At the same time, according to numerous sources, reburials were practically not carried out, and the dismantling was limited to the demolition of tombstones. Many of these were later reused: they were cut into roadside curbs or used to face metro stations. As for the bones of the buried, with the exception of those that ended up in the occasional excavator bucket, in most cases they remain in their original places to this day.
Today, parks, residential buildings, and office complexes stand on the sites of former cemeteries. People walk, live, and work there, often unaware of what lies beneath their feet. Nevertheless, from time to time, the cemeteries make their presence known even now — when workers accidentally uncover a forgotten burial while laying a new underground cable or pipeline.
By cross‑referencing and overlaying pre‑war (and in some cases, pre‑revolutionary) maps onto modern ones, I managed to determine the territories of a number of former necropolises as accurately as possible. Among them are: Dorogomilovskoye, Semyonovskoye, Lazarevskoye, Bratskoye, Filyovskoye, Arbatetskoye, Krylatskoye, Deguninskoye, Biryulyovskoye, Kozhukhovskoye, Skorbyashchenskoye, Kholernoye, Mazilovskoye, Vsekhsvyatskoye, Simonovskoye, Pokrovskoye, Shipilovskoye, Nagatinskoye, Khoroshyovskoye, Dyakovskoye, and Stare Kuzminskoye cemeteries.
Buried yesterday, it will grow with grass,
And the plow will pass over it, and the dust, long cooled,
The mighty oak will wrap its roots around...
He will proudly rustle with a thick peak;
Under the shade his lovers will come -
And they will sit down to rest in the evening,
Look into the distance with their heads bowed
And the noise of dark leaves, thinking, will understand...