Nureyev’s tomb, in the Russian Cemetery near Paris is draped in a kilim rug. The rug, in red, different shades of blue, and gold, is made of tiny mosaic tiles. Designed by Italian costume and set designer Ezio Frigerio, it looks so real that you can’t resist the urge to want to take hold of it at one tasselled edge to lift it off.  Several people to whom I’ve shown the photos I’ve taken of the grave and which you can see here, have asked me whether the rug does not get wet when it rains or snow. “And how come it does not blow off?” they wanted to know.

Having performed in Paris with the Leningrad Kirov, Nureyev defected at Paris’s Le Bourget Airport on June 16, 1961 while the dancers were waiting to board a plane for London. He was assisted by the French airport police and the Chilean heiress and Parisian socialite, Clara Saint.

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