Yusupov Palace on the Moyka is one of the rare St Petersburg museums where interiors have survived almost exactly as the owners left them. The palace belonged to the Yusupovs, among the wealthiest families of the Russian Empire; estimates from the early 1900s put their fortune above the imperial family's. In December 1916 Prince Felix Yusupov and his accomplices killed Grigory Rasputin in the basement of this house — a case historians still argue about. Today the museum runs two parallel routes, and it is realistic to do both in a single visit.
🏛 State rooms: White Hall, Tapestry Room, Moorish Lounge
The main route starts at the grand staircase and leads through the enfilade on the second floor. The White Hall was the main reception space, with marble columns and mirrored piers — the Yusupovs hosted balls for 300 guests here. Beyond it come the Red and Blue drawing rooms, the Tapestry Room with original 18th-century weavings, and the Moorish Lounge — an orientalist interior with mosaics and a fountain that turned Felix Yusupov Senior's study into an Arab palace in miniature.
What makes the route valuable is that the furniture, paintings, lamps and even the library books remain in the same places as under the owners. After the revolution the palace was handed to the Teachers' House, and that is why it was not stripped for other museums. Photography without flash is allowed.
🎭 The private theatre: a baroque jewel for 180 seats
On the ground floor is one of the city's most beautiful interiors — the Yusupovs' private theatre. It is a true neo-baroque hall with gilded stucco, ceiling frescoes and three tiers of boxes. The Yusupovs invited Chaliapin, Pauline Viardot and other stars of the age to perform here. The theatre still operates: tickets for evening concerts — mostly chamber music and opera — are sold separately, and it remains one of the most atmospheric concert venues in town.
🩸 The Rasputin Murder tour: cellar, waxworks, atmosphere
The second route runs with a separate group and a guide. It starts on the ground floor too but leads down into the cellar — the very one where on the night of 17 December 1916 Yusupov served Rasputin poisoned cakes. The cellar has been reconstructed: the sofa, table and gramophone are in place, and in the next room waxworks of Rasputin and Yusupov stage the scene. The guide walks through the plot in detail — the other conspirators (Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich, Vladimir Purishkevich), the motives and what went wrong on the night.
The route also shows Felix's study, where after returning from the murder he met his wife, and the family's personal belongings. The tour runs about an hour and is suitable for adults and teenagers; younger children may find it heavy.
