The Bulgakov Museum in Moscow is a
writer's house museum
Writers' homes (sometimes writer's, author's or literary houses) are locations where writers lived. Frequently, these homes are preserved as historic house museums and literary tourism destinations, called writer's home museums, especially when t ...
which commemorates the life and work of author
Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov in an apartment where he lived in
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
,
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
, and in which he set portions of his novel ''
The Master and Margarita
''The Master and Margarita'' (russian: Мастер и Маргарита) is a novel by Soviet writer Mikhail Bulgakov
Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov ( rus, links=no, Михаил Афанасьевич Булгаков, p=mʲɪxɐˈil ɐf ...
''.
Graffiti
Graffiti (plural; singular ''graffiti'' or ''graffito'', the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from s ...
, including text from the novel and drawings of its characters, have decorated the external walls and stairwells of the apartment building since the beginning of
perestroika
''Perestroika'' (; russian: links=no, перестройка, p=pʲɪrʲɪˈstrojkə, a=ru-perestroika.ogg) was a political movement for reform within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) during the late 1980s widely associated wit ...
. It is located about two blocks from
Patriarch Ponds
Patriarch's Ponds (russian: Патриаршие пруды, ''Patriarshiye prudy'') is park, pond and an affluent residential area in downtown Presnensky District of Moscow, Russia. For the last 200 years, there has been only ''one'' pond, altho ...
, the scene of the opening chapter of the novel, where the Moscow city government had planned to erect statues commemorating the novel. It is close to
Mayakovskaya metro station
The once luxurious rental house, constructed by millionaire
Ilya Pigit, owner of the tobacco factory Ducat, was fitted for the first working commune after the revolution. The house, which housed or was visited by dancer
Isadora Duncan
Angela Isadora Duncan (May 26, 1877 or May 27, 1878 – September 14, 1927) was an American dancer and choreographer, who was a pioneer of modern contemporary dance, who performed to great acclaim throughout Europe and the US. Born and raised in ...
and poet
Sergey Esenin
Sergei Alexandrovich Yesenin ( rus, Сергей Александрович Есенин, p=sʲɪrˈɡʲej ɐlʲɪkˈsandrəvʲɪtɕ jɪˈsʲenʲɪn; ( 1895 – 28 December 1925), sometimes spelled as Esenin, was a Russian lyric poet. He is one o ...
,
Alice Koonen and
Andrei Bely
Boris Nikolaevich Bugaev ( rus, Бори́с Никола́евич Буга́ев, p=bɐˈrʲis nʲɪkɐˈlajɪvʲɪtɕ bʊˈɡajɪf, a=Boris Nikolayevich Bugayev.ru.vorb.oga), better known by the pen name Andrei Bely or Biely ( rus, Андре ...
,
Vasily Surikov
Vasily Ivanovich Surikov (Russian: Василий Иванович Суриков; 24 January 1848 – 19 March 1916) was a Russian Realist history painter. Many of his works have become familiar to the general public through their use as illus ...
and
bass
Bass or Basses may refer to:
Fish
* Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species
Music
* Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range:
** Bass (instrument), including:
** Acoustic bass gui ...
Fyodor Shaliapin, imaginists and futurists, the members of the artistic group the
Jack of Diamonds, and the whole Moscow bohemians, was filled up with the proletariat in the early post-revolutionary years. The studios of the artists
Pyotr Konchalovsky
Pyotr Petrovich Konchalovsky (''also trans.'' Petr; russian: Пётр Петрович Кончаловский; 21 February 1876 – 2 February 1956) was a Russian and Soviet painter, a member of the Knave of Diamonds group.
Biography
Ear ...
and
Georgy Yakulov, which were situated in the court of the house 10, were kept, and artistic life continued to pulsate there weekly. What occurred in other apartments – Bulgakov described vividly in the stories ''
№ 13 – Elpit Rabcommune Building'', ''
The Psalm'', ''
The Moonshine Lake'', and finally in the novel ''
The Master and Margarita
''The Master and Margarita'' (russian: Мастер и Маргарита) is a novel by Soviet writer Mikhail Bulgakov
Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov ( rus, links=no, Михаил Афанасьевич Булгаков, p=mʲɪxɐˈil ɐf ...
''.
