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Origin and history

The cemetery of Liers, located in Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois (Essonne), was created in 1879 as a communal cemetery. It became an emblematic place for Russian emigration after 1917, when the Russian House, founded by Dorothy Paget and Elena Orlova, buried its first resident in 1927. This "Russian square", integrated into the communal cemetery, hosts about 15,000 Russians or French of Russian origin, fleeing the Bolshevik revolution and then the migratory waves of the 1940s and 1970s-1980s. Its "Russian" layout (bubbles, pines, benches) and its memorial role make it a unique site in Europe.

The cemetery is home to leading figures in Russian arts, nobility and politics, such as Rudolf Noureev, Serge Lifar, and Grand Dukes Gabriel and Andrei Vladimirovich. The Orthodox Church of Our Lady of the Assumption (1939), of Novgorodian style, is built nearby on a private plot. Ranked a historic monument in 2001 for its Orthodox square, the site is also marked by recent conflicts: since 2022, the town hall has refused Russian financing for concessions, formerly provided by Moscow since 2005.

Among the 5,220 graves are dancers (Noureev, Vyroubova), writers (Ivan Bounine, Zinaida Hippius), white officers (General Koutiepov, Admiral Kolomeitsev), and figures of the Resistance such as Princess Vera Obolensky. Monuments commemorate the Gallipoli soldiers or the Cossacks of the Don. The cemetery thus illustrates the history of the Russian diaspora in France, between imperial memory, Orthodox culture and local integration.

The maintenance of the graves has long benefited from Russian subsidies (more than EUR 1 million), suspended after the invasion of Ukraine. The site remains a place of pilgrimage for descendants of emigration and Russian history lovers, while asking questions about heritage management in the face of current geopolitical tensions.

Architecturally, the cemetery is distinguished by its aisles lined with birch and cedars, evoking Russian landscapes. The mosaic of the tomb of Noureev (1996), inspired by a kilim carpet, and the cenotaph of General Koutiepov (empty, symbolic) are significant elements. Close to Paris, it also attracts for its poetic atmosphere, between tragic history and serenity.

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