Butyskaya Prison

Butyskaya is the most notorious prison in the city. Lev Tolstoy is said to have written here, Harry Houdini escaped from here and Fyodor Chaliapin sang here. You can find about them and its thousands of other visitors in a fascinating weekly museum tour. On show are chess pieces, necklaces and dominoes created by prisoners out of bread and a history of the various inventive escape attempts. The prison is still working and be warned - the tour guards tend to treat you as if you have come for a five-year-stretch.