Fedor Nikiforovich Plevako was born on April 25, 1842 in the city of Troitsk. His father, Vasily Ivanovich Plevak, was a member of the Troitsk customs, court adviser from the Ukrainian nobles. He had four children, two of whom died as infants. Vasily Ivanovich was not married to Fyodor's mother, serf Kirghiz Yekaterina Stepanova, in a church (that is, official) marriage, and therefore the future "genius of the word" and his older brother Dormidont were illegitimate children. According to tradition, Fedor took his first surname and patronymic according to the name of his godfather - Nikifor.
From 1848 to 1851, Fyodor studied at the Trinity parish, and then the district school, and in the summer of 1851, in connection with the retirement of his father, their family moved to Moscow. In the autumn of the same year, a nine-year-old boy was assigned to a commercial school located on Ostozhenka and was considered exemplary at that time. The institution was often honored with their visits even to persons of the royal family, who loved to test the knowledge of students. Fedor and his brother Dormidont studied diligently and were excellent students, and by the end of the first year of study their names were put on the "golden board". When at the beginning of the second year of the boys' education, the nephew of Emperor Nicholas, Prince Peter of Oldenburg, visited the school, he was told about Fyodor's unique abilities to perform various arithmetic operations in his mind with four-digit numbers. The prince himself tested the boy and, convinced of his skills, presented a box of chocolates. And at the very end of 1852, Vasily Ivanovich was told that his sons were expelled from the school as illegitimate. Fedor Nikiforovich remembered this humiliation well for his whole life, and many years later he wrote in his autobiography: “We were called unworthy of the very school that praised us for our successes and flaunt our exceptional abilities in mathematics. God forgive them! These narrow-minded people really did not know what they were doing, making human sacrifice."
Only in the fall of 1853, thanks to the long efforts of his father, his sons were admitted to the third grade of the First Moscow gymnasium, located on Prechistenka. Fyodor graduated from the gymnasium in the spring of 1859 and, as a volunteer, entered the law faculty of the capital's university, changing his surname Nikiforov to the surname of his father Plevak. During the years spent at the university, Fedor buried his father and older brother, and his sick sister and mother remained at his expense. Fortunately, studying was easy for a talented young man, as a student, he worked as a tutor and translator, visited Germany, attended a course of lectures at the famous Heidelberg University, and also translated into Russian the works of the famous lawyer Georg Puchta. Fyodor Nikiforovich graduated from the University in 1864, having in his hands a diploma of a candidate of rights, and again changed his surname, adding the letter "o" to it at the end, and with an emphasis on it.
The young man did not immediately decide on the calling of a lawyer - for several years Fyodor Nikiforovich, waiting for a suitable vacancy, worked as an intern in the Moscow District Court. And after in the spring of 1866, in connection with the beginning of the judicial reform of Alexander II, a sworn advocacy began to be created in Russia, Plevako signed up as an assistant to the attorney at law, one of the first Moscow lawyers, Mikhail Ivanovich Dobrokhotov. It was in the rank of assistant that Fedor Nikiforovich first showed himself as a skillful lawyer and in September 1870 was admitted to the number of attorneys at law in the district. One of the first criminal trials with his participation was the defense of a certain Alexei Maruev, accused of two forgeries. Despite the fact that Plevako lost this case, and his client was sent to Siberia, the young man's speech well demonstrated his remarkable talents. About the witnesses in the case, Plevako said: “The first ascribes to the second what the second ascribes, in turn, to the first … So they destroy themselves mutually in the most important issues! And what kind of faith can there be ?!”. The second case brought Fyodor Nikiforovich the first fee of two hundred rubles, and he woke up famous after the seemingly losing case of Kostrubo-Karitsky, who was accused of trying to poison his mistress. The lady was defended by two of the best Russian lawyers of that time - Spasovich and Urusov, but the jury acquitted Plevako's client.
