Vvedenskoye Cemetery (the German Cemetery)

Historically the Catholic and Lutheran cemetery of Moscow

Founded 1771 · about 20 hectares · Nalichnaya Ulitsa 1, Lefortovo district, eastern Moscow

How to get there: Metro Aviamotornaya or Baumanskaya, then a short walk or bus

Vvedenskoye is still called the German Cemetery in Moscow, and for good reason: from 1771 it was the burial ground of the city’s foreign, non-Orthodox population — Germans, French, Italians, Swiss, Poles — the doctors, engineers, merchants and factory owners of the Nemetskaya Sloboda and Lefortovo.

That makes it the cemetery of first interest to European families researching an ancestor who lived and died in Russia. Inscriptions are in German, French, Polish, Latin and Russian, often on the same monument, and the chapels and family vaults have no equivalent elsewhere in Moscow.

It holds the grave of Doctor Friedrich Joseph Haass, the «holy doctor of Moscow», and a memorial to the French pilots of the Normandie-Niemen squadron.

What grave care at Vvedenskoye actually involves

Much of the stone here is 19th-century limestone, sandstone and white marble, with cast-iron crosses and railings. All of it is fragile, and several monuments are formally protected. Cleaning is done by hand, with neutral products, and we do not touch anything structural without written confirmation from the administration.

The cemetery is densely planted and permanently damp — ideal conditions for moss, lichen and ivy. Ivy is the one that does real harm: its roots open the joints of a vault and lift kerbs. Removing it is careful, slow work, not a single afternoon.

For families abroad we photograph inscriptions in full, including the parts in German, French or Polish, at high resolution — for many people that photograph is the actual object of the order, not the cleaning.

Services and prices at Vvedenskoye

Grave search by name — from ₽1,500 (about $17). Needed whenever the plot number has been lost.
Standard clean-up — litter and old wreaths removed, weeding and grass cutting, headstone and fence washed, mound levelled. From ₽3,000 (about $34).
Headstone cleaning — from ₽4,500 (about $50), gentle products only.
Seasonal package — four scheduled visits a year with a photo report after each, ₽17,000 (about $135).
Engraving — adding a name and dates to an existing monument, or restoring worn lettering. Layout sent for your approval before anything is cut.
Monuments and granite complexes — a new headstone, plinth, kerb and paving, or resetting a monument that has started to lean. Quoted after we measure and photograph the plot.

Every order ends with a dated before/after photo report including the GPS position of the plot, and you pay after you receive it. Full price list — services & prices.

Questions we are asked about Vvedenskoye

We are looking for a German ancestor buried in Moscow before 1917. Can you help?

Vvedenskoye is the first place to look, and we can search the cemetery records and walk the relevant sections. Be prepared for the possibility that the monument no longer exists — many did not survive the Soviet period. We tell you what is actually there.

Can you send high-resolution photographs of the inscription?

Yes, that is a standard part of every order, and at Vvedenskoye we photograph the full monument and each face of the inscription separately.

Can a family vault be restored?

Sometimes, with the administration’s approval, and it is specialist work. We assess it, photograph it and give you an honest answer about what is possible and what is not.

Order care at Vvedenskoye from anywhere

Write to us with the full name of the person buried and, if you have it, the section and plot number. If you do not have it, say so — locating the grave is a normal part of the job. We agree a payment method that works for your country when the order is confirmed, including payment through relatives in Russia, and payment is due after the photo report.

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