Troyekurovskoye cemetery

Troyekurovo Cemetery in western Moscow was laid out in 1962 as an overflow site for the overcrowded Novodevichy Cemetery and is still administered as its branch. Once Novodevichy was effectively closed in the 1960s, Troyekurovo took on the role of the Soviet Union's second cemetery of honour: scientists, cosmonauts, generals, composers and later prominent figures of the Putin era were buried here. The grounds are laid out on a strict grid, and the headstones run the full stylistic range from sober Soviet granite to lavish bronze portraits of the 2000s. Today it offers a quiet, birch-lined necropolis well off the usual tourist circuit.