The
communal flat № 50, where Mikhail Bulgakov and his wife lived during 1921–24, became the prototype of that ''Odd Flat'', where
Voland
Woland (russian: Воланд) is a fictional character in the novel ''The Master and Margarita'' by the Russian (Soviet) author Mikhail Bulgakov, written between 1928 and 1940. Woland is the mysterious foreigner and professor whose visit to Mosc ...
with his court settled up, and where that leading to another measurement mysterious stairs is situated. Years passed, and the stairs of the entrance № 6 became a bewitched place: since the 1970s people go there to sit on those steps, where Annushka found the horse-shoe, to recollect the favourite fragments from the Novel, to sing and to dream. The stairs became one of the unofficial cultural centers of Moscow of 1980–90s. In the attic the “Academy of the Hippie” was organized, and the walls of the entrance were covered with drawings, quotations from Bulgakov’s works, declarations of love to Bulgakov and his characters. During these years, the door of the ''flat № 50'' was closed for the fans of Bulgakov: it housed a design office. But in the 1990s the Bulgakov Fund was based there, and then since April 2007 – the only official Bulgakov Museum in Russia.
Now ''The Odd Flat'' is revived and not only shadows of literary personages and former tenants roam here. It is opened for everyone, who wants to find himself inside the novel, to learn more about
Bulgakov Bulgakov (russian: Булгаков) is a Russian surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Anatoly Bulgakov (footballer, born 1944), Russian football coach and former player
* Anatoly Bulgakov (footballer, born 1979), Russian football pl ...
and his epoch, to communicate with like-minded persons.
Gradually a constant exposition was created on the basis of the collections of Bulgakov’s nieces E.A. Zemskaya and V.M. Svetlaeva, and also V.F. Dimenko’s collection.
Cultural events in “The Odd Flat”: plays of the theatre ''KomediantЪ'', the first half of 20th century jazz concerts and concerts of classical music, exhibitions and subject seminars: culturological seminars are connected with the club ''New Moscow'', literary-philosophical – with the work of the ''Bulgakov discussion club'', and traditional meetings of Aleksey Didurov’s Rock-cabaret.
On December 22, 2006, the museum in Bulgakov's flat was damaged by an anti-satanist protester and disgruntled neighbor, Alexander Morozov.
Alexander Alexandrovich Morozov
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See also
* Mikhail Bulgakov
Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov ( rus, links=no, Михаил Афанасьевич Булгаков, p=mʲɪxɐˈil ɐfɐˈnasʲjɪvʲɪtɕ bʊlˈɡakəf; – 10 March 1940) was a Soviet writer, medical doctor, and playwright active in the fir ...
* Mikhail Bulgakov Museum
Mikhail Bulgakov Museum (officially known as Literature-Memorial Museum to Mikhail Bulgakov, commonly called the Bulgakov House or Lystovnychyi House) is a museum in Kyiv, Ukraine, dedicated to Kyiv-born Russian writer Mikhail Bulgakov.
Commence ...
* Heart of a Dog
''Heart of a Dog'' (russian: links=no, italic=yes, Собачье сердце, Sobachye serdtse) is a novella by Russian author Mikhail Bulgakov. A biting satire of Bolshevism, it was written in 1925 at the height of the NEP period, when commu ...
* The Master and Margarita
''The Master and Margarita'' (russian: Мастер и Маргарита) is a novel by Soviet writer Mikhail Bulgakov
Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov ( rus, links=no, Михаил Афанасьевич Булгаков, p=mʲɪxɐˈil ɐf ...
References
External links
Bulgakov museum in Moscow. The Odd Flat
Diary of Bulgakov museum in Moscow
* Bulgakov museum in Russian Wikipedia
Bulgakov Museum on Flickr
Bulgakov Museum on YouTube
* The Moscow Times
''The Moscow Times'' is an independent English-language and Russian-language online newspaper. It was in print in Russia from 1992 until 2017 and was distributed free of charge at places frequented by English-speaking tourists and expatriates s ...
The Master of Irony
James Marson, February 19, 2008
{{authority control
Museums established in 2007
Museums in Moscow
Mikhail Bulgakov
Bulgarov
Literary museums in Russia
2007 establishments in Russia
Cultural heritage monuments of regional significance in Moscow