6 places in Moscow worth visiting for fans of "The Master and Margarita"

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

There are many iconic places in Moscow. Among them there are also those where fans of Mikhail Bulgakov's work and his mystical novel "The Master and Margarita" should definitely visit. They dream about the future, try to find factual similarities with the events of the novel, and make wishes that are said to always come true.

1. Bad apartment

The prototype of the Bad Apartment from the novel "The Master and Margarita" was the apartment in which Bulgakov himself lived from 1921 to 1934. 302 bis is a fictitious number. As the writer himself admitted, in this way he encrypted the number 10 of the prototype building using the formula 10 = (3 + 2) x2. This fantastically large was supposed to emphasize that everything that happens is pure fiction.

Today, at the entrance of the Bad Apartment, they read one of Bulgakov's most mysterious novels, they leave inscriptions, wishes and drawings that cover the walls with an even layer on all floors. It is believed that the wish written here will certainly come true. And all those who dream of eternal love often come here.

2. House of the Master

According to the memoirs of contemporaries, house number 9 in Mansurovsky lane once belonged to the actor of the Maly Theater S. Topleninov, to whom Bulgakov often visited. The writer was one of the first to let Topleninov read his novel. Then he was amazed: "So you described our basement?"

"- - shining eyes, whispered the narrator, -".

It's hard to believe, but even with the advent of the Soviets, this modest house in the center of Moscow remained someone's private property.

3. Variety show

Address: Moscow, Triumfalnaya square, 2

The prototype of the Variety Theater, in which one of the mystical scenes of the novel took place, was the Moscow Music Hall that existed in 1926-1936. It was located not far from the Bad apartment. Until 1926, the building housed the Nikitins circus. Now it houses the Moscow Theater of Satire

4. House of Herzen - MASSOLIT

The novel "The Master and Margarita" depicts Herzen's House. In the 1920s, it housed a number of literary organizations, among which were the RAPP (Russian Association of Proletarian Writers) and MAPP (Moscow Association of Proletarian Writers), which became the prototype of MASSOLIT. No decoding of this abbreviation is given in the novel, but it is quite possible that, by analogy with the association of playwrights that existed at that time, MASTKOMDRAM (Workshop of Communist Drama) MASSOLIT is a Workshop of Socialist Literature.

5. Patriarch's Ponds

Address: Moscow

According to the plot of the novel, it was at the Patriarch's Ponds that Berlioz was covered by a tram “turning along the newly laid line from Ermolaevsky to Bronnaya (…) and a round dark object was thrown onto the cobblestone slope under the lattice of the Patriarch's Alley. Rolling down this slope, he jumped over the cobblestones of Bronnaya. It was the severed head of Berlioz."

True, there is one essential inaccuracy in the novel. According to the transport schemes of the 1920s, there were no tram lines with the Patriarchs nearby.

6. House of Drumlit

At the end of the alley.

House number 6 on Vakhtangov Street, however, is not 8-storey, and its facade does not shine with black marble. But, nevertheless, it was this building that was built in the 1930s for Soviet art workers. There is, however, another house, which is an exact copy of Bulgakov's. Its facade is indeed finished with polished black stone, and apartment No. 84, from which Margarita started the pogrom, is located in an 8-storey wing. Even the location of other apartments coincides, and most importantly, this house is truly a writer's house.