From that moment, Fedor Nikiforovich's brilliant ascent to the pinnacle of lawyer's fame began. He countered the harsh attacks of his opponents in the trials with a calm tone, well-founded objections and a detailed analysis of the evidence. All those present at his speeches unanimously noted that Plevako was an orator from God. People came from other cities to hear his speech in court. The newspapers wrote that when Fyodor Nikiforovich finished his speech, the audience sobbed, and the judges no longer knew whom to judge. Many of Fyodor Nikiforovich's speeches became anecdotes and parables, diverged into quotations (for example, Plevako's favorite phrase, with which he usually began his speech: "Gentlemen, but it could have been worse"), were included in textbooks for law students and, undoubtedly, are the property of the country's literary heritage. It is curious that, unlike other luminaries of the jury of the bar of that time - Urusov, Andreevsky, Karabchevsky - Fyodor Nikiforovich was poor in appearance. Anatoly Koni described him as follows: “Angular, high-cheeked Kalmyk face. Wide-set eyes, unruly strands of long dark hair. His appearance could have been called ugly, if not for his inner beauty, which shone first in a kind smile, then in an animated expression, then in the sparkle and fire of talking eyes. His movements were uneven and sometimes awkward, the lawyer's coat sat awkwardly on him, and the whispering voice seemed to go against his calling as an orator. However, in this voice there were notes of such passion and strength that he captured the listeners and conquered them to himself. " The writer Vikenty Veresaev recalled: “His main strength was in intonations, in the irresistible, directly magical infectiousness of feelings with which he knew how to ignite the audience. Therefore, his speeches on paper do not even come close to conveying their amazing power. " According to the authoritative opinion of Koni Fyodor Nikiforovich, he perfectly mastered the threefold vocation of the defense side: “to appease, convince, touch”. It is also interesting that Plevako never wrote the texts of his speeches in advance, however, at the request of close friends or newspaper reporters, after the trial, if he was not lazy, wrote down his spoken speech. By the way, Plevako was the first in Moscow to use a Remington typewriter.
Plevako's strength as an orator lay not only in emotionality, resourcefulness and psychologism, but also in the colorfulness of the word. Fyodor Nikiforovich was a master at antitheses (for example, his phrase about a Jew and a Russian: "Our dream is to eat five times a day and not get too heavy, but he is - once every five days and not grow thin"), picture comparisons (censorship, according to In the words of Plevako: "These are tongs that remove carbon deposits from a candle without extinguishing its light and fire"), to spectacular appeals (to the jury: "Open your arms - I will give him (the client) to you!", to the murdered man: "Comrade, peacefully sleeping in the coffin! "). In addition, Fyodor Nikiforovich was an unsurpassed specialist in cascades of loud phrases, beautiful images and witty antics that suddenly came into his head and saved his clients. How unpredictable Plevako's findings were is clearly seen from a couple of his speeches, which became legends - during the defense of a thieving priest, who was dismissed for this, and an old woman who stole a tin teapot. In the first case, the priest's guilt in stealing church money was firmly proven. The defendant himself confessed to it. All the witnesses were against him, and the prosecutor issued a murderous speech. Plevako, having kept silent during the entire judicial investigation and without asking a single question to the witnesses, made a bet with his friend that his defense speech would last exactly one minute, after which the priest would be acquitted. When his time came, Fyodor Nikiforovich, standing up and addressing the jury, said in a characteristic soulful voice: “Gentlemen of the jury, my client has forgiven you your sins for more than twenty years. Let them go and you to him once, Russian people. " The priest was acquitted. In the case of the old woman and the teapot, the prosecutor, wishing in advance to reduce the effect of the defense speech of the lawyer, himself said everything possible in favor of the old woman (poor, sorry for the grandmother, the theft is trifling), but in the end he emphasized that the property is sacred and inviolable, “because the improvement of Russia is maintained”. Fyodor Nikiforovich, who spoke after him, remarked: “Our country had to endure many trials and troubles during its millennium existence. And the Tatars tormented her, and the Polovtsy, and the Poles, and the Pechenegs. Twelve languages fell upon her and captured Moscow. Russia overcame everything, endured everything, only grew and grew stronger from the trials. But now …, now the old woman has stolen a tin teapot at the price of thirty kopecks. The country, of course, will not be able to withstand this and will perish from this”. It makes no sense to say that the old woman was also acquitted.
