Grigori Rasputin, a Russian monk and companion of Russian Tsar Nicholas II, was killed by reactionary Russian aristocracy in 1916 at the age of 47.
The assassination of Rasputin, Russia's iconic "Mad Monk," provides fuel for a wonderful historical storey that combines truth and mythology. However, the death of the controversial holy man and faith healer sparked a firestorm in pre-revolutionary Russia. Rasputin was assassinated on December 30, 1916, in the basement of the Moika Palace, the Saint Petersburg home of Prince Felix Yussupov, Russia's richest man and the spouse of the Czar's only niece, Irina. A few days later, his beaten body was recovered in the Neva River.
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