In the 1960s, when a heating main was being laid on Bolshaya Semenovskaya Street, workers stumbled upon coffins, bones, and skeletons in military uniforms. Some of them were adorned with St. George's crosses. Thus ended the destruction of one of the oldest cemeteries in Moscow, Semenovskoye. This necropolis had been forming for almost three centuries. The oldest burial discovered by Moscow local historians in the early 20th century dated back to 1641. In the early 18th century, during the Northern War, the cemetery became military. There is a version that it was named after the Semenovsky regiment. Here, in the Sokolnaya Gora area, defenders of the Motherland found their rest. Over time, mass burials appeared. The Moscow military hospital during World War I treated 376,000 wounded, and even with a low mortality rate, this meant thousands of deceased who were buried here. Local authorities covered the burial expenses, and soldiers were sent off on their final journey with mourning music, in respect for the fallen. Later, in the Sokol metro area, at the initiative of Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna Romanova, a section of the necropolis called the Brothers' Grave was created, where burials continued even during the Civil War. However, everything changed in the 1940s. The cemetery site was decided to be used for the construction of the Salute factory, and the burial ground began to be destroyed. The remains of soldiers were taken away in an unknown direction. Sometimes, among the graves, gold coins, orders, icons, and family jewelry were found. In 1966, the old cemetery effectively ceased to exist.