For each of Plevako's victories in court, there was not only natural talent, but also careful preparation, a comprehensive analysis of the prosecution's evidence, an in-depth study of the circumstances of the case, as well as the testimony of witnesses and defendants. Often, criminal trials with the participation of Fedor Nikiforovich acquired an all-Russian resonance. One of them was the "Mitrofanievsky trial" - the trial of the abbess of the Serpukhov monastery, which aroused interest even abroad. Mitrofania - she is in the world Baroness Praskovya Rosen - was the daughter of the hero of the Patriotic War, Adjutant General Grigory Rosen. As a maid of honor of the royal court in 1854, she was tonsured a nun and ruled in the Serpukhov monastery since 1861. Over the next ten years, the abbess, relying on the proximity to the court and her connections, stole over seven hundred thousand rubles through forgery and fraud. The investigation into this case was started in St. Petersburg by Anatoly Koni, who was at that time the prosecutor of the Petersburg district court, and she was tried in October 1874 by the Moscow district court. Plevako flashed in the unusual role of an attorney for the victims, becoming the main prosecutor of both the abbess and her assistants at the trial. Refuting the arguments of the defense, confirming the conclusions of the investigation, he said: “A traveler walking past the high fences of the Vladyka's monastery is baptized and believes that he is walking past God's house, but in this house the morning bell raised the abbess not for prayers, but for dark deeds! Instead of praying people, there are swindlers, instead of deeds of good - preparation for false testimony, instead of a temple - a stock exchange, instead of prayer - exercises in drawing up bills of exchange, that's what was hidden behind the walls …, created under the cover of the monastery and the cassock! " Mother Superior Mitrofaniya was found guilty of fraud and went into exile in Siberia.
Perhaps the greatest public outcry of all the processes with the participation of Fedor Nikiforovich was caused by the case of Savva Mamontov in July 1900. Savva Ivanovich was an industrial magnate, the main shareholder of railway companies, one of the most famous patrons of art in Russian history. His estate "Abramtsevo" in the 1870-1890s was an important center of artistic life. Ilya Repin, Vasily Polenov, Vasily Surikov, Valentin Serov, Viktor Vasnetsov, Konstantin Stanislavsky worked and met here. In 1885, Mamontov, at his own expense, founded a Russian opera in Moscow, where Nadezhda Zabela-Vrubel, Vladimir Lossky, Fyodor Chaliapin shone. In the fall of 1899, the Russian public was shocked by the news of the arrest of Mamontov, his brother and two sons on charges of embezzlement and embezzlement of six million rubles from the funds allocated for the construction of the Moscow-Yaroslavl-Arkhangelsk railway.
The trial in this case was led by the chairman of the Moscow district court, an authoritative lawyer Davydov. The prosecutor was the famous statesman Pavel Kurlov, the future head of the Separate Corps of Gendarmes. Plevako was invited to defend Savva Mamontov, and his relatives were defended by three more luminaries of the Russian legal profession: Karabchevsky, Shubinsky and Maklakov. The central event of the trial was Fedor Nikiforovich's defense speech. With a well-planned look, he quickly identified the weaknesses of the accusation and told the jury how patriotic and grandiose was his client's plan to build a railroad to Vyatka in order to “revive the North”, and how, as a result of an unsuccessful choice of performers, the generously funded operation turned into losses, while Mamontov himself went bankrupt … Plevako said: “Consider what happened here? Crime or miscalculation? The intention to harm the Yaroslavl road or the desire to save its interests? Woe to the vanquished! However, let the pagans repeat this vile phrase. And we will say: "Mercy to the unfortunate!" By a court decision, the embezzlement was admitted, but all the defendants were acquitted.
Fedor Nikiforovich himself explained the secrets of his successes as a defender quite simply. The first of these he called a sense of responsibility towards his client. Plevako said: “There is a huge difference between the position of a defender and a prosecutor. A cold, silent and unshakable law stands behind the prosecutor's back, and living people stand behind the defender. Relying on us, they will climb on their shoulders and it is terrible to stumble with such a burden! " Fyodor Nikiforovich's second secret was his amazing ability to influence the jury. He explained it to Surikov: “Vasily Ivanovich, when you paint portraits, you try to look into the soul of the person posing for you. So I try to penetrate with my eyes into the soul of each juror and deliver my speech so that it reaches their consciousness."
Was the lawyer always sure of the innocence of his clients? Of course no. In 1890, giving a defense speech in the case of Alexandra Maksimenko, who was accused of poisoning her husband, Plevako said bluntly: “If you ask me if I am convinced of her innocence, I will not say yes.” I don't want to cheat. But I am not convinced of her guilt either. And when it is necessary to choose between death and life, then all doubts should be resolved in favor of life. " However, Fyodor Nikiforovich tried to avoid cases deliberately wrong. For example, he refused to defend in court the famous swindler Sophia Bluestein, better known as "Sonya - the golden pen."
