Who carried the coffin with the body of Vysotsky. Nikita Vysotsky: “Father’s funeral was like a staged mass scene from a movie

Fashion & Style 04.09.2019

I am sure the former accountant of the Vagankovsky cemetery Irina Kretova

- the former accountant of the Vagankovsky cemetery Irina Kretova is sure

30 years have passed since the death of Vladimir Vysotsky. The bard's grave is located in one of the most prestigious places of the Vagankovsky cemetery. An amazing thing - with all the difficulties in life between the authorities and the "owner" of the grave, by some miracle he was buried in THIS place in full view of all honest people! WHO, WHAT is behind this? - our columnist Boris KUDRYAVOV found out.

In her book "Vladimir, or Interrupted Flight", Marina Vladi describes the situation with Vysotsky's grave in the following way:

“We are heading with a whole delegation to the director of the Vagankovsky cemetery. It is located a few steps from our house. Iosif Kobzon arrives. As soon as the director lets him into his office, he says: “We need a place for Vysotsky” - and hands him a pack of hundred rubles, a fortune. With a voice breaking from sobs, the director of the cemetery says:

How could you think that I would take the money? Because I loved him!

He has already prepared the best place, just in the middle of the site, at the entrance, so that people could come here to bow. This kind person I could not even imagine how well he chose the place.

The director has lost his position. Maybe the authorities did not forgive him for the scandal that had been arranged? .. "

How Kobzon quarreled with Marina Vladi

Iosif Kobzon comments on those long-standing events in the following way: “The director of the cemetery was former master sports in football ... By the way, what Marina Vlady writes about this in her "Interrupted Flight" is a lie. It happened that I reached into my pocket for money, but I didn’t even manage to get any thousands. He stopped my hand: “Don't, Iosif Davydovich! I love Vysotsky no less than you ... "

Marina Vladi was not yet in Moscow, and she writes: “We went (allegedly we are with her) to choose a place for Volodya.” She wasn't even close! When I met her, I said: "Well, aren't you ashamed?" She says, "Joseph, this is a book. A book must have readers!" I say: “Well, you can’t attract readers so shamelessly! You can't lie like that!" I quarreled with her ... "

"The bard was buried in someone else's grave!"

I managed to find the former cemetery cashier Irina Kretova. Her word:

We, the cemetery workers, knew that the place for the grave of Vysotsky was taken in a seedy corner of the cemetery. They started digging the grave there. But then, we look, almost at the very entrance, they also began to dig the ground. For whom is it unclear? Where exactly Vysotsky would be buried, it became known only before the coffin with the body was brought to the cemetery.

During the funeral itself, something unimaginable happened around the cemetery: people climbed trees, fences of graves. They were dragged out of there, stuffed into "funnel" and taken away in an unknown direction.

Yuri Boyarov paid with his place

This place, well, that is, where Vysotsky is buried, actually has a creepy story. Once there was a semi-abandoned grave. The cemetery knew about it. Then it suddenly turned out that the son of an old woman was buried in it. In 1979, this old woman left Moscow for her village, somewhere near Kaluga. And she asked the directorate of the cemetery to carry out the removal of the body. I wanted to take the remains of my son with me. The exhumation was carried out by the cemetery caretaker Yuri Boyarov. Everything happened before my eyes: the old coffin was dug, the bones were collected, transferred to a small coffin and taken away.

This freed up space. But they did not take him. Somehow, the then director managed to fence off the site from outsiders. He moved the fences from neighboring graves a little. It seems like a free place appeared, but it was almost impossible to see it. It's spacious now. But in the 1980s, things were different. It was there that Vysotsky was buried.

Vysotsky was buried for 25 rubles

Now the place for the grave is on Vagankovsky cemetery costs about one and a half million rubles. In the columbarium - 700-800 thousand rubles. But without the permission of the Moscow Council, it is still impossible to bury there.

In the 80th year, the cemetery land was actually worth a penny. I remember well: 13 rubles 50 kopecks - digging a grave, 80 kopecks - restoring the hill, 50 kopecks - making a stencil. And some other little money. That's all this together - consider, and then the grave on Vagankovsky cost. A total of 25 rubles seems to come out.

Olga Boyarova: “My husband gave a place for the grave of Vysotsky”

“Yura has been dead for a long time,” Olga, the widow of the cemetery caretaker, began a conversation with me.

They wanted to bury Vladimir Semenych in the far corner of the cemetery, almost by the garbage heap. My Yura understood well that if Vysotsky was buried in that place, then the people would trample the entire cemetery. On the other hand, he had to make a decision practically alone; the director of the cemetery, Oleg Ustinskov, was not there at that time for some reason. Whether he was on vacation, or maybe he was sick. Some person from the leadership of the Moscow City Council called and said that Vysotsky needed to be given a place in the far corner of the cemetery. My husband went there and looked. And even put the workers to dig the grave. But then I decided differently. - After all, it is the caretaker who decides on the choice of a place for the grave.

- Did your husband tell you anything about Kobzon?

