The Yusupov Palace on the Moika is one of the few aristocratic mansions in St Petersburg where not only the state rooms and the picture gallery have survived, but also the owners' private rooms and a small private theatre. From 1830 to 1919, five generations of the Yusupov princes lived here. And on the night of 17 December 1916, Grigory Rasputin was murdered in the apartments of the young Prince Felix Yusupov. Here we explain which routes are open in autumn 2026, how much tickets cost and where the entrance actually is.
Key facts
| Address | 94 Moika Embankment; visitor entrance from 21 Dekabristov Street |
| Ticket office and entry | daily from 09:30 to 18:00 |
| Palace and park | daily from 10:00 to 19:30 |
| Self-guided with audio guide | 950 ₽ (state rooms, theatre and the prince's private apartments), 1 300 ₽ (combined ticket) |
| With a guide | from 950 ₽ (route No. 1) to 1 900 ₽ (route No. 6) |
| Rasputin exhibition | only as part of routes No. 2, 4, 6 or the combined ticket, 16+ |
| Where to buy tickets | on yusupov-palace.ru and at the ticket office at 21 Dekabristov Street |
| Metro | Admiralteyskaya, Sadovaya, Nevsky Prospekt, Spasskaya, Sennaya Ploshchad |
State rooms
All the main routes begin in the state half of the palace. According to the palace's description, this comprises the Main Staircase, the Tapestry Drawing Room, the State Bedroom, the Large Rotunda, the enfilade of the Blue, Red and Green Drawing Rooms, the Ballroom and the White-Column (Banqueting) Hall, the Gallery of Exhibition Halls and the Oak Dining Room. The ensemble took almost two centuries to form, and it is no accident that the museum calls it an "encyclopaedia" of St Petersburg aristocratic interiors.
Much of what you see today was brought back by restorers. In autumn 1941 several bombs hit the building: one went straight through it and destroyed the Green Drawing Room, and the White-Column Hall and the theatre were damaged. Major restoration began in 1946 under the direction of Irina Benois.
The Blue Drawing Room, one of the enfilade of state drawing rooms. Photo: Sergey A. Demidov, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0
After that, the routes diverge. The prince's private half includes the Music Drawing Room, the Prince's Study, the billiard room and the Moorish Drawing Room. The most complete route adds the princess's boudoirs, the apartments of Felix and Irina and the "Aladdin's Cave" jewellery vault — more than 40 interiors in all.
The private theatre
The theatre is included in all the main routes, even the shortest one, No. 1. The palace calls it one of the most beautiful private theatres in Europe. Above the princely box and the side boxes is the monogram of Princess Zinaida Nikolayevna Yusupova.
The theatre has a musical history. In February 1836 the orchestral rehearsal of the first act of Glinka's opera "A Life for the Tsar" took place here, with the composer himself accompanying the musicians on the piano. Franz Liszt and Henri Vieuxtemps performed on this stage, and at various times the prince's orchestra was conducted by Ludwig Minkus and Eduard Nápravník.
The princely box of the private theatre. Photo: Yair Haklai, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
The theatre is still in use. This autumn it is staging operettas. Kálmán's "The Csárdás Princess" is on 16 and 30 October and 4 November at 19:30, the "Favourite Operettas" programme on 23 October and 13 November, and "La Bayadère" on 22 November. Tickets for these evenings cost from 2 100 to 12 000 ₽ depending on the seat; "The Csárdás Princess" runs for about two and a half hours. The audience enters not from Dekabristov Street but from 94 Moika Embankment, 30 minutes before the start. The current programme is in the events section of the palace website.
The Rasputin murder exhibition
On the palace website it is currently called "The Murder of G. Rasputin". It occupies Felix Yusupov's rooms where the events of that night unfolded: the Small Vestibule, the study (the "conspirators' room") and the basement dining room. Wax figures stand in the recreated setting, and photographs, documents and investigation materials are on display. Age restriction: 16+.
There is no separate ticket for these rooms alone; the exhibition is included in the following routes:
- No. 2 — state rooms, theatre and the exhibition, 1 200 ₽, up to 1 hour 30 minutes;
- No. 4 — the same plus the prince's private apartments, 1 350 ₽, up to 1 hour 45 minutes;
- No. 6 — the whole of the palace open to visitors, 1 900 ₽, up to 2 hours 30 minutes, in groups of up to 15 people;
- combined ticket with audio guide — 1 300 ₽, up to 1 hour 50 minutes. Its audio guide is in Russian only; entry any time during the day from 10:00 to 15:55.
There is also a walk with a historian, "The Yusupov Quarter and the Mystery of Rasputin's Murder" (2 300 ₽, 2 hours). It starts at 11:00 at the monument to Nicholas I on St Isaac's Square. The route follows Bolshaya Morskaya Street and the Moika to the estate and ends in Felix's rooms. The next dates listed on the website are 17, 24 and 31 October and 4, 7, 14, 21 and 28 November. The purchase button on the programme page leads to the website of the palace's partner.
