A room at Bulgakov House Museum at 10 Bolshaya Sadovaya Street in Moscow, where the Soviet writer Mikhail Bulgakov used to live.

© Alizada Studios/Shutterstock

Mikhail Bulgakov Museum

Top choice


Author of The Master and Margarita and Heart of a Dog, Mikhail Bulgakov was a Soviet-era novelist who was labelled a counter-revolutionary and censored throughout his life. His most celebrated novels were published posthumously, earning him a sort of cult following in the late Soviet period. Bulgakov lived with his wife, Tatyana Lappa, in a flat in this block, which now houses an arts centre and theatre on the ground floor, and a small museum in their actual flat.

Back in the 1990s the empty Bulgakov flat was a hang-out for dissidents and hooligans, who painted graffiti and wrote poetry on the walls. Nowadays, this tradition continues and you can add your own contribution to the historic scrawlings. Inside the flat, you'll find some of the author's personal items, as well as posters and illustrations of his works. More interesting are the readings and concerts that are held here, as well as the offbeat tours on offer. A black cat hangs out in the courtyard.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby attractions

1. Patriarch’s Ponds

0.2 MILES

Patriarch’s Ponds hark back to Soviet days, when the parks were populated with children and babushky. Today you’ll see grandmothers pushing strollers and…

2. Contemporary History Museum

0.32 MILES

Complete with stone lions, this opulent mansion was built to host the English Club – a venue favoured by Anglophile gentlemen and native Brits in tsarist…

3. Synagogue on Bolshaya Bronnaya

0.48 MILES

Built in 1883, the Synagogue on Bolshaya Bronnaya was the private place of worship of a prerevolutionary millionaire. Closed in the 1930s, the building…

5. Moscow Planetarium

0.55 MILES

The planetarium has become one of the biggest and brightest stars on the Moscow museum circuit, now incorporating all kinds of high-tech gadgetry,…

6. Moscow Museum of Modern Art Tverskoy

0.56 MILES

This small exhibition space, known as the ‘Zurab Gallery', was formerly the studio of sculptor Zurab Tsereteli. As such, the space has seen many talented…

7. Chekhov House-Museum

0.57 MILES

‘The colour of the house is liberal, ie red', playwright Anton Chekhov wrote of his house on the Garden Ring, where he lived from 1886 to 1890. The red…

8. Glinka Museum of Musical Culture

0.58 MILES

This musicologist's paradise boasts over 3000 instruments – handcrafted works of art – from the Caucasus and the Far East. Russia is very well represented…