Two museums
At the beginning of the 21st century, the whole block on Bolshaya Sadovaya no. 10 was renovated and, early 2004, a fistful of enthusiast Bulgakov-adepts succeeded to transform the apartment into a museum. It all started well on May 15, 2004, with more than 500 people at the reception, but later discord arose and now there are two competing musea in the same building.
The Bulgakov house
The first museum, the Bulgakov house, is situated at the first floor, next to the entrance of the building. The official name of the museum is Музей-театр «Булгаковский Дом» [Musey-teatr Bulgakovsky Dom] or Museum-theatre Bulgakov house. It is driven by the unremitting enthusiasm of a young team which takes quite some initiatives like the organisation of Bulgakov excursions (during the day and at night) and exhibitions, the management of the Café 302-bis and the hosting of the Bulgakov Theatre.
They also organise many cultural events in and around the museum. A peculiar detail: the storage room of the Bulgakov house, and the workshop of its childrens' theatre are situated in apartment number 51, right in front of the entrance of the notorious apartment number 50, where live their rivals. It was this apartment which, in December 2006, was destroyed by the above mentioned Aleksandr Morozov. You can read more about this character in the news archives of this website. You can find the links in the menu on the right of this page.
Bulgakov House entrance
The Museum M.A. Bulgakov
Well.. back to the rivals. The other museum is called the Государственное учреждение культуры города Москвы «Музей М. А. Булгакова» or the Moscow State institute for Culture «Museum M.A. Bulgakov». Since March 27, 2007, it is situated in apartment number 50 where Bulgakov used to live for a couple of years, and where several scenes of The Master en Margarita are enacted. At first, the exhibition rooms of the Museum Mikhail Bulgakov looked a little empty and were set up with few imagination, but that is improving. The team behind this museum shows less dynamism than the neighbours of the Bulgakov house but they do have a competitive advantage: they can show an official recognition as a museum from the city of Moscow.
Following their downstairs neighbors of the Bulgakov house, the initiators of the Museum Mikhail Bulgakov also started organizing other activities such as theatre performances and excursions.
The rivalry between the two museums sometimes leads to scenes which could have come straight out of The Master and Margarita. The initiators of the Museum Mikhail Bulgakov sometimes act as an official agency à la Griboedov. On the first page of their website they write in a quite bombastic way that they are «the only and first Memorial Museum of Mikhail Bulgakov» in Moscow. While visitors, to get to their premises, have to pass the Bulgakov house which was founded three years earlier. But to be honest: they do have an English version of their website, and the others don't.
Personally I feel sorry that so much energy is wasted and that the rivalry is kept up so stubbornly. A combination of the energy and the enthusiasm of the Bulgakov house downstairs - highly appreciated by the press and the public - with the networking and the rights on the apartment of the Bulgakov foundation upstairs - obviously appreciated by the Moscow city authorities - would offer this place immediately a much different and magical attraction. Maybe Woland should, even if it were only for a short moment, come back and sort things out...
Tram 302-bis for Bulgakov Tours in Moscow
Latest developments
Well... perhaps Woland speaks Italian? On May 14, 2012, the director of the Museum M.A. Bulgakov, Inna Mishina, was fired because of internal struggles. It was much to the dismay of her sister, the writer, critic and historian Marietta Chudakova, who is quite famous in Moscow.
Right after the dismissal of Mishina, the Department of Culture of the city of Moscow organised a contest to entrust the management of the Museum M.A. Bulgakov to the winner. Four teams, among which the rivals of the Bulgakov House, got into the finale. The winner of the contest was the Italian architect Gabriele Filippini and his Russian wife Olga Moskvina. They have said that they want that Marietta Chudakova would play a role in their project and that they want to develop a partnership with the Bulgakov House. This statement was made on October 9, 2012. We are interested in the follow up although we haven't seen much changes since then...
Музей - театр «Булгаковский Дом»
Museum-theatre Bulgakov House
Bolshaya Sadovaya ulitsa no. 10
Tel: +7 (495) 970-06-19
Excursions: +7 (495) 970-06-19
Theatre: +7 (495) 775-94-61
Open from 1 p.m. to 11 p.m. daily
Fridays from 1 p.m. to 1 a.m.
Free entrance
Музей М. А. Булгакова
Museum M.A. Bulgakov
Bolshaya Sadovaya ulitsa no. 10
Tel: +7 (495) 699-53-66
Open from 12 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Thursdays from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Mondays closed
Ring at number 50
Adults 150 rubles
Students and pensioners 50 rubles
Free entrance every third Sunday of the month
Metro: Маяковская (Mayakovskaya)
English subtitles
All films based on The Master and Margarita have been subtitled by your webmaster in English, French, Dutch, German, Spanish and Italian. Click on the link belw to find them.
