THE VOLKOV-YUSUPOV PALACE Moscow .... Resembling a fairy-tale castle, the stone house at 21 Bolshoi Kharitonyevsky Pereulok dates back to the 16th century, with reconstruction and redesign continuing up until the 19th century. The powerful and influential have resided in its rooms and wandered in its gardens, including Ivan the Terrible and a very young Alexander Pushkin. The last owner was Prince Felix Yusupov, who went down in history as the murderer of Rasputin. In one of the few historical references of the building's beginnings, he wrote in his memoirs that Ivan the Terrible used to relax here after his hunting trips, feasting luxuriously before slipping back to the Kremlin by underground tunnel. According to Prince Yusupov, his parents discovered the tunnel during renovations of the house. During those renovations, a long corridor full of skeletons chained to the walls, compliments of the tsar, was also discovered. The Yusupov family never fancied the place and when visiting Moscow from St. Petersburg, they preferred to stay in the house's numerous wings or outbuildings, saving the chambers exclusively for gala receptions...