of the cemetery

Memorial plaque to the inhabitants of Venice who died in the war in Russia

Monastery courtyard

Lizards crawl on stones in the sun

San Michele in Isola

The island of San Michele got its name from the church named after St. Michael the Archangel located on it. Back in the 10th century, there was a harbor in its place, where the boats of local residents moored. The temple was designed by the Italian architect Mauro Coducci, who became famous for the clock tower of St. Mark on the square of the same name in Venice. San Michele in Isola is considered one of the first Venetian churches of the Renaissance.

By order of Napoleon, San Michele was taken under a cemetery for locals.

John Andrew, a well-known critic, wrote in his book "Early Renaissance Venetian Architecture" that the new solution found by Coducci would become an example for subsequent buildings. And so it happened - many churches in Venice were built on the model of San Michele. Previously, the temples in the city were built exclusively of bricks, while Coducci built his church of white stone.

Monastery and prison

There used to be a monastery on the island of San Michele

In 1212, a monastery was built on the island, in which for years a huge library for those times was collected - more than 200 thousand volumes and manuscripts. For some time the monastery was turned into a political prison where important criminals were kept. Among them were, for example, the revolutionaries Silvio Pellico and Pietro Maroncelli. They were imprisoned in Venetian dungeons, which were called "priombi" because of the lead roofs. Pellico was sentenced to death but later commuted to 15 years in Spielberg Prison.

resting place

In 1807, Napoleon ordered that the island of San Michele and nearby San Cristoforo be given over to a cemetery for the locals. Before that, there was absolutely no place to bury the Venetians - the dead were either burned or buried in the cellars of churches and even palaces. Soon the channel between the two islands was filled up and they were merged into one. Since the beginning of the 19th century, all citizens began to be buried at San Michele.

The cemetery itself is divided into three parts - Catholic, Orthodox and Jewish. Separately, there is the so-called "Children's Alley", where the smallest inhabitants of the city are buried. Famous people from different countries also lie in the cemetery. Here you can find the graves of the famous mathematician and physicist Christian Doppler and the English poet Frederic Rolf, the Slovenian painter Zoran Muzic and the Italian composer Luigi Nono.

Brodsky, Diaghilev and Stravinsky are buried at San Michele

One of the most famous "inhabitants" of the island of the dead is Joseph Brodsky. On the reverse side of the monument to the poet, there is an engraved inscription in Latin "Letum non omnia finit" - "Everything does not end with death." Nearby is the grave of Ezra Pound, an American translator who worked with Brodsky. On San Michele lies also Peter Vail, a journalist and writer, a friend of the poet.

In the same cemetery, the Stravinsky couple found their last resting place. Igor and Vera Stravinsky lie side by side, and next to them is Sergei Diaghilev. Interestingly, it was the famous organizer of the Russian Seasons in Paris who introduced the composer to his future wife. Dancers from all over the world bring ballet shoes to Diaghilev's grave as a token of gratitude.

On the island of San Michele, a tourist is not a frequent visitor, although the island is located within sight - no more than half a kilometer separates it from Venice. In ancient times, there was a monastery of the Archangel Michael, and in 1807 Cimitero appeared - a city cemetery planted with cypress trees, which was surrounded by a red brick wall in the 1870s. Now it is the most famous "island of the dead" in the world. It is interesting for Russians because it is here that the ashes of several people, our compatriots, whose names are dear to Russian and world culture, are buried.

Entering through the portal, on which St. Michael defeats the dragon, at first you find yourself in the backyard of the monastery.

The cemetery of San Michele is divided into zones: Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, Jewish.
Entrance to the first zone.

The local cemetery culture, of course, is very different from ours. Grooming, brightness, even some flashy color is striking. Most of the tomb photos show people smiling.

Tombstones are usually good, here are samples.

Lots of family tombs like these.

A separate area is allocated for soldiers and officers who died in the First World War.

Here is a general monument.

