One of the most memorable tombstones at Vvedenskoe Cemetery is the tomb of the Vogau family. It was located on a large rectangular plot. On one side was a crypt, the end of which was designed like a ruined ancient temple portal. On the roughly hewn steps stood a bronze figure of Christ, pointing to the figure of the blessed one, who with an expression of suffering gazed at the Savior. This composition was created by the famous Florentine sculptor R. Romanelli, and was named "The Blessed at the Feet of Christ." The people of Moscow greatly revered the sculpture of Christ. Christians of different denominations collected water from his right hand and the folds of his clothing, considering it healing. People often took photos with this figure. However, those posing often obscured the figure of the blessed one, whom the Muscovites called "the ugly one." Therefore, in postcards, this figure is often hidden by those posing.
The crypt was surrounded by an ancient fence with decorative guardians of ashes. After 1917, the figure of the blessed one disappeared, and the figure of Christ was moved to the Archaeological Cabinet of the Moscow Spiritual Academy in Sergiev Posad, where it has been preserved to this day.
The crypt was built after 1866, around the 1890s, when Emilia Maximovna Banza (née von Vogau) was buried here. Her widowed husband, the well-known benefactor of the Moscow German community, Konrad Banza, married her sister Emma. Both adopted Emilia's son from her first marriage, Rudolf Herman. In memory of his wife, sister, and mother, Banza and Herman supported beds in the Evangelical hospital and shelters in Moscow, as well as organized free meals for the needy.
During the Soviet era, the Vogau tomb, like many other tombstones, suffered greatly. For over 80 years, the cemetery has been a citywide one, but tombstones with foreign inscriptions still give it a special character.
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