Kobzon arrived then the very first and offered Yura some large amount. But this happened after a call from the Moscow City Council. Together with Kobzon was Natalya Fateeva. My husband was scared at first. Didn't take the money. Then I pestered him with questions - is the pack thick? Yura made it clear what was on the car there.

His troubles began immediately after Vysotsky's funeral. Some people from the city leadership kept pestering him with questions: “How dare you? How much were you paid?" “They thought he acted arbitrarily. Yura tried to explain that he had chosen a place for Vysotsky's grave for purely economic reasons. If he had been buried elsewhere, the cemetery would have suffered significant damage. Time has shown that the husband is right - for many years huge crowds of people went to the grave. He was openly then given to understand that he should change his place of work. He suffered terribly, worried, even fell ill. Yura died in 1998 from cancer at the age of 52.

He himself was a fan of Vysotsky - always at hand a bunch of his records, tape cassettes. So everything is lying around somewhere in the country. Together with Kobzon's visiting card.

Former director of the Vagankovsky cemetery Oleg Ustinskov: “Volodya chose a place for his grave himself!”

I found this amazing person almost by accident - the former director of one of the most prestigious cemeteries in Moscow, Oleg Moiseevich Ustinskov, lives in the far suburbs of Moscow. Thanks to this man, Vysotsky's grave is exactly where it is.

I saw Vysotsky for the first time in the early spring of 1979. I don't remember the exact month. But the snow was still there. He came with Marina Vladi to the cemetery. They sat in my office. Drank tea. I remember Volodya drew attention to the wall calendar. - He was a churchman. Although the committee members forbade us then religious attributes. “Interesting,” Vysotsky asked, “are you a believer?” “After all, you have to work next to human grief,” I answered. I immediately felt that I could talk with Volodya on any topic. His eyes were very lively. Vysotsky and Vladi were interested in the possible burial of some of their dead friends. We even went looking for a place for the grave. They also passed by the place where the grave of Vysotsky himself is now. I distinctly remember his sparkling glance in that direction.

After all, the edge has always been considered a special place in the cemetery. - Any grave in sight. Although at that time there were only fences sticking out.

After the war, there were no number of abandoned graves in the cemetery. But there was practically no free space. True, in one place a hole formed between neighboring fences. A man got through there. But in order to dig a new grave, it was necessary to slightly move a few old fences. Before, after all, as it was - since the fence is standing, it means that someone's place. It does not matter that they do not go to the grave for years.

It turns out that Vysotsky, as it were, chose a place for himself on Vagankovsky. It was where he looked that he was buried. I remember that Marina, half in jest, half in earnest, unexpectedly said that she also wanted to be buried in this cemetery. She liked it here for some reason. Since that meeting, I began to look closely at this place especially. Together with Yura Boyarov, we even came up with something.

How did you manage to get such a place - the director of the prestigious Vagankovsky cemetery ?! Probably a “hairy hand”, as they used to say in Soviet times?

- (laughs.) I got there in 1974. Worked exactly eight years. They said that getting to Vagankovskoye was the same as getting the post of minister. In fact, I was almost dragged there by force!

Do you know why? Because I didn't drink. And he didn't steal. And Vagankovskoye in our circles was considered a terrible cemetery. - Nomenclature on nomenclature! Before my arrival there, Furtseva, they say, transplanted many directors.

At first, I grabbed my head: gangsters, thieves, famous hockey players, famous football players poured into my office in droves. And all the money is shoved. They offer drinks. I have never played football myself.

Of course, I brought order there, over time. In the Moscow City Council, he became in good standing. Although the situation around is oh-ho-ho: committee members are watching, the police are pulling all the time.

Place under the bard's grave

On July 24, I left Moscow for my dacha. “Yur,” I say to Boyarov, “if there is any emergency, call me right there.” On the 25th or 26th, I don’t remember exactly, on Voice of America, I heard about Vysotsky’s death. “Yura, you yourself know where to bury Volodya. And I will come, we will figure it out, ”I called Boyarov. The place where Volodya now rests was on a special note for us.

I return to Moscow. Mitrokhin Vladimir Petrovich comes running. - A stupid, poorly educated person was. But he worked as deputy head of the Public Services Department under the Moscow City Council. What a position!

“What are you, stunned! he yelled from the doorway. - Did you think of burying this hoarse idiot in the center of the cemetery? Give it to the 60th precinct. Such an order has been received! “But how will I look people in the eyes later? All his friends have already seen this place, they approved it, ”I kick back. And I myself think, tomorrow is the funeral - what to do? And he set to dig graves in two places: where Vysotsky's last resting place is now and in the far section of the cemetery.

The funeral

On the day of the funeral, they caught up with the policemen, as if they were burying the tsar. Complete cordon of Vagankovsky. Yes, another thousand people were kept in reserve in case of unrest in Krasnopresnensky Park. A huge number of people in blue shirts - it is clear who.

Mitrokhin wouldn't let me take a step. Walked right on the heels. Believe it or not, he asked to go to the toilet. But for a while he lost sight of me. As in a detective, I climbed out through the toilet window and rushed to a group of bosses who were standing not far from the main entrance. There is only one thought in my head - what to say, where to bury? Everything was decided in a matter of minutes. The coffin was about to be brought to the cemetery.