Plevako became the only leading figure of the domestic legal profession who never once acted as a defender in strictly political trials where Social Democrats, Narodnaya Volya, Narodniks, Cadets, Socialist-Revolutionaries were tried. This was largely due to the fact that back in 1872, the career and, possibly, the life of the lawyer was almost cut short due to his alleged political unreliability. The case began with the fact that in December 1872, Lieutenant General Slezkin - the head of the Moscow provincial gendarme office - reported to the manager of the third department that a certain "secret legal society" was found in the city with the aim of "acquainting students with revolutionary ideas", as well as " have constant contacts with foreign leaders and look for ways to distribute prohibited books. " According to the intelligence information received, the society included law students, candidates of rights, and in addition, attorneys at law along with their assistants. The chief of the Moscow gendarmerie reported: "The said society currently has up to 150 full members … Among the first is the attorney at law Fyodor Plevako, who replaced Prince Urusov (exiled from Moscow to the Latvian town of Wenden and held there under police supervision)." Seven months later, in July 1873, the same Slezkin wrote to his superiors that "all persons are under the strictest surveillance, and all possible measures are taken to find data that serve as a guarantee about the actions of this legal society." In the end, no data "could serve as a guarantee" came out, and the case of the "secret society" was closed. However, from that very time until 1905, Plevako emphatically avoided politics.
Only a few times did Fyodor Nikiforovich agree to speak at the trials of "riots" with a political connotation. One of the first such proceedings was the "Lutorich case", which caused a lot of noise, in which Plevako stood up for the rioters-peasants. In the spring of 1879, the peasants of the village of Lutorichi, located in the Tula province, revolted against their landowner. The troops suppressed the rebellion, and its "instigators" in the number of thirty-four people were brought before the court with the charge of "resistance to the authorities." The Moscow Court of Justice considered the case at the end of 1880, and Plevako took upon himself not only the defense of the accused, but also all the costs of their maintenance during the trial, which, by the way, lasted three weeks. His defense speech was actually an accusation of the ruling regime in the country. Calling the situation of the peasants after the reforms of 1861 "half-starved freedom", Fyodor Nikiforovich proved with facts and figures that living in Lutorichi became several times harder than pre-reform slavery. The enormous extortions from the peasants angered him to such an extent that he declared to the landowner and his manager: "I am ashamed of the time in which such people live and work!" Regarding the accusations of his clients, Plevako said: “Indeed, they are the instigators, they are the instigators, they are the cause of all causes. Lawlessness, hopeless poverty, shameless exploitation, which brought everyone and everything to ruin - here they are, the instigators. " After the lawyer's speech, according to eyewitnesses, in the courtroom "applause was heard from shocked and agitated listeners." The court was forced to acquit thirty of the thirty-four defendants, and Anatoly Koni said that Plevako's speech had become "in the mood and conditions of those years a civil feat."
Fyodor Nikiforovich spoke just as loudly and boldly at the trial of the participants in the strike of workers at the Nikolskaya Manufactory, owned by the Morozov manufacturers and located near the village of Orekhovo (now the city of Orekhovo-Zuevo). This strike, which took place in January 1885, became the largest and most organized in Russia by that time - more than eight thousand people took part in it. The strike was only partly political in nature - it was led by the revolutionary workers Moiseenko and Volkov, and among other demands presented to the governor by the strikers was "a complete change of employment contracts in accordance with the issued state law." Plevako took over the defense of the main defendants - Volkov and Moiseenko. As in the Lutorich case, Fyodor Nikiforovich acquitted the defendants, considering their actions as a forced protest against the arbitrariness of the owners of the manufacture. He emphasized: “Contrary to the terms of the contract and the general law, the factory administration does not heat the establishment, and the workers are at the machines at ten to fifteen degrees of cold. Do they have the right to refuse work and leave in the presence of the owner's illegal actions, or are they forced to freeze to death in a heroic death? The owner also calculates them arbitrarily, and not according to the condition established by the contract. Should workers be patient and silent, or can they refuse to work in this case? I think the law should protect the interests of the owners against the lawlessness of the workers, and not take the owners under their protection in all their arbitrary will. " Outlining the situation of the workers of the Nikolskaya manufactory, Plevako, according to the recollections of eyewitnesses, uttered the following words: "If, reading a book about black slaves, we are indignant, then now we have white slaves." The court was convinced by the arguments of the defense. The recognized leaders of the strike, Volkov and Moiseenko, received only three months of arrest.
