This chap up at the top here is Felix Rasputin - the man who killed Rasputin. But Felix wasn't just any man - he was heir to the richest aristocratic position in Russia, the future Count Yusupov (which he indeed became) - richer than the Tsars themselves. They had palaces in both St Petersburg and Moscow - and indeed, all over the country. I am personally linked up with their palace outside Moscow, Archangelskoe, because they have an opera theatre which might - once never-ending renovations are finished - stage a couple of my shows. But these photos above are from the Yusupov Palace in St Petersburg, which I visited whilst up in the "northern capital". As you can see, they liked opera - they had this little chamber opera theatre installed inside their palace. Below that is a waxworks model of Rasputin being given his poisoned supper (there ought to be more guests - there seem to have been around 6-7 of them?). When the poison failed to kill him, they shot him repeatedly with Felix's revolver... and since he was still alive after that, they dragged his body outdoors and threw it into the icy waters of the river. You can visit the Yusupov Palace during any trip to St Petersburg - whether Rasputin really deserved this treatment is a question that goes unanswered there, but the Police Archives photo of his body is on show.
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