Was Stalin irked by the popularity of Sergei Kirov, a top official in the party and member of the Politburo? Some think he ordered his assassination on 1st December 1934 at the Smolny Institute, an assassination that marked the beginning of the Stalinist Terror. This small museum, located in the apartment where he lived until his death, pays tribute to him. The imposing austere building is today the largest residential complex of St Petersburg.