The Yusupovs were one of imperial Russia's richest and most well known noble families and therefore they had several palaces all over Russia including two in St Petersburg.  The Yusupov Palace on the Moika was built in the 1770s and is the most famous of their St Petersburg palaces due to its link with the infamous Rasputin.  It was in the basement of the Yusupov Palace on the Moika that Feliks Yusupov, the most famous of the Yusupovs who had married into the Russian imperial family, allegedly poisoned and then shot the “mad monk”, who was subsequently thrown into the Moika where he finally died by drowning.  

Today the palace is run as a conference centre and concert hall but tours of the building are also offered.  The most popular tour is of course the tour of the basement which features waxworks depicting the conspiracy to murder Rasputin. This palace should not be confused with the Yusupov Palace on the Fontanka which is located in Yusupovsky Gardens on Ulitsa Sadovaya and is now used to house the St Petersburg State Transport University.