Why is the body of the Tsar-reformer Peter I lay unburied 6 years

Most researchers of the life of Tsar Peter I believe that it was buried soon after death, according to Christian tradition, in the Cathedral of Peter and Paul fortress, but it's not. The body of the monarch was lying in a coffin without burial 6 years and all thanks to the closest companion of the Emperor – James Bruce, who had in the yard and in the people a reputation as a "warlock".

It is well known that Russian Tsar Peter I died on 28 January 1725. It is known that he died in terrible agony, presumably from kidney stone disease caused by complication of a cold or poorly cured syphilis, which the monarch is picked up in the Netherlands.

53-year-old Romanov died in the Winter Palace, in a small room-Desk, which was then barely made it a powerful six-foot body. After opening the king was dressed up in uniform and put in a coffin in length, oblique sazhen (216 cm). The body was put up to bid farewell to the front hall of the Palace, which stood for exactly 42 days.

8 March 1725, the Emperor accompanied the funeral cortege went on his last journey – in the Peter and Paul fortress. This day was bitter cold and snowing, but the Empress Catherine I the whole way to overcome the coffin on foot.

The coffin was installed in an unfinished Cathedral Peter and Paul fortress and entrusted to the care of the king's favorite – James Vilemovice Bruce. Historian Waldemar Balyazin, the author of the book "Secrets of the Romanovs", writes that according to historical documents, to bury in the Orthodox rite of Peter as Bruce decided to embalm the body, incorruptible saving it for posterity.

Field Marshal James Bruce, who was considered "the magician" and the magician, was a man of science, and one of the most enlightened at the time. You know that supernatural powers he didn't believe it, preferring to explain everything from the point of view of logic and science.

One day, visiting with the king of the relics of some Saint in the Cathedral, James Bruce, in response to the enthusiasm of Peter, affected the well-preserved remains, read a lecture. Scientist ruler informed the Emperor and the other about that miracle not guilty of the sanctity of the elder, and dry air, temperance in life and skill of to be.

Maybe that's when the king expressed a wish to be embalmed after death, but just do not know. Whatever it was, but Bruce took assistants and was personally involved in handling the body of the Emperor. It was new for Russia and therefore rush James Bilimovich didn't want to.

Parallel to the brilliant mind of Bruce was busy with other important issues associated with the death of Peter. Body after embalming needed somewhere to adequately store, and this should build the mausoleum. Contemporaries wrote that in the first year after the death of the Emperor, close to Peter and Paul Cathedral was laid monumental building for which was brought in from afar with the best varieties of granite.

The last mention of the tomb of Peter refers to 1731. Saw him, foreign ambassadors, but one argued that the sarcophagus inside the king was not. Did not reappear on the construction of the Bruce – he was dismissed in 1726, when he had finished the body of Peter.

James Bruce, Mason and witch, possessing in the life of Peter I of enormous power, feared and hated, so hurried to get rid of it. Field Marshal retired to his estate Glinka near Moscow, where he dedicated himself fully to scientific experimentation and reading books.

In 1727, died Empress Catherine and her body was embalmed experienced professionals recipe is the same Bruce. The body of the Queen was placed in a coffin and placed in the Peter and Paul Cathedral near the tomb of the spouse.

In 1729, ascended the throne niece of Peter I, Anna Ivanovna, who in two years has paid attention that the Royal couple and is located in the chapel of the Cathedral without burial. The Empress was far from Masonic influences, and especially science. She made the decision quickly – the construction of the building to collapse, and Peter and Catherine to be buried in the Orthodox rite.

Did so: the Emperor and the Empress was buried in the Cathedral at the southern wall, just in front of the altar. In 1760‑ies on the disposal of a worthy monarchs tombstones.