Often in court speeches, Plevako touched upon topical social issues. At the end of 1897, when the Moscow Court of Justice was considering the case of the workers of the Konshin factory in the city of Serpukhov, who rebelled against the ruthless working conditions and destroyed the apartments of the factory bosses, Plevako raised and clarified the legally and politically extremely important issue of the relationship between collective and personal responsibility for any offense. He said: “An unlawful and intolerable act has been committed, and the crowd was the culprit. But it is not the crowd that is judged, but several dozen persons seen in it: the crowd has left … The crowd is a building in which people are bricks. A prison is built from only bricks - the dwelling of the outcast, and a temple to God. Being in a crowd doesn't mean wearing its instincts. Pickpockets also hide in the crowd of pilgrims. The crowd infects. Persons entering it become infected. Beating them is the same as destroying an epidemic by scourging the sick."
It is curious that, unlike colleagues who are trying to turn the trial into a lesson in political literacy or a school of political education, Fyodor Nikiforovich always tried to bypass political aspects, and, as a rule, there were universal notes in his defense. Addressing the privileged classes, Plevako appealed to their sense of philanthropy, urging them to lend a helping hand to the poor. Fyodor Nikiforovich's worldview could be described as humanistic, he repeatedly stressed that "the life of one single person is more valuable than any reforms." And he added at the same time: "All are equal before the court, even if you are a generalissimo!" It is curious that at the same time Plevako found a sense of mercy natural and necessary for justice: “The word of the law is like a mother's threat to her children. As long as there is no guilt, she promises cruel punishment to the rebellious son, but as soon as the need for punishment comes, mother's love is looking for an excuse to mitigate the penalty."
Fyodor Nikiforovich devoted almost forty years to human rights activities. Both the legal elite, and specialists, and ordinary people valued Plevako above all other lawyers, calling him “a great orator”, “a genius of the word”, “metropolitan of the legal profession”. His surname itself has become a household name, meaning an extra-class lawyer. Without any irony in those years they wrote and said: "Find yourself another" Gobber ". In recognition of his merits, Fyodor Nikiforovich was awarded hereditary nobility, the title of actual state councilor (fourth class, according to the table of ranks corresponding to the rank of major general) and an audience with the emperor. Fedor Nikiforovich lived in a two-story mansion on Novinsky Boulevard, and the whole country knew this address. His personality surprisingly combined sweeping and wholeness, riotous lordship (for example, when Plevako organized Homeric parties on the steamers chartered by him) and everyday simplicity. Despite the fact that fees and fame strengthened his financial position, money never had power over a lawyer. A contemporary wrote: “Fyodor Nikiforovich did not hide his wealth and was not ashamed of wealth. He believed that the main thing is to act in a divine way and not refuse help to those who really need it. " Plevako conducted many cases not only for free, but also financially helping his poor defendants. In addition, Plevako, from his youth and until his death, was an indispensable member of all kinds of charitable institutions, for example, the Society for the Charity, Education and Upbringing of Blind Children or the Committee for the Organization of Student Dormitories. Nevertheless, being kind to the poor, he literally knocked out huge fees from merchants, while demanding advances. When they asked him what this “advance payment” was, Plevako answered: “Do you know the deposit? So the advance payment is the same deposit, but three times more”.
An interesting trait of Plevako's character was his condescension to his spiteful critics and envious people. At a feast on the occasion of the twenty-fifth anniversary of his lawyer's career, Fyodor Nikiforovich cheerfully clinked glasses, both with friends and with invited well-known enemies. To the surprise of his wife, Fyodor Nikiforovich, with his usual good nature, remarked: “Why should I judge them, or what?”. The cultural requests of the lawyer are respectful - he had a huge library at that time. Despising fiction, Fyodor Nikiforovich was fond of literature in law, history and philosophy. Among his favorite authors were Kant, Hegel, Nietzsche, Cuno Fischer, and Georg Jellinek. A contemporary wrote: “Plevako had a kind of caring and tender attitude towards books - both his own and those of others. He compared them to children. He was outraged by the sight of a torn, dirty, or disheveled book. He said that along with the existing "Society for the Protection of Children from Abuse", it is necessary to organize the "Society for the Protection of Books from Abuse". Despite the fact that Plevako highly valued his folios, he freely gave them to his friends and acquaintances to read. In this he was strikingly different from the philosopher Rozanov, the "book miser," who said: "A book is not a girl, there is no need for her to walk from hand to hand."