Standing: former first secretary of the Krasnopresnensky District Party Committee Igor Borisovich Bugaev, who at that time already worked in the city party committee. It was he who was made responsible for the funeral of Vysotsky from the Moscow authorities. I see his hands are shaking. In, I think they brought a person. And he himself is all about his own: what to come up with something? Further in the retinue - the first secretary of the Krasnopresnensky district committee of the CPSU Fedor Fedorovich Kozyrev-Dal, the police chief Colonel Orzhehovsky.

And then a thought in my head - like a current flashed. I went up to the authorities and said: “There was a call from Andropov's secretariat. Bury at the place shown to Kobzon. Then Mitrokhin flies up: “And who called?” “They didn’t report to me,” I found myself. And unexpectedly Colonel Orzhehovsky came to the rescue: “That's right. And it’s easier for us to ensure order here.”

And that's all. - The deed was done. I thought like this - let them kick me out, but my conscience will be clear.

They brought the coffin. I take five gravediggers. We go to the grave. Some kind of intimidated policemen stood around. Like they didn't know what to do? And the people are rushing from all sides.

They buried Volodya. And even more people poured in. People walked all night. Flowers have been thrown!!! The grave was no longer visible. Several dump trucks then took away.

The grave of "Major Petrov"

After that first meeting with Vysotsky, I told Yura Boyarov how Volodya looked at the supposed burial place of his friend. We went there and took a good look at everything. And they decided to make a fence out of the old cemetery fences in order to close the passage to a possible place for a new burial. Let from the outside it seems that there is no possibility to bury there. We kind of intuitively saved this place for some kind of emergency.

I will not hide the fact that the grave of "Major Petrov" is also our invention with Yura Boyarov. There was a lot of noise around her afterwards. But after Volodya's death. - There were rumors that someone specially poured a grave mound in one night to annoy Vysotsky's fans. - Stupidity, of course.

We built a false grave long before Vysotsky's death. From the lantern, as they say: they themselves poured a mound, put up a sign "Film director Petrov A.S." - so that no one climbed into this free zone. Then I was Nina Maksimovna, (mother of Vladimir Vysotsky - B.K.), even asked what, they say, is this unkempt grave?

Some time after the funeral, Vysotsky comes from the Office of the "cart" - they say, what kind of mess do you have there, the grave of the famous film director in an indecent form. We were in a hurry. Heaped things, as they say, on their own head. Then talk began to circulate that Vysotsky was buried in someone else's grave. Maybe because the “grave” of “Major Petrov” was nearby? And her small mound began to regularly disappear from the face of the earth. He was simply trampled. And we restored. Later, realizing that it was useless to fight the people, I ordered this “grave” to be completely demolished. Surprisingly - but she began to revive - appeared again and again. Apparently, this was done by some compassionate people.

Dismissal for disobedience

After Vysotsky's funeral, I worked at the cemetery for two more years. I confess that because of his grave more than once I had to listen to free, even insulting raids from high party bureaucrats. Like, you buried some hoarse one, but you don’t want ours!

And someone nevertheless “dripped” on me to the security officers. Maybe Mitrokhin? Apparently, they found out that there was no call from Andropov's secretariat about the burial of Vysotsky. The frustrated manager of our trust, Mikhail Vladimirovich Popkov, comes into the office: “You are urgently fired. They called from the Moscow City Council. They hint: allegedly, through Seleznev, the head of the Public Utilities Department of the Moscow City Council, you were given the command to bury Vysotsky at the 60th precinct. And you disobeyed. It seems that someone at the top does not like that Vysotsky lies in the most prominent place with us.

But I had nothing to lose - I completed my main task in life in full - we buried Volodya where he himself wanted to lie.

Everyone who cherishes the memory of Vladimir Vysotsky, except for the black date of July 25, remembers another day - July 28.

Farewell day, funeral day.
It became not only a day of great sorrow, but also a great unity of a great multitude of people. And they will never forget this day. We remember today the day of July 28, 1980.

On the day of the funeral, the departed are silent.

"Hamlet". Warsaw, 28 May 1980

Therefore, today there will be the first Chapter in our cycle in which the voice of Vladimir Vysotsky will not sound.

On the day of the funeral, others speak. And you will hear the words spoken at the memorial service at the Taganka Theatre. Until now, this record in such a volume has not been heard anywhere.

Vladimir Vysotsky died on the night of Friday 25 July.
It happened between three and half-past five in the morning - no one knows the exact time. Therefore, in fact, the last day of the life of Vladimir Vysotsky was July 24.

In the apartment on Malaya Gruzinskaya at that moment were Vysotsky's girlfriend Oksana Afanasyeva and doctor Anatoly Fedotov.
The heaviest last days, when the agony actually began, completely exhausted them. Both fell asleep. Until the end of his life, Fedotov will never forgive himself for sleeping through that fateful moment.

Already in the early morning, almost all of his friends and comrades in the theater will know about the death of Volodya.

