The Master and Margarita

One of the most beautiful houses in Moscow

Bulgakov describes here the Pashkov House in Mokhovaya street. It is built between 1784 and 1787, and was indeed about 150 years old when Bulgakov wrote his novel. Formerly part of the Rumyantsev Museum, Bulgakov visited it in the '20s, when it had become the Lenin Library. Today it houses the manuscript collection of the State Library, including - appropriately - Bulgakov's archival manuscripts.

Click here to read more about the Pashkov house

Resting his sharp chin on his fist

Woland imitates in a very accurate way the pose of the statue the Thinker of the French sculptor Auguste Rodin (1840-1917). This statue is the central part of his famous work The Gates of Hell.

Click here to read more about the Gates of Hell

Little hovels destined to be pulled down

From the Pashkov House Woland can also see, between the palaces, the Храм Христа Спасителя (Khram Khrista Spasitelya) or The Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. You may think that this is not exactly a “little hovel destined to be pulled down”, but maybe you should learn to now this cathedral’s story first.

Click here to read the story of the cathedral

I like Rome better

Woland and Azazello have their view over Moscow while Torgsin and Griboedov are on fire.It recalls how emperor Nero (37-68) had a view over Rome after he had put the city on fire himself in the year 64. Originally Bulgakov had planned for this to happen to Moscow as well in the novel.

He does not deserve the light, he deserves peace

Scholars disagree about the significance of the Master's fate. Some consider that the Master's fate is less than light because he does not persevere in his writing, he loses faith in himself. Others think peace for a creative writer may be no less a fate than light.

Timiriazev

Koroviev refers to the statue of the famous Russian botanist Kliment Arkadyevich Timiriazev (1843-1920) at Nikitsky Gates.

• Introduction
• 1 Never Talk with Strangers
• 2 Pontius Pilate
• 3 The Seventh Proof
• 4 The Chase
• 5 There were Doings at Griboedov's
• 6 Schizophrenia, as was Said
• 7 A Naughty Apartment
• 8 The Combat between the Professor...
• 9 Koroviev's Stunts
• 10 News From Yalta
• 11 Ivan Splits in Two
• 12 Black Magic and Its Exposure
• 13 The Hero Enters
• 14 Glory to the Cock!
• 15 Nikanor Ivanovich's Dream
• 16 The Execution
• 17 An Unquiet Day
• 18 Hapless Visitors
• 19 Margarita
• 20 Azazello's Cream
• 21 Flight
• 22 By Candlelight
• 23 The Great Ball at Satan's
• 24 The Extraction of the Master
• 25 How the Procurator Tried...
• 26 The Burial
• 27 The End of Apartment No. 50
• 28 The Last Adventures of Koroviev...
• 29 The Fate of the Master and...
• 30 It's Time! It's Time!
• 31 On Sparrow Hills
• 32 Forgiveness and Eternal Refuge
• Epilogue

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