Where VIPs RIP

Spring has certainly sprung and what better way to make the most of the struggling sunshine than to enjoy a leisurely stroll through one of Moscow's numerous cemeteries.
With more than 60 to choose from, would-be graveyard visitors are spoilt for choice. And with strict face control (for the dead, of course) and VIP zoning, you may find they're not all that different from the capital's nightspots. Many of the cemeteries boast a bevy of bygone writers, war heroes, scientists, actors, singers and those with the necessary financial clout to procure a final resting place alongside some of the greats of Soviet and Russian history.
The Kremlin Wall
The Kremlin Wall Necropolis, with Lenin's Mausoleum as its centerpiece, is the pinnacle of exclusivity, boasting a who's who of Communist heroes. It includes the first man in space, cosmonaut Yury Gagarin, and all but two General Secretaries - Nikita Khrushchev was well and truly faced and demoted to Novodevichy, while Mikhail Gorbachev, the only surviving person to have held the post, will also miss out on a spot. The Necropolis was first used as a burial site in 1917 when 240 pro-Bolshevik casualties of the October Revolution were buried in mass graves on Red Square. The site quickly became a favorite among communists, located as it was near the seat of power and, unlike a traditional cemetery with requisite church, was considered suitably atheist. Burial in the ground and interment of ashes in the wall were both practiced sporadically throughout Soviet rule, with the former preferred for the real big-wigs including Felix Dzerzhinsky and Mikhail Kalinin.
Novodevichy Cemetery
Novodevichy Cemetery, inaugurated in 1898, currently houses some 27,000 deceased. During Soviet rule, interment here was runner-up in the prestige stakes only to burial in the Kremlin Wall, a practice that has since ceased. Among the first to be buried at Novodevichy was writer Anton Chekhov, who was later joined by other literary heavyweights Vladimir Mayakovsky, Mikhail Bulgakov and Nikolai Gogol, who was moved here following the closure of the Danilov Monastery in the 1930s. Revolutionary director Sergei Eisenstein shares the hallowed ground alongside composers Sergei Prokofiev and Dmitry Shostakovich. Nikita Khrushchev's imposing black and white grave is another favorite. More recent incumbents include Boris Yeltsin and the gigantic opinion-dividing tricolor monument erected in his honor.
Vagankovskoye Cemetery
The expansive Vagankovskoye Cemetery was established in 1771 at the height of a plague epidemic and quickly became one of the largest sites of mass burial. Inside its vanilla walls, poet Sergei Yesenin and Soviet bard Vladimir Vysotsky share their final resting place alongside other luminaries. In the depths of Vagankovskoye Cemetery, a statue of Sonka the Golden Hand, the infamous and beloved 19th-century criminal, is a mecca for those on the wrong side of the law.
Donskoi Monastery
At just over 400 years old, Donskoi Monastery is the spot many noble and aristocratic families chose as their last. Beyond the central church you will see numerous aged stone sarcophagi, some centuries old, and further on, beautiful ornate tombstones. On the southern wall, enormous high-relief sculptures portraying biblical themes astound with their intricate detail; these were transferred here following the demolition of the original Church of Christ the Savior Cathedral by the Soviets in 1931. This cemetery is absolutely exclusive - one-time patriarch and later canonized Tikhon of Moscow rubs shoulders with recently deceased literary hero Alexander Solzhenitsyn and the architect of the Bolshoi Theater Osip Bove, as well as the noble families of Zubov and Golitsyn. Look out for the creepy grave of Darya Saltykova, an 18th century noblewoman, landowner and serial killer who is buried here.
Vvedenskoye Cemetery
Located in south-east Moscow, the Vvedenskoye or German cemetery was established in the early 1770s, incorporating an older German cemetery into its grounds. It traditionally served the Catholic and Protestant populace but since secularization in 1918 all denominations have been accepted. Vvedenskoye is home to several ornate stand-alone crypts with chapels, but most graves are typically plainer with simple crosses. Throughout history it has been the final resting place of Russian and foreign soldiers. Peter the Great's notable generals Franz Lefort and Patrick Gordon were transferred here in the 19th century. In 1889, the French government unveiled an obelisk in memory of the fallen French of the Grand Armee who died during the campaign of 1812-1814. The cemetery is known as a hangout for goths, who appreciate its romanticism.
Danilovskoye Cemetery
Yet another cemetery to owe its existence to the unfortunate 1771 plague outbreak, Danilovskoye is more jeans and trainers than its ostentatious cousins. The headstones are of a more digestible size and plain, simple crosses are much more frequent. Having said that, Danilovskoye does have its fair share of celebrity, including Soviet football legend Valery Voronin, and can claim to have been the first resting place of the Blessed Matrona Moskovskaya, before she was shipped off to sunnier climes at Pokrovsky Monastery near Taganka.
Danilovskoye Muslim Cemetery
This small and unassuming cemetery lies a stone's throw from Danilovskoye's main Orthodox graveyard and can be accessed in style via a veterinary clinic car park which lies between the two. Here the headstones are smaller and less bling than the big guns and there are fewer eerie likenesses etched into marble, replaced instead with Islamic crescent moons. Among the late Muslim greats entombed here is Makhmud Esambayev, legendary Soviet actor and dancer.
Kuntsevskoye Cemetery
This is another cemetery worth a visit, if only for the big names interred there. Here you can find Kim Philby, the notorious British-Soviet double agent and defector. There's also Nadezhda Mandelstam, who amazingly committed her husband Osip's works to memory in order to avoid a paper trail, and Leonid Gaidai, favorite Soviet comedy director.