The famous orator was not just well-read, from a young age he was distinguished by an extraordinary memory, observation and sense of humor, which found expression in the cascades of puns, witticisms, parodies and epigrams, composed by him both in prose and in poetry. For a long time, Feuilletons by Fyodor Nikiforovich were published in the newspaper Moskovsky Listok by the writer Nikolai Pastukhov, and in 1885 Plevako organized in Moscow the publication of his own newspaper called Life, but this venture "did not have success and stopped in the tenth month." The lawyer's range of personal connections was wide. He was well acquainted with Turgenev and Shchedrin, Vrubel, and Stanislavsky, Ermolova and Chaliapin, as well as many other recognized artists, writers and actors. According to the memoirs of Pavel Rossiev, Lev Tolstoy often sent the peasants to Plevako with the words: "Fedor, whitewash the unfortunate." The lawyer adored all kinds of spectacles, from elite performances to folk festivals, but his greatest pleasure was visiting two capital "temples of arts" - the Russian opera by Mamontov and the Art Theater of Nemirovich-Danchenko and Stanislavsky. Plevako also loved to travel and traveled all over Russia from the Urals to Warsaw, speaking at trials in small and large cities of the country.
The first wife of Plevako worked as a folk teacher, and the marriage with her was very unsuccessful. They parted shortly after the birth of their son in 1877. And in 1879, a certain Maria Demidova, the wife of a famous dexterous industrialist, turned to Plevako for legal assistance. A few months after meeting a lawyer, she took five children and moved to Fyodor Nikiforovich's house on Novinsky Boulevard. All her children became relatives for Plevako, later three more were born to them - a daughter Varvara and two sons. The divorce proceedings of Maria Demidova against Vasily Demidov dragged on for twenty years, since the manufacturer flatly refused to let his ex-wife go. With Maria Andreevna, Fyodor Nikiforovich lived in harmony and harmony for the rest of his life. It is noteworthy that the son of Plevako from his first marriage and one of the sons from the second later became famous lawyers and worked in Moscow. Even more remarkable is that they were both called Sergei.
It is necessary to note one more feature of Fyodor Nikiforovich - all his life the lawyer was a deeply religious person and even put his scientific foundation under his faith. Plevako regularly attended church, observed religious rites, loved to baptize children of all ranks and estates, served as church headman in the Assumption Cathedral, and also tried to reconcile the "blasphemous" position of Leo Tolstoy with the provisions of the official church. And in 1904 Fyodor Nikiforovich even met with the Pope and had a long conversation with him about the unity of God and the fact that the Orthodox and Catholics are obliged to live in good harmony.
At the end of his life, namely in 1905, Fyodor Nikiforovich turned to the topic of politics. The Tsar's manifesto on October 17 inspired him with the illusion of the approach of civil liberties in Russia, and he rushed to power with youthful enthusiasm. First of all, Plevako asked the well-known politician and lawyer Vasily Maklakov to add him to the list of members of the Constitutional Democratic Party. However, he refused, reasonably noting that "party discipline and Plevako are incompatible concepts." Then Fyodor Nikiforovich joined the ranks of the Octobrists. Subsequently, he was elected to the third State Duma, in which, with the naivete of an amateur politician, he urged his colleagues to replace "the words about freedom with the words of free workers" (this speech in the Duma, held in November 1907, was his first and last). It is also known that Plevako thought through a project for the transformation of the royal title in order to emphasize that Nicholas was no longer an absolute Russian tsar, but a limited monarch. However, he did not dare to declare this from the Duma rostrum.
Plevako died in Moscow on January 5, 1909 from a heart attack in the sixty-seventh year of life. All of Russia responded to the death of the outstanding speaker, but Muscovites were especially grieving, many of whom believed that the Russian capital had five main attractions: the Tretyakov Gallery, St. Basil's Cathedral, Tsar Cannon, Tsar Bell and Fyodor Plevako. The newspaper "Early Morning" put it very succinctly and precisely: "Russia has lost its Cicero." Fyodor Nikiforovich was buried at a colossal gathering of people of all states and strata in the cemetery of the Sorrow Monastery. However, in the thirties of the last century, the remains of Plevako were reburied at the Vagankovsky cemetery.