Valery Yanklovich, Vadim Tumanov, Vsevolod Abdulov, Igor Godyaev.
Malaya Gruzinskaya, 28. Vysotsky's apartment. July 25, 1980 Photo by Valery Nisanov

Vsevolod Abdulov will call Marina Vladi in Paris.
International communications were then carried out by telephone operators. This is also why, a few hours after the call to Paris, almost all of Moscow will know about Vysotsky's death. And by the evening - and almost the whole country.

On the very first day, people will hear transmissions, dedicated to memory Vysotsky, according to Western radio voices:

Soviet television and radio will never say a word about Vysotsky's death.
Only two dry obituaries will appear in Vechernyaya Moskva on July 26 and Sovietskaya Kultura. "Vecherka" also printed a short note called "On the Last Journey" signed by the editor Semyon Indursky.

Then a version took root that Indursky was immediately fired for such free-thinking.
It is not true. Indursky directed Evening Moscow for several more years.

The three days between death and burial are full of continuous movement.
There are always a lot of people in Vysotsky's apartment. The most diverse and most important issues are being addressed.

Artur Makarov, Igor Godyaev, Vadim Tumanov, Alexander Podbolotov, Stanislav Govorukhin, Valery Yanklovich, Anatoly Fedotov. Photo by Valery Nisanov

And all three days the body of Vladimir Semyonovich will be in the house.
They won't send him to the hospital or the morgue. There will be no opening. This was the unanimous decision of the family and loved ones. Medical details, taking into account the well-known addictions of the deceased, could lead to an unnecessary scandal. The famous resuscitator Leonid Sulpovar sends a team, and the doctors embalm the body right here before the funeral.

At the same time, it is necessary to settle the most ordinary formalities - for example, to obtain a death certificate.
We need to organize a place in the cemetery. This mission is undertaken by Iosif Kobzon. Together with Vsevolod Abdulov, they go to the Vagankovsky cemetery. The director will offer the best plot near the entrance and flatly refuse money when Kobzon hands him a pack of banknotes.

Vagankovo, July 28, 1980. Photo by Anatoly Savin

In Vysotsky's apartment, his archive will be collected, which will then be transferred to David Borovsky.
Two suitcases of manuscripts.

They will take a typewriter from the neighbors and reprint from a piece of paper the very poem that was considered Vysotsky's last poem - "And ice from below, and from above ...".

Autograph of the poem "And from below the ice, and from above ..."

Yuri Lyubimov, meanwhile, is at war with his superiors.
The authorities want the funeral to be as quiet as possible, in family circle, but at the same time quickly and "businesslike". Lyubimov flatly refuses and declares that his friends will bury Vladimir, and the coffin will stand on the stage of the theater. Otherwise, the authorities will have to remove Lyubimov himself:

Yuri Lyubimov, Mikhail Ulyanov, Nikolai Dupak, Igor Petrov, Grigory Chukhrai. Photo by Alexander Sternin

On the afternoon of July 25, an obituary will appear in front of the theater building, which at first few people will pay attention to.

But as soon as they notice him, people will begin to gather at the doors of the Taganka.
Many of them will stand at the entrance to the theater all three days. In fact, it will be a spontaneous rally of grief. People carry flowers, light candles, read Vysotsky's poems and those that were already written in memory of him.

At the same time, Taganka, despite the mourning, continues to work.
On the evening of the 25th, there is a performance of "Ten Days That Shook the World." At the request of Lyubimov, the auditorium rises for a moment of silence. Valery Zolotukhin does not hold back tears on the very first song after the words "Do not whine about me, for God's sake ...".

Photo by Anatoly Savin

Actors do not understand what and why they are playing, and the audience practically does not react to what is happening on stage.
But the state theater had no right to cancel the performance.

Surprisingly, there will also be a performance in the evening on the day of the funeral!
And only at midnight in the old building of the Theater the troupe will arrange a commemoration.

These days, only Hamlet on July 27 will be cancelled.
Not a single spectator will hand over his ticket to the box office.

On July 26, at the request of Marina Vladi, the sculptor and artist Yuri Vasiliev arrives.
At 2:10 p.m., he will remove the death mask and a cast of his left hand. In total, three masks will be made from an alloy of bronze and silver. For Marina, for the family and for the Taganka Theatre.

Taganka administrator Dmitry Gelfond had to fulfill another mission - to order a coffin.
Then there were rumors in Moscow that Vysotsky was buried in a crystal coffin. In fact, the coffin was really unusual - "product number 6". In the planned Soviet economy, this was the designation of coffins for members of the Politburo. “Vysotsky is our man, any Politburo will envy,” said the craftsmen and made a beautiful coffin of pine, upholstered in white crepe de chine.

Speech at the funeral service of Grigory Chukhrai:

Grigory Chukhrai, Oleg Kazancheev, Mikhail Ulyanov, Nikita Mikhalkov, Pyotr Leonov, Nikolay Dupak. Photo by Alexander Sternin

July 27 is the last day before farewell.
But in fact, farewell goes on continuously. Dozens of people who knew him come to Vysotsky's apartment. Marina Vlady meets everyone. Here are the parents.

