In 1999 a large collection of photos taken on the Poltava battlefield were found in the War Archives in Stockholm (Krigsarkivet). Later it was learned that these photos were taken by two Swedish officers: Karl Bennedich and Frey Rydeberg, who visited Poltava in summer 1911. They visited Poltava by order of the General Staff of the Swedish Army and their objective was to discover main burial places of Swedish warriors that were killed in the battle of Poltava and mark them on the map.

They also were ordered to make a topographical survey or the battlefield. It was well known that all the Swedes killed were buried in hurriedly in numerous marshy depressions and a few captured Swedish priests served a requiem mass. The total losses of the Swedish army in the battle of Poltava numbered about 9,000 men.

In the very beginning of XX century these burial places still had not been located. Very shortly permission for taking photos and making a topographical survey or the battlefield was granted to Swedish officers by the government of Russian Empire. All necessary documents were issued by the vice-governor of Poltava Province S.Bibikov. Frey Rydeberg, and Karl Bennedich succeeded in finding the main burial places of Swedish warriors due to the active support and help of then director of a mental hospital, Doctor Alexander Maltsev who was very fond of military history. He provided the Swedish officers with diggers and shortly near the village of Maly Budischi, at a depth of about 1,5 meters they found many human bones and skulls, mostly damaged by swords and bullets. Further investigation proved that the researchers had discovered the main burial place of the warriors of Västmanland Regiment, Närke-Värmland Regiment, Uppland Regiments, Kalmar Regiments and many other units of the Swedish Army. Another burial place was discovered near the village of Malye Pavlenki. A few of the bones and skulls were delivered to Sweden for detailed scientific examination. Later, these remains were buried on the churchyard in Vadstena. In 1927 Carl Bennedich published his book about the battle of Poltava in four volumes. The Swedish lieutenants believed that the duty of their generation is to erect the grave mound with a cross on the last resting place of the brave warriors of Charles XII.