This is a monument to the crew of the lost submarine.
On the morning of August 7, 1917, 7 miles from the island of Brioni, near the naval base of Pola, during maneuvers, the submarine F-14 was rammed by the destroyer Missori while submerged. The boat sank at a depth of 40 meters. After 34 hours, she was raised, but 27 people of the boat's crew died 3 hours before lifting, suffocating with chlorine gas.

Some local ace.

Entrance to the Orthodox cemetery (Reparto Greco-Ortodosso).

Well-groomedness and chic are noticeably less here.

But it is it that is a place of international pilgrimage - because of the two graves located at the back wall.

On the left is Diaghilev's. According to the Italian composer Casella, in the last years of his life, Diaghilev "lived on credit, unable to pay for a hotel" in Venice, and on August 19, 1929, "died alone, in a hotel room, poor as he had always been." The funeral of the great impresario was paid for by Coco Chanel, a good friend of Diaghilev, who during the life of the maestro gave money for many of his productions.

The grave is decorated with the inscription: "Venice, the constant inspirer of our reassurance" (Diaghilev's dying words), ballet pointe shoes are right there.

To her right lie the ashes of Igor Stravinsky and his wife Vera.

Someone brought a chestnut to the maestro.

From the Orthodox cemetery we head to the Protestant one (Reparto Evangelico),

for it is here that one should look for the grave of Joseph Brodsky.
Here she is, between two cypresses.

Initially, they wanted to bury Joseph Brodsky in an Orthodox cemetery, between Diaghilev and Stravinsky. But the Russian Orthodox Church in Venice did not agree, as no evidence was provided that the poet was Orthodox. The Catholic clergy showed no less severity.

In fact, great poets usually do not make mistakes when talking about their fate. Brodsky was wrong.
Young wrote:

No country, no graveyard
I don't want to choose.
To Vasilyevsky Island
I will come to die.

However, he never returned to Russia, to St. Petersburg. They say he had a deep conviction that you can not go back. One of his last arguments was: "The best part of me is already there - my poetry." I don't know, it doesn't sound very convincing to me.

Be that as it may, now it forever coexists with the grave of Ezra Pound - an outcast of Western civilization, stigmatized for collaborating with fascism, whose execution was demanded by Arthur Miller, Lion Feuchtwanger and other left-wing intellectuals.

Such is the black humor, which is hardly appropriate in the cemetery.

Venice is always connected in my thoughts with Brodsky, who loved it so much.
When in 2007 I was going to Venice for the first time, my plans included a mandatory visit to the cemetery of San Michele and the grave of Brodsky.
I love to wander through cemeteries in silence, looking at monuments and inscriptions. It has a calming effect on me.
There is only one cemetery in Venice, and it occupies the entire small island of San Michele. On the "Isle of the Dead" not only the Venetians are buried, but also outstanding people from all over the world, including ours.

The island became a cemetery in 1807 by decree of Napoleon. Before this year, the people of Venice burned and buried the dead in the city; in churches, private gardens, palace cellars wherever possible.

Our Sergei Dyagelev and Igor Stravinsky are buried in the Orthodox zone, but Joseph Brodsky, on the territory of the Evangelical, Protestant. On the Orthodox part, the body of the poet was forbidden to be buried by the Russian Orthodox Church.

Here is how Brodsky's friend Ilya Kutik, who is present at the funeral, describes the story:

<Итак, о перезахоронении. Мистика началась уже в самолете, гроб в полете открылся. Надо сказать, что американские гробы закрываются на шурупы и болты, они не открываются даже от перепадов высоты и давления. В Венеции стали грузить гроб на катафалк, он переломился пополам. Бродского пришлось перекладывать в другой гроб. Дальше на гондолах его доставили на остров мертвых.

