Case file · Folklore / legend
Lassota sees the tomb of Ilya Muromets
The Habsburg envoy Erich Lassota von Steblau, passing through Kyiv in 1594, wrote that in a side chapel of Saint Sophia he was shown the tomb of 'Elias Morovlin', a giant hero of whom many tales were told.
1594 CE · 50.45, 30.51 · status: account
The account
It is the earliest dated record linking the bylina hero Ilya of Murom to a real burial. Later his relics were venerated in the caves of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, and a 1988 Soviet study of the mummy found a tall man of about 45–55 with a spinal illness and battle wounds, which supporters read as confirming the tradition that Ilya could not walk until age 33.
The sceptical view
Whether the venerated body is that of any real model for the epic hero cannot be shown.