During the days of the February Revolution in Petrograd several hundred people were killed or died of wounds. Some of the dead were buried in the coming weeks, but still many corpses were left in hospitals.

On March 23, 1917, the Petrograd Soviet of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies organized a ceremonial funeral of the victims of the February Revolution on the Field of Mars. From 800 thousand to 1 million people attended the grandiose procession. Delegations from various districts and factories of the capital marched in columns through the entire city with mourning banners and wreaths to the burial place of the new heroes.

184 victims of the revolution were buried in four mass graves. During the funeral, ministers of the Provisional Government, members of the Executive Committee, and deputies of the Petrograd Soviet, leaders of political parties stood guard over the grave. The ceremonial funeral was of great symbolic significance as a means of legitimizing the new democratic government.