The original plan called for his burial in the Russian half of the cemetery between the graves of Stravinsky and Diaghilev. It turned out that this was impossible, since permission was needed from the Russian Orthodox Church in Venice, but she did not give it, because Brodsky was not Orthodox. The coffin is standing, people are waiting. Throwing began, negotiations went on for two hours. As a result, the decision is made to bury him on the evangelical side of the cemetery. There are no empty seats, while in Russian there are no problems. Nevertheless, a place was found - at the feet of Ezra. (I note that Brodsky could not stand Pound as a man and an anti-Semite, as a poet he greatly appreciated ...) They began to dig - a bar of skull and bones, it is impossible to bury. In the end, poor Iosif Alexandrovich in a new coffin was taken to the wall, behind which electric saws and other equipment howl, they put him a bottle of his favorite whiskey and a pack of his favorite cigarettes, buried him almost on the surface, barely covered with earth ...

And one more circumstance, which was written about only in Italy. Russian President Yeltsin sent six cubic meters of yellow roses to Brodsky's funeral. Mikhail Baryshnikov and his company transferred all these roses to the grave of Ezra Pound. There was not a single flower from the Russian authorities on Brodsky's grave, which, in fact, corresponds to his will.

Before the trip, I studied the location of Brodsky's grave. Everything seemed to be clear. There was no sign to the grave at that time, but I knew that there was an official sign on the main alley, on which Brodsky and an arrow were written in felt-tip pen. Then I found out that the inscription itself was first made with a felt-tip pen by Peter Weil, and then the inscription was constantly updated by those who came to his grave (I was embarrassed to do this).

Arriving on a vaporetto on the island, I walked around the cemetery and went to look for Brodsky's grave, but everything turned out to be not as simple as in the stories of travelers.

An old Italian, all in black, who came with a bouquet of flowers, probably to relatives, seeing how I was trying to find the grave, to my question on Brodsky, asked who I was by nationality and, realizing that I was Russian, almost by force forced me to go to Stravinsky's grave, believing that a Russian tourist should only go there, I had to, in order not to offend her, go first to Stravinsky and Diaghilev, and then, after her departure, finally reach Brodsky. Stravinsky is more popular than the Nobel poet. Beginning and aging ballerinas bring pointe shoes to Diaghilev's grave. Pointe shoes look kind of pitiful.

Near Brodsky's tombstone there is a metal box that looks like a mailbox, I'm not a poet, so I didn't write anything to Brodsky, I put only a pebble that I had saved up in advance. They say many poets come here for the blessing of a great brother, leave pens and notes.

On the reverse side of Brodsky's tombstone there is an inscription in Latin Letum non omnia finit - everything does not end with death, in relation to Brodsky this is an absolute truth.

The island of the dead is inseparable in my perception from Venice. And when I came to Venice for the second time in 2011, I took my sisters and my niece there. By this time, Brodsky's name was already on the official index.

I was struck by someone's grave destroyed by centuries-old trees

At the exit from the cemetery, we were stopped by a funeral procession with a chic black lacquered coffin and inconsolable colorful Italian relatives.
On my first visit, I never got to another place in Venice, which is inseparable from Brodsky - "the embankment of the incurable", sung by him in his famous essay. And on my second visit, I swore that I would definitely get to her. On the evening of the second day, leaving my exhausted niece and her mother to watch cartoons in the hotel,

my second sister and my sister-in-law and I went first to church - Santa Maria della Salute.

The name of the embankment was given by the hospital and the neighborhoods adjacent to it, in which the medieval city contained hopeless patients infected with either the plague or syphilis. And when the epidemic ended, the surviving residents of Venice built a stunning church in memory of deliverance - Santa Maria della Salute, and the embankment was given the name Fondamenta degli Incurabili, now it no longer exists on the maps and if it were not for Brodsky, no one would remember her like that.

Already in the dark we went from the church to look for the embankment. We walked for a long time, there were almost no people in this area at night. The lighting was not enough, and we were afraid to miss the place we were looking for. In addition to us, a young couple walked along the embankment, in my opinion Americans. It was somehow more fun with them. And suddenly they murmured loudly “Brodsky, Brodsky”, we realized that we had reached the right place.