Cookies Policy

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Who am I?

My name is Jan Vanhellemont. I live at Horengang No. 5 in 3000 Leuven, Belgium. I launched this website in its current form as a non-profit project on November 6, 2006. The website is intended as a tribute to the Russian writer Mikhail Bulgakov and his renowned novel The Master and Margarita, and at the same time as a source of information about this novel, its characters, the places described in it, and the political, social, economic, and cultural context in which it was written between 1928 and 1940.


Am I using cookies?

I do not place cookies on this website myself. In the past, however, cookies were placed by companies such as Google, Facebook, Amazon, Bing, Statcounter, and others. These cookies were activated when users clicked on links referring to those websites to announce events, collect visitor statistics, or order books. However, in June 2026, following the migration of this website from the servers of the American Network Solutions to the Belgian Combell, I removed all such links from the website.


So, will you no longer find cookies on this website?

The likelihood of that is very limited, but technology is evolving so rapidly that I do not dare make any statements about it. In the past, was also unaware that my links to the aforementioned websites activated cookies..

Cookies can be broadly divided into three groups, according to the purpose for which they are used.

• Essential cookies - These cookies are necessary for the proper functioning of a website and cannot be disabled. They help, for example, to set your privacy preferences. For the time being, I am therefore not using them, but it is not ruled out that this will happen later. When that is the case, it will be reported here on this page.

• Analytical cookies - These cookies collect statistics about how visitors use a website. Among other things, they measure the number of visitors and record the pages viewed and the time spent on the website. This data is used to improve website performance and user experiences. I am not currently using this type of cookie either. Combell, my hosting company, uses AWStats to compile visitor statistics. This is a log analyzer, a tool that functions by reading the so-called 'server logs' from the web server and does not place tracking scripts in the visitor's browser. Nevertheless, to be sure, I offer you the option to reject potential analytical cookies. You can choose to accept or reject them using the cookie button at the bottom of every page. The setting you choose applies to the entire website during your visit, unless you change it again.

• Marketing cookies - These cookies track visitors' browsing behavior across different websites to create personal profiles and display targeted advertisements. I do not use this type of cookie, and I avoid the potential placement of such cookies by third parties by performing a monthly check. You can choose to accept or reject such cookies using the cookie button at the bottom of every page. The default setting is set to reject. The setting you choose applies to the entire website during your visit, unless you change it again.


The Sliktide Content Manager

Although I do not personally place any tracking or marketing cookies and do not collect any privacy-sensitive data, I still wish to protect visitors to this site from potential unwanted registration of their data. Therefore, I have installed the Silktide Consent Manager, which displays a cookie banner upon loading the website where you can indicate your cookie preferences.

The Silktide Consent Manager is so-called open-source software, and I made this choice for the following reasons:

• No database - The tool runs entirely within the visitor's browser and stores the preferences in a local cookie or local storage. Therefore, I do not use a database or server myself for the consents.

• No external dependency - Because I have placed the code within the HTML pages of the website itself, I am not dependent on an external server belonging to a commercial party.

• Maximum loading speed - Commercial cookie banners often load heavy external scripts that slow down the website. Silktide's code is very lightweight, which is ideal for the performance of a hand-built website like this one.

By using this website, you agree to this website's cookie policy. You can change your cookie preferences on any page by using the cookie button at the bottom of every page. From then on, your changes will apply to the entire website for the duration of your visit, unless you change them again


Changes to this cookie policy

Any changes to this cookie policy will be published on this page.


Contact me

If you have questions about this cookies policy, you can contact me via the channels below.

Jan Vanhellemont
Horengang 5
3000 Leuven
Belgium

jan@vanhellemont.be

+32 475 260793