The Burial Mound Cemetery in Tobolsk is the oldest in the city. Here lie the Decembrists A. M. Muravyov, S. G. Krasnokutsky, V. K. Kyukhelbeker, and others, as well as the famous storyteller Pyotr Pavlovich Yershov.

The name of the cemetery is related to its location behind an earthen rampart, which was built in the late 17th century and served as the northern boundary of the city for a long time. Initially, the stress in the word "Zavalnoye" was placed on the first syllable, but by the end of the 20th century, this meaning was forgotten, and the stress shifted to the second syllable, as the townspeople began to associate the name with the word "zavalivat" meaning "to bury."

The cemetery appeared in the mid-18th century, and soon a wooden church in honor of the Seven Youths of Ephesus was built on its territory. In 1776, with funds from Governor D. I. Chicherin, surveyor A. Abarin replaced it with a stone temple.

For a long time, this was the only Christian cemetery in the city, where representatives of different confessions were buried, including the Lutheran V. K. Kyukhelbeker. In 1872, the cemetery was divided into sections marked by posts, which quickly fell into disrepair. This was done for the convenience of collecting fees for burial plots: the closer to the church, the more expensive, but the poor were buried for free. In 1881, a two-story wooden house for church servants was built at the cemetery.

By the end of the 19th century, the condition of the cemetery raised concerns. In 1882, the "Tobolsk Diocesan Gazette" reported on half-destroyed monuments, uprooted flowers, dirt, and snowdrifts. During the revolutionary years, the situation worsened; details of the monuments of Decembrists A. M. Muravyov and F. B. Wolf were stolen and deformed. Although in 1926 most of the monuments to the Decembrists were restored, the destruction of other graves continued, and in the 1930s, almost all cast-iron gravestones were sent for melting.

In addition to the Church of the Seven Youths of Ephesus, which is an architectural monument, the cemetery contains 13 cultural heritage sites. Three of them are monuments of regional historical significance: the graves of educator I. P. Mendeleev, Siberian researcher A. A. Dunin-Gorkavich, and artist M. S. Znamensky. The other ten are federal significance monuments, including the graves of Decembrists A. P. Baryatinsky, F. M. Bashmakov, F. B. Wolf, S. G. Krasnokutsky, V. K. Kyukhelbeker, A. M. Muravyov, S. M. Semyonov, poet P. A. Graboisky, writer P. P. Yershov, and Siberian historian P. A. Slovtsov. Also buried here are economist P. Kh. Pribylsky and his son, historian Y. P. Pribylsky, an honorary citizen of Tobolsk.