Vysotsky's friend from the time of the Bolshoi Karetny Artur Makarov turns into a kind of dispatcher, trying to somehow organize everything that happens.

Malaya Gruzinskaya, 28
Boris Khmelnitsky, Artur Makarov, Anatoly Fedotov and others.

In addition, it was necessary, alas, to solve purely domestic issues.
With considerable debts of the deceased, with a dacha, with an apartment. The issue with the apartment was the most delicate. It could not be inherited in the Soviet Union. But friends will write a letter from Marina Vlady addressed to Brezhnev, and this will resolve the situation. Brezhnev himself never received the letter, but among his assistants were people who appreciated Vysotsky. Later, my mother, Nina Maksimovna, will live in the apartment.

On July 27, Lyudmila Abramova, the second wife of Vladimir Semenovich, also comes to Malaya Gruzinskaya.
It is on July 27 that they will meet for the first time with Marina Vlady and then they will stand next to each other at a memorial service.

Yuri Lyubimov, Lyudmila Abramova, Marina Vladi. July 28, 1980 Photo by Alexander Sternin

And here comes July 28th.
Monday. At three o'clock in the morning, a memorial service is held right in the house. Parents, two sons, both spouses, closest friends and housemates. At four in the morning, the body of Vladimir Vysotsky was brought to Taganka.

At dawn, a live rooster will crow, which lived in the theater and really screamed in Hamlet in the same way.
There are no police in the theater. Lyubimov asks Aleksey Shturmin for help, and the guys from his karate school will keep the building in order all day.

And there will be thousands of policemen outside.

In the midst of the Olympics, the authorities had to shoot people in uniform from everywhere.
Taganskaya Square and adjacent streets were blocked off with metal barriers, lanes were blocked off with trucks filled with sand, and the metro station near the Theater was eventually closed altogether. There was also a funeral headquarters headed by General Borisov.

On the one hand, these measures looked intimidating.
On the other hand, they also had a practical meaning. What happened that day had no analogues either before or after - unless, of course, you count Stalin's funeral. Despite the absence of official reports and the almost complete silence on the fact of the death of Vladimir Vysotsky, thousands, thousands and thousands came to say goodbye to him that day.

Photo by Igor Gavrilov

And not only Muscovites.
People were coming from all over the country! From Vladivostok, from Kaliningrad, where his last tour took place, from the Caucasus, from the Far North.

Vysotsky was buried not just by Moscow, but by the entire Union.
The queue stretched for nine kilometers and ended behind the Rossiya Hotel, that is, almost at the Kremlin. There are no exact numbers, of course. According to the police, 108 thousand people came to say goodbye to Vladimir Semenovich, but these figures were clearly underestimated: some are sure that there were three or four times more people!

Photo by Igor Gavrilov

Photo by Alexander Sternin

Even before the opening of the metro, a lot of people will gather near the theater, and in a couple of hours this human flow will turn into an ocean.
The day will be very hot and stuffy. Many will stand in this heat without water, almost without movement, in dense rows, where it is difficult even to move, for eight hours!

Photo by Igor Gavrilov

But tens of thousands of people will show incredible dignity and discipline on this day.
There will always be drunk, crazy, hooligans in the crowd. There are always some conflicts. There was nothing like this on July 28, except for some episodes when the behavior of the police seemed outrageous to people.

Photo by Pavel Sukharev

But even the police still behave differently these days.
On the afternoon of July 25, one of Vysotsky's friends was stopped by a traffic cop on Gorky Street, and the policeman learned terrible news from him. He immediately passed it on the radio, and it was clear that all the guards of the present Tverskaya took off their caps in turn. “What are we, not people,” the policeman will say indignantly, to whom Valery Yanklovich will present a photo with Vysotsky's autograph on the day of the funeral, and the people around will make an unhappy noise.

Delegations from all Moscow theaters will come to the Taganka Theater to say goodbye.
Yuri Lyubimov categorically refuses to give the floor to officials and does not allow them to interfere in any way with the course of the mourning ceremony. But the people, patiently waiting at the door, will only be let in at a quarter to twelve. Then it will become clear that only those who arrived no later than nine in the morning will be able to pass by the coffin.

Photo by Pavel Sukharev

On this day, many people have tape recorders with them - and Vysotsky's voice sounds from hundreds of speakers.
Many have umbrellas in their hands. But people do not cover themselves from the heat, but bouquets of flowers.

Photo by Alexander Zabrin

At some point, after standing for several hours and making almost no progress, the citizens will simply pass the flowers forward from hand to hand.
They will also be given to artists passing by, who were allowed in from a separate entrance.

Yakov Bezrodny, Andrey Mironov. July 28, 1980
Photo by Alexander Sternin

But many famous people just stood in an endless line on a par with everyone else.
Arthur Makarov, having driven all these nine kilometers in a car, suddenly, somewhere in the middle of the human stream, he saw cosmonaut Georgy Grechko.

In the theater itself, every seat in the hall, on the balconies, in the aisles is occupied.
Black walls, black drapery, on the stage stands a coffin snatched by bright light ...
A curtain from Hamlet, a large portrait from which Vladimir Semyonovich looks at everyone both piercingly and sternly at the same time, but at the same time with some kind of formidable grin.

