§ Return to Russia
N. P. Rezanov left America in July, 1806. A way of Russian travelers rescued by the “Juno” from famine went from Novoarkhangelsk to Okhotsk with a succession of unpleasant adventures. They reached Okhotsk in October. The prudence required staying there because of the autumn impassability of roads, but Rezanov didn’t want to listen to anybody. They departed on horses. The frosts and snow were on their way, Rezanov caught a cold in Yakutsk and was treated during ten days there. Being very ill and extremely weak he arrived in Irkutsk.
“Patriotism has made me exhaust all my forces, — he wrote in his farewell letter, with the hope that people would understand and appreciate him properly; — I floated over the seas, as a duck; suffered from famine, cold, insult and most of all from heart wounds”.
Having recovered a little in Irkutsk, in spite of friends` and doctors` persuasions, Rezanov ordered his convoy to gallop further. On February, 26 on the way to Krasnoyarsk Rezanov unexpectedly fell unconscious off the horse . The cossack cought him up on the saddle and galloped to Krasnoyarsk further. Two weeks of the wintry roads on the horse intensified the consumption, and what is more, the fall from the horse exhausted Nickolay Petrovich completely. His life was going away very quickly. Coming to himself at the moments, on the 1st of March in 1807 N. P. Rezanov died at the age of 42 in Krasnoyarsk. In the memory book of the Resurrection cathedral there is written down: “Confessed and joined. Buried near the cathedral church”.
In I. F. Parfentyev`s memories there is such a legend about Rezanov: …he died in Rodukov`s house which is still situated (in 1891) in this place. Painters had been drawing his portraits for St. Petersburg for 2 weeks and though he hadn’t been buried for such a long time the deceased`s body hadn`t given itself to decomposition, he had been lying like alive. And one more legend: At the end of 20-s a God-obedient old woman, a baker, Anna Vasilyevna Rachkovskaya living in a cathedral wing, repeatedly saw and said about the candle burning on the top of the monument. It proved, according to the old residents’ evidence the deceased’s sinless life. There are no proofs that the reason of the burial`s delay of Rezanov`s body was painters’ quicklessness or zeal. The problem was that the local authorities had been waiting for the instructions from official Petersburg.
N. P. Rezanov was buried in the yard of the Resurrection cathedral near the place called Strelka in Krasnoyarsk. The Russian-American company granted 100 thousand roubles for erecting a tombstone on Rezanov’s grave. There was a cast-iron round plate fringed with laurels with a molded inscription,
“In the year 1831 August 16th this tombstone is erected by Russian-American Company in commemoration of the unforgettable services having done by the chamberlain Nickolai Petrovich Rezanov, who on his returning from America to Russia died in the town of Krasnoyarsk on March 1st, 1807 and was buried on the 13th day of the same month”.
According to one of the versions Rezanov`s remaines were relocated in Troizk cemetery at the end of 50-s of the 20th century. But now the exact place of the burial is unknown, because in the 30-s of the 20th century this tombstone was destroyed.
There are contradictory opinions about the reburial. Now here is the Concert Hall situated on the place where the Resurrection cathedral used to be earlier. On the place of the first burial there is a tombstone erected. And besides there are ideas to construct the memorial there.
Translated by Olga Eglis
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