On the 28th of June 1709 the fallen soldiers of the Muscovite army (1345 men) were buried by the order of Peter I. After the funeral service the tsar personally put on the top of the burial mound a wooden cross with the following inscription: “«Devout warriors, who were crowned with blood for their holiness, on the 27th of June 1709 A.D.”.

In 1894 a granite cross was designed by architect N. Nikonov and made in the workshop of A. Barinov in St. Petersburg. Then it was moved to Poltava and mounted on the common grave. Mound height – 6.4 m, diameter of the observation ground at the top of the mound – 10.65 m, diameter of the common grave – 35 m, the cross height – 7.5 m. The under part of the burial mound is surrounded with 27 granite columns, made from red granite in the form of small pyramids. These columns are crowned with an iron cannonball and joint together with metal chains. In 1904 – 1907 the restoration works of the grave were carried out. Under its weight (about 2 tons) the cross began to sink. That’s why the burial mound was opened; the foundation of the memorial was reinforced; and a granite spherical vault was built with an inner chapel of St. Peter and Paul. To the 300th anniversary of Poltava battle the restoration works of the mass grave of Muscovite soldiers were conducted at the cost of LLC “Factor Capital”; the Employer – the Capital Construction Executive Committee of Poltava City Council.

Legend:

According to official documents, the losses of Peter’s army in the Battle of Poltava were 1,345 soldiers. But no one knows for certain whether all bodies of the killed soldiers were collected into the mass grave and buried after the battle, since the battle took place over a large area. In addition, in subsequent days, according to contemporary historian P. Krotov, the amount of losses reached 1,650 men (soldiers died from severe wounds on the battlefield).

The area, where the soldiers of Peter I had been buried, was called by people as “the Swedish Grave.” The same name has a present-day street, which the State Historical Cultural Reserve “Poltava battle field” is located at. This allegorical name only suggests the defeated Swedish soldiers at Poltava. But there is no marked burial place of the Swedish warriors here.