Solzhenitsyn laid to rest in Moscow

It was the funeral Solzhenitsyn wanted - to be laid to rest at Moscow’s Donskoy Monastery. He applied for permission five years ago. The Head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Alexy II, gave his blessing.

The iconic writer, who spent eight years in the Gulag prison camps before devoting his life to documenting the horrors of Soviet rule, was buried in the shadow of a chapel in a ceremony broadcast live on national television.

Solzhenitsyn had three wishes regarding his death: to die at home rather than in hospital, to die in summer rather than winter, and to die surrounded by his wife and family.  Each of his wishes was granted.

Large wreaths were placed by the grave, including one from human rights group Memorial, which campaigns for former prisoners of the Soviet labour camps to receive pensions and for KGB archives to be opened up.

Wednesday's ceremony featured several trappings of a state funeral, including a goose-stepping military guard and a three-gun salute. Medvedev personally offered his condolences to family members.

Putin, now Russia's prime minister, instructed the nation's education minister Tuesday to make sure that Solzhenitsyn's works make a prominent part of schools and university curricula.

"When he was alive the state didn't do anything for him," said Vladimir Denisov, a Solzhenitsyn fan on the road outside the monastery. "Now that he's dead they want to adopt him as their own."