A Moscow trade show pitching glitzy funeral options takes on grim significance as hundreds of Russians die each day from COVID-19.
Actors simulate a mourning ceremony at Moscow's NECROPOLIS-TANEXPO, a funeral industry trade fair that is scheduled to run from October 26-28.
Participants in the event, being held in Moscow's Expocentre, arrange a display of coffins.
The exhibition is a joint project of the Russian NECROPOL trade fair and the Italian TANEXPO. The annual events are the largest of their kind and showcase the latest trends in European and Russian funerals.
Two men chat in front of the Nika Funeral Home stand at the exhibition.
Events at the expo include an embalming class, a lesson on "ritual floristry," and a class dedicated to the legal complexities of funeral management.
A woman models a dress during a funeral fashion show of "mourning dresses."
Oksana Zhavoronko, the project manager for the Russian NECROPOLIS expo, told RFE/RL that the coronavirus pandemic has resulted in a surge in interest in the funeral industry.
"More people have come to appreciate our profession," she says, "because in these past two years death has come to so many people."
A man dressed as a coffin at the trade fair.
After a steady decline in mortality rates since the 2000s, Russia -- like many other countries -- saw a sharp uptick in death rates in 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic took its grim toll. That trend appears likely to continue. On October 27, the country reported a record 1,123 COVID-19 deaths over the past 24 hours.
Visitors inspect the lining of a coffin during the unusual trade fair.
Zhavoronko says around 1,000 people visited the exhibition on October 26. Those who visited were overwhelmingly professionals in the funeral industry, although "some artists and other people came to see the fashion show of the mourning dresses."
A model wearing a headpiece that doubles as a face mask during the fashion show.
Zhavoronko confirmed that unusual, funeral-specific clothing such as this headpiece is worn by some mourners.
A model shows off a coffin during the exhibition.
The NECROPOL exhibition's website states: "Today we are on the verge of a new understanding of the philosophy of death," adding that since the first such trade fair in 1993, the organizers have aimed to "change attitudes in society, to show that death should be as beautiful as the birth of a child."
A visitor walks past a display of religious banners at the exhibition.
Due to the surge in coronavirus deaths, the Moscow exhibition will be closed early, on October 28, as part of a nationwide lockdown in Russia.