Tbilisi, September 21, 1979. Photo by Alexander Saakov

A mournful classic sounds, a musical theme from Hamlet and the final monologue from the play: “What does a person mean when his cherished desires are food and sleep? Animal, and all ... ".

Nikita Mikhalkov, Mikhail Ulyanov, Nikolai Dupak, Pyotr Leonov. Photo by Alexander Sternin

The sun is at its zenith, those who come quickly pass through the hall to give the rest the opportunity to say goodbye, but the people arrive much faster.
People climb on the roofs of houses, a department store, climb onto kiosks, look from all the windows of the surrounding houses.

Photo by Igor Gavrilov

But along with a sense of great grief and personal irreparable loss, they feel some incredible civic uplift.
Someone will aptly later call it a "farewell holiday." Hundreds of thousands came to Vysotsky not according to the order, to an unannounced, unannounced action. They felt their unity, and their Vysotsky was with them.

Meanwhile, officials are increasingly insistent in demanding the completion of the ceremony.
But for the time being, they are yielding to Nina Maksimovna's requests to extend the farewell. However, the authorities are afraid that the situation will get out of control. In the end, Yuri Lyubimov asks that the coffin with the body of Vysotsky be simply transported along the entire line, and people could at least pay tribute and bow to Vladimir Semenovich.

Access to the hall is closed, and a civil memorial service begins, the speeches at which you heard today.
FROM last word Yuri Petrovich Lyubimov again approached the microphone:

The coffin will be carried out to applause - and dozens of bouquets will immediately fly under the feet of Vysotsky's comrades carrying the body.

He will be loaded into a regular funeral bus.
And the column will move to the Vagankovsky cemetery. And then it becomes clear that the authorities deceived Lyubimov.

The column will not be sent past the citizens who are still hoping to say goodbye to Vysotsky, but along a completely different route.
But the buses move slowly at first.

Photo by Pavel Sukharev

People, breaking through the cordon, rush forward and throw flowers at the column.
Which rides like a flower field. They say that on this day in Moscow they bought up all the flowers in general. People throw flowers under the wheels, and then they start running after the buses. Some do not lag behind almost a kilometer!

Photo by Pavel Sukharev

“I saw how princes and kings were buried - I couldn’t imagine anything like that,” Marina Vlady will say at that moment.
And Yuri Trifonov, still looking at everything that happens from Lyubimov's office, will utter another phrase: "How to die after Vysotsky? ..".

The column had already been at Vagankovo for a long time, and the people were all standing at the theater, where a stampede had almost begun, until a police officer came out to them and said that "the farewell was canceled at the request of relatives."
There is also a crowd here in the morning. Some people still make their way to the closed cemetery.

Photo by Alexander Zabrin

Five o'clock, but still very hot.
Around the grave, only family and closest friends, but it's still dozens of people.

Nina Maksimovna Vysotskaya, Lyudmila Abramova, Semyon Vladimirovich Vysotsky, Evgenia Stepanovna Likholatova.
Photo by Alexander Zabrin

Grigory Gorin, Igor Kvasha. Vagankovo, July 28, 1980

Now there will be no more speeches.
Only the director of the Taganka Theater Nikolai Lukyanovich Dupak will say a few words. Relatives take turns saying goodbye. Marina Vladi throws a white rose into the grave. The grave was dug very deep. The gravediggers said: let it be better preserved.

Then one and a half hundred people will gather in Vysotsky's house for a wake.
Taganka will play an evening performance, and at midnight the stage comrades will commemorate their friend and will sit until the theater is de-energized by order of the police, but having overdone it, they will leave the entire area without electricity.

I thank Alexander Kovanovsky, Igor Rakhmanov, Oleg Vasin, Alexander Petrakov, Vladimir Kara-Murza, Valery and Vladimir Basin, Sergey Alekseev, Alexei Denisov, Natalya Vishnevskaya, Nikolai Isaev, Vladimir Chetyrkin and the entire Creative Association for their help in preparing this program " Angle."

It was through the efforts of "Rakurs" and, above all, Kovanovskiy and Rakhmanov, that in 2010 a film was created in Russia - the first documentary film, in its entirety dedicated to the Day farewell to Vysotsky.
In this film, for the first time, viewers had the opportunity to see virtually the entire surviving documentary chronicle that captured the events of that day - July 28, 1980.

Documentary film “Vladimir Vysotsky. "I'll leave this summer..." (full version)

Most of the filming was carried out by foreign film companies.
Director Pyotr Soldatenkov managed to make unique shots at Taganka and Vagankovo. Just a few seconds of shooting were made at the Vagankovsky cemetery by the operators of the Central Studio documentaries. There was not a single film crew of the Central Television of the USSR at parting with Vladimir Vysotsky. All teams were busy filming the Olympics.

