YUSUPOV PALACE

94 nab. reki Moiki 190000 St. Petersburg
Open daily: 1lam - 4pm
Tel. 314-8893, 314-9883
Nearest metro stations: Sennaya ploshchad and Sadovaya

The Yusupov Palace acquired its present appearance in the course of several reconstructions (1760s, architect] Jean-Baptiste Vallin de la Mothe; 1830, architect Andrei Mikhailov II; 2nd half of the 1850s, architect Ippolit Moriighetti). The inner rooms are remarkable for their rich decor. The painted ceilings of the Large Rotunda, the Red and Blue drawing-rooms and the Corinthian colonnade of the White-Columned Hall are especially attractive. The Turkish Study, the Pompeian, Oak, Heinrich It's Parlour and the Music Parlour are decorated with motifs of different historical styles. The exotic Moresque Drawing-room is a veritable highlight of the palace. The domestic theatre is built in the Baroque style and some of the ground-floor rooms in Neoclassical style (1910s, artists Nikolai Tyrsa, Vladimir Konashevich and Sergei Chekhonin).

The building belonged to the Yusupov princes from the 1830s. Here, on the night of 16-17 December 1916 (New Style, 29-30 December), Grigory Rasputin, the favourite of Emperor Nicholas II's family, was murdered by a group of monarchists, including Prince Felix Yusupov. Grand Duke Dmitry Pavlovich, Duma deputy Vladimir Purishkevich, Lieutenant A.S.Sukhotin and Doctor Stanislav Lazobert. After the 1917 revolution, the palace became state property and was converted into a museum about the lifestyle of the nobility. Today it houses the Palace of Culture for Educational Workers.

Since the 1950s restoration work has been carried out on practically all the interiors. Frescoes, carvings, marble, Venetian mirrors, gilded chandeliers, soft silks, tapestries and superb sets of furniture, are all part and parcel of the magnificent decor of the palace. A popular exhibition, "Grigory Rasputin: The Story of His Life and Death", opened in 1991, tells the story of his murder with the help of wax figures.

Guided tours of the interiors are available to visitors. The palace hosts concerts of Russian and Western European classical music.