Lyubov Dostoyevskaya

Who was Lyubov Dostoyevskaya?

Lyubov Fyodorovna Dostoyevskaya was a Russian writer, memoirist and a second daughter of famous writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky and his wife Anna. Their first, Sofiya, was born in 1868 and died the same year.

Dostoyevskaya was a nervous child and cried a lot. Due to having weak health, nervous system problems, and constant relationship failures, Lyubov had become arrogant, haughty, and peevish. She never married. In later life she became estranged from her mother and moved out of their house. In 1913, after a trip abroad for medical treatment, Lyubov decided to stay there, and she lived abroad until her death in 1926. At that period she was also known under the name Aimee Dostoyevskaya. She died in Italy of pernicious anemia.

Although Lyubov Dostoyevskaya was Orthodox, a funeral rite was Catholic by mistake. A simple wooden cross on her grave was soon replaced by a small porphyry tomb. In 1931 Italia Letteraria magazine suggested that since Dostoyevskaya was buried in Italy, it is the Italian government that should establish a memorial. On December 1931 a granite pedestal was constructed, with an epitaph written by the editor of Venezia Tridentina magazine. Resting place of Fyodor Dostoyevsky's daughter in Gries has been preserved after cemetery reconstruction. Her tomb was moved to Bolzano city's cemetery.