Moscow by Bulgakov

This book represents three sides of Moscow: modern, historical, and mysterious. The city where the greatest russian writer Mikhail Bulgakov lived and worked on the masterpiece – Master and Margarita. It’s a well known fact that the book is full of symbolism and mystery. Since Mikhail Bulgakov was strongly impresed by the social mess in the first part of XXth century, it inspired him to involve the moscow reality in his book. Blending of fantastic an realistic elements, grotesque situations and a concern with important ethical issues is the most significant feature of Bulgakov’s satire. He relieved all the true about Moscow reality, moscovites, highlighting the chaos, retelling and disguising actual stories of his life, converting ‘alive’ people– neighbours, collegues, friends and enemies into new figures.... The role of my book is to guide a reader in another Moscow, the Moscow by the Bulgakov’s view.In this work I performed not only as a designer, but also a writer, editor, and a film director. I spent a great amount of time in the State Lenin library, exploring the rare information from photo and book archives, talking with representatives of the Bulgakov Museum, following and discovering the routes described in The Master and Margarita.

The main design element in this project is a tram wheel, which guides a reader from page to page, from one architectural object to another, showing it’s modern look with the newest history, and carrying away to its past. It opens and reveals new chapters of The Master and Margarita, gives answers to the main questions of the Bulgakov’s masterpiece.