OREANDA-NEWS. November 05, 2009. The President attended the ceremony unveiling a memorial chapel honouring Prince Dmitry Pozharsky at the Spaso-Yevfimiyev Monastery in Suzdal.

Prince Pozharsky is buried in the family vault at the Spaso-Yevfimiyev Monastery, which was built on the orders of Grand Princes Nikolai and Mikhail Romanov. In 1858, a voluntary subscription was launched in the Russian Empire to raise funds for a gravestone for Prince Pozharsky. Work on the chapel and mausoleum went on for almost 25 years. The chapel was opened in June 1885.

In the summer of 1923, the monastery was turned into a camp for political prisoners and the gravestones, including Prince Pozharsky’s, were removed from the monastery cemetery.

In November 2007, Mr Medvedev, then First Deputy Prime Minister, approved the idea of restoring the memorial.

Speaking at the unveiling ceremony, the President congratulated Russia’s people on the Day of National Unity holiday.

The previous day, Mr Medvedev visited the diocesan boarding school at the Mikhailo-Arkhangelsky Orthodox Centre in Suzdal, where he spoke with the pupils.