When preparing the program used:
- photographs from the archives of Sergei Alekseev, Igor Danilov, Alexei Denisov, Oleg Vasin and the Racurs Creative Association;
– phonograms from the archives of Alexander Petrakov and Valery Basin;
- Vitaly Titarenko, "Farewell, Vysotsky";
- Valery Perevozchikov, "The Truth of the Hour of Death";
- Mikhail Kazakov, "They all came";
- Essay from the newspaper "Rural Youth", 1988. The author wished to remain anonymous.

Our dear sponsors, friends and everyone who follows the One Vysotsky project!
We haven't seen each other for a long time and decided to make ourselves known so that you don't feel like "deceived interest-holders".

First of all, we would like to apologize for the fact that we cannot yet enthusiastically congratulate you and ourselves on the fact that everything is ready and the project has been successfully completed.
We apologize and ask for a little more patience.

Nearly all of us have done renovations at one time or another.
You know how it happens: the goal is determined, the scope of work is outlined, it is pretended to be what materials will be needed, workers are looking for. Then we define two main things: time and budget. It seems that everything is thought out and there should be no surprises. And then ... Which of us, making repairs, met these deadlines and this budget? Almost nobody. Because repair is not something we do all the time and there are a million surprises along the way.

Our project is like a renovation.
Only we started such a thing that no one has done before! And reality corrected our plans - at some points very significantly!

"One Vysotsky". Chapter 3 layout

The project turned out to be more expensive than we expected.
Significantly more expensive. Plus, at some point, the ruble fell. And almost all typographic "components" are entirely imported. Plus, due to the great interest in the project, we gladly had to increase the circulation by one and a half times! And along the way, a lot of nuances appeared that we didn’t even suspect about when starting all this - for example, that the number of pages in the book would also have to be increased.

But now we can say for sure that we absolutely had enough money to carry out the publication.
Here you can be calm, as we are calm now.

"One Vysotsky". Chapter 12 layout

But over time and deadlines, we did a great job.
For which we offer our deepest apologies. We were too optimistic. In addition, according to the old Soviet tradition, they tried to time the release of the publication to a certain date - the Day of Remembrance of Vladimir Vysotsky.

But the priority of the project is still not speed, but quality!
Better we will do everything a little later, but neither you nor we will have anything to complain about. “We do not write on tape recorders, but for centuries,” sorry for the pathos.

Believe now, in the midst summer holidays, none of our team is resting.
And some are now working 7x24.

"One Vysotsky". Chapter 22 layout

And we knock on wood three times, designating new approximate dates for the implementation of this entire plan.
We would very much like - and we are "struggling with all our strength, with all our tendons" - to complete all preparations for printing by the beginning of August. Let's lay down with bones, like the Russian national football team. If everything works out, then Odin Vysotsky will be out of print by the beginning of autumn.

But until that moment we will definitely get in touch and in general we will try to do it more often!

So once again, please accept our apologies and be patient a little longer!

Anton Orekh and the Creative Association "Rakurs"

"One Vysotsky". Chapter 72 layout

July 28, 1980

25.07.1980 On July 25, 1980, one of the most famous actors of the Taganka Theater died. Vladimir Vysotsky. But fame and fame brought him not his role in the theater, but his songs.

Ironically, the birth of the great bard and the date of death coincide. On January 25, Vladimir Vysotsky celebrated his birthday and exactly six months later (July 25), the heart of the 42-year-old artist could not stand it. Ambulance arrived at the artist's house too late. At this time, the medical staff insured the health of the Olympians, the well-being of the bard was not seriously worried.

Vladimir Vysotsky died during the XX summer Olympic Games in Moscow in 1980. There were almost no reports of death anywhere, but almost all of Moscow gathered near the building of the Taganka Theater, including the roofs of the surrounding houses.

Three days later, the last farewell to the body took place in the building of the native theater and Vladimir Vysotsky was buried at the Vagankovsky cemetery, where There was also a huge crowd of people.

What we see in the photo is the line to the grave of the national actor, poet and singer. The length of this line is more than ten kilometers, and this does not speak of the awards of this person, but of the greatest people's love. (by the way, the length of this line got into the book of records).

Unique footage of the funeral of Vladimir Vysotsky. July 28, 1980 All Soviet operators work at the Olympics. Only Italians and Austrians found free cameras.

Funeral of V.S. Vysotsky, 07/28/1980

From June 18 to June 22, 1980, Vysotsky's last tour took place in Kaliningrad. Moreover, the artist went to one of the performances without a guitar, having lost his voice - instead of songs, he told the audience about his roles in theater and cinema, answered questions from the audience and even read out the Hamlet monologue "To be or not to be?".

On July 16, Vysotsky gave his last solo concert, which he completed with the composition "I don't love." The theme of that evening in the Moscow region was the poet's youth, his friends, childhood and the Bolshoi Karetny.

On July 18, Vysotsky was last seen on the stage of the Taganka Theater in one of his main roles - Hamlet. Rumor has it that the artist with great difficulty finished playing that performance to the end, but he was still magnificent, not allowing himself "a single extra grimace."

On July 23, Vysotsky's condition deteriorated sharply. The best resuscitators of the capital gathered in his house on Malaya Gruzinskaya, including those who were constantly next to him in recent months. After much debate, it was decided that on the 25th the poet would be transferred to the hospital, where his treatment would continue.

