March is here and in the Southern half of the United States, spring has sprung. In Russia it is still cold and a tad bleak but soon the countryside will burst with marvelous colors and the iced over canals of St. Petersburg will be flowing with boat loads of gay tourists come to marvel at the Venice of the North. March is a good month to feature one of our favorite places to visit in St. Petersburg, the fabulous Yusupov Palace.

This marvelous palace is one of the real jewels of St. Petersburg, boasting furnishings to rival that of the palaces of the House of Romanov. It has a private theater that rivals the private Theater of Catherine the Great in the Winter Palace. It is a splendid mixture of European and Moorish architecture. From the time you enter the front door and see the grand staircase until you leave the building you know you are in a setting where earth shaking events occurred.

The main feature of our newsletter for March is the fabled history of the palace where the Siberian monk, Rasputin met his fate. It is an interesting story shrouded in mystery and intrigue. Rasputin's antics and the circumstances of his death played a huge role in bringing down the end of the rule of the Romanov family.

No one can say for sure exactly how he died although the palace staff is generally faithful to the most widely quoted circumstances of his death. I must confess that each time I go to the very room where Rasputin was hosted by the party of assassins led by Prince Felix Yusupov, I feel myself drawn into the circumstances of that fateful night. I will always wonder how Rasputin was able to stop the internal bleeding of the young Tsarevich Alexis. Was Rasputin making an idle boast to extend his own life when he prophesied his death would result in the fall of the Tsar's rule? Was he really a man of God or just a filthy debaucher of women?

Come with us to Russia and see for yourselves and maybe you can make heads or tails of this century old question.

Sincerely,
Michael E. Donnelly, Ph.D.
President