Russia is soon going to exhibit the preserved 30-centimetre penis of charismatic monk Grigory Rasputin, better known in history as the Mad Monk, for his unbounded sway over the Russian Tsars.The penis will be displayed at the first Russian museum of erotica to open in St Petersburg. The museum has been founded by Igor Knyazkin, the head of the Prostate Research Centre, under Russian Academy of Natural Sciences. Announcing the ‘‘proud exhibit’’ to be displayed at the museum, Knyazkin told Nezavisimaya Gazeta daily that by exhibiting Rasputin’s penis, he wanted Russia to be a civilised country with a view on the future and with correct views on erotica.‘‘Having this exhibit, we can stop envying America, where Napoleon Bonaparte’s penis is now kept. Napoleon’s penis is but a small pod it cannot stand comparison to this,’’ he said.Rasputin, an illiterate peasant, was born in 1869 in Siberia, came to St Petersburg in 1911 and within a few years acquired great influence over the household of Russian Tsar Nicholas II. His rise to prominence was attributed to Nicholas’ wife Alexandra. The heir to the Tsarist throne Alexis suffered from haemophilia and only Rasputin was able to stop his bleeding. Alexandra believed that Rasputin was a holy saint who was protecting Alexis and always kept him close by.However, many historians point to the unusual cult, a mixture of Christianity and sexual practices, that Rasputin practised.Many noble women were believed to have had sexual relations with Rasputin. Fearing the monk’s growing influence, some noblemen decided to kill him in order to save Russia. They shot Rasputin after poisoning him and then threw him into the frozen Neva river.