On the night of July 25, Vladimir Semenovich died. The official version is acute cardiovascular insufficiency. Among the unofficial ones are the direct consequences of alcohol dependence and drug use. His relatives did not allow an autopsy of the artist's body.

In those days, the 1980 Summer Olympics, the country's first sporting event of this magnitude, was in full swing in Moscow, so, given the complex relationship between Vysotsky and the nomenklatura, the expected decision to keep silent about the death of the all-Union idol was made by the “tops”. It's no joke, but only two (!) Newspapers wrote about the tragedy - and "Soviet Culture" (according to other versions -), and this obituary cost the editor-in-chief of "Vecherka" his position.

There was also a short announcement at the box office of the theater “Vladimir Vysotsky has died”, which announced that Hamlet, scheduled for the 27th, had been cancelled. Tickets as a sign of memory and respect for the artist, which is noteworthy, almost no one passed.

Despite the circumstances, the news of the death of Vladimir Semenovich in a matter of moments spread around both the capital and the whole country. For four days - from the moment Vysotsky left until his funeral - an uncountable crowd of mourning citizens was on duty near the Taganka Theater, wishing to see the poet on his last journey.

The farewell was scheduled for July 28, and no one called anyone to it - people, spitting on possible incidents with the police, came on their own, because they could not do otherwise. According to official figures, more than 100 thousand people came to the Taganka to say goodbye to the bard that day, and the line moving to the entrance to the theater, according to eyewitnesses, reached nine kilometers.

As expected, all the forces of law and order free from the Olympics were drawn to the event, but there was no need for this - no one thought to violate the general grief and organize outrages. Only once did the crowd become truly indignant: when watering machines began to wash away flowers from the sidewalks, which Muscovites, having devastated all the shops, brought to the funeral service. And even then, the matter did not go further than insults to public utilities.

Vysotsky's son Nikita, who at the time of his father's death was only 16 years old, later remembered that "the entire funeral column was driving through the flowers, as if someone had directed this scene, like in a movie," and the director, for whom Vladimir Semenovich was not just an actor and colleague, but also a truly close person, told that people, despite the terrible heat, hid not themselves from the sun, but bouquets, so that they would not wither.

At the same time, the shooting of farewell to the artist was carried out mainly either by amateurs or representatives of foreign TV channels - Soviet cameramen were forced not to be distracted from the Olympic Games.

Great difficulties also arose regarding the burial place of Vysotsky.

Initially, they wanted to bury him in Novodevichy cemetery, however, the authorities refused. As a result, it was decided to bury Vladimir Semenovich on Vagankovsky, which he managed to achieve personally through the Moscow City Council. Moreover, two graves were dug for Vysotsky - right at the entrance to the cemetery, where he was eventually buried, and on the very edge of Vagankovsky, in the most inconspicuous place.

It is believed that for a grave more acceptable for the status of a poet, Kobzon was even ready to pay a considerable amount to the cemetery workers. However, they did not take the money, saying that "they loved Vysotsky no less than you." Later, for such a “liberty”, Vagankovsky’s employees were fired - the “tops” did not forgive them for their disobedience in the matter of burying “that hoarse” freethinker in the most visible place.

The cemetery was not physically ready to receive the entire flow of people who had moved from the Taganka Theater, as a result of which all sorts of tricks went into action: to create additional space, those who came climbed onto the fences of the graves and even trees. And the artist’s burial place itself soon literally drowned in flowers - they were then taken out by several dump trucks.

According to legend, Vysotsky looked after his own grave more than a year before his death. According to the then director of the cemetery, Oleg Ustinskov, the songwriter came to Vagankovskoye in the early spring of 1979, allegedly to look for a place for a deceased friend.

“We even went looking for a place for the grave. They also passed by the place where the grave of Vysotsky himself is now. I distinctly remember his sparkling glance in that direction, - Ustinskov said in interview"". - It turns out that Vysotsky, as it were, chose a place for himself on Vagankovsky. It was exactly where he looked that he was buried.”

: “All the flowers were sold out. We went with Lydia Postnikova (deputy director of Sovremennik) to the flower shop on Chernyshevsky - also empty, only daisies. They took everything they had. They approached the coffin without hindrance, the police saluted us"

Vladimir Vysotsky died on July 25, 1980, during the Summer Olympic Games in Moscow. July 28, 1980 Vladimir Semyonovich was buried at the Vagankovsky cemetery.

Officially, the death of Vladimir Vysotsky was announced by a tiny note in a black frame in the newspaper Vechernyaya Moskva, which said that the artist of the Taganka Theater, Honored Artist of the RSFSR such and such, had died. But even this note was managed by the management of the Taganka Theater with great difficulty. The authorities did want to hush up the death of the idol of millions.

But Moscow learned the sad news without any notes on the morning of July 25, 1980 (Vysotsky died at night), and people began to come to the iconic theatrical entrance of Taganka with flowers. Flowers were silently placed directly on the pavement, and soon it was all covered with them, like a carpet. Moscow did not know such a tradition before, it was formed precisely in these days.

July 28, 1980 Parting.