The assassination of Grigory Rasputin
A historical recreation exhibit

Concept: G. Sveshnikova. Researchers: O. Utochkina, E. Maslennikova
Design: V. Korotkov. Sculptors: A. Lunin, V. Volkovoi

The Assassination of Grigory Yusupov exhibit was created in 1993-1996 in the chambers of the younger Yusupovs, where the events portrayed had actually taken place. After the wedding of Prince Felix and Princess Irina in 1914, this part of the palace's left-hand wing was redesigned for the newlyweds by the architect A. Beloborodov. Here, a few small rooms partitioned from the rest of the chambers by a small lobby, form an area of the house knows as "Garconierre", the young prince's private quarters. A semicircular hall, octangular mirrored bathroom, study and bedroom are on the first floor. A wooden spiral staircase right underneath the study.

The tour starts in the Small Lobby where the walls are lined with photographs of early 20th century St. Petersburg. In the semicircular hall, you will find the photos of the palace's last private owners, Felix and Zinaida, the Princes Yusupov and Counts Sumarokov-Elston, and the young couple Felix and Irina.

There are more interesting photographs around, including those of Rasputin himself, the family of Nicholas II, and other House of Romanov dignitaries directly or consequentially involved in the anti-Rasputin conspiracy. The display also features some rare and illuminating documents shedding light on the mysterious monk's life and personality, his relations with top Russian Orthodox clerics, the St. Petersburg Bon Monde and the Royal Family.

The tragic night of December 16-17, 1916 is recreated by the wax figures of Grigory Rasputin, Felix Yusupov, and four other co-conspirators.

The scene in the study represents a moment of agonizing uncertainty for the conspirators, Nicholas II's cousin Grand Duke Dmitri among them. The showdown was to happen in the basement dining room, where Felix Yusupov met with Grigory Rasputin. The aristocratic plotters had added a tremendous amount of cyanide to the wine and Rasputin's favorite pastries, but hours went by and the cyanide did not seem to be working. The poses in which the wax figures of the conspirators are depicted betray extreme nervous tension and worry. They are listening hard, trying to divine what's going on in the basement.

Down in the basement, Felix Yusupov was beside himself with fear and anguish. He had invited Rasputin to his private party, so the monk was not alarmed by the fact that he was taken to the vaulted dining room via a secret entrance, where the poisoned treats had been laid out. Grigory Rasputin is shown sitting at the table. Felix Yusupov with his face livid and looking like the face of a young boy - is standing next to him, clutching the back of the chair, seemingly on the verge of reaching for his gun and ending the eerie affair the easy, if more risqué, way.

In the small room adjoining the dining room, which was once reserved for the wait staff, you will discover documentary evidence pertaining to the ensuing investigation and other related events that followed the assassination.

The tour ends with a display of photographs of the co-conspirators, who all left Russia after 1917, as well as books, articles, and memoirs on the subject, published abroad, some of which give contradictory accounts of the tragedy at the Yusupov Palace.

The authors of the exposition were mainly guided by the memoirs of Prince F. Yusupov and the diaries of V. Purishkevich, but due credence was given to other historical sources and the findings of contemporary researchers, who have offered alternative, sometimes highly unorthodox theories about the assassination.