Employees of the pharmaceutical giant walked around Bulgakov's Moscow with guides

Today, employees of the international pharmaceutical company Sanofi, which operates in more than one hundred countries around the world and whose headquarters are located in Paris, walked along the route of the excursion “The Master and Margarita”.

There were about a hundred people in total, who were divided into four groups. Each group was accompanied by its own guide: Elena, Anastasia, Valeria and Dmitry, who communicated with guests using radio guides - excursion radio headphones. At the request of the customer, the largest event agency "Maslov", the beginning of the route was transferred to the client's officeso that excursionists, with time intervals between groups, start directly from their work.

To begin with, we walked a little near the Satire Theater on Triumphal Square and in the Aquarium Garden. — where, according to Bulgakov’s idea, there was a fictional Variety Theater.

Next, Muscovites, accompanied by guides, went to the writer’s house and looked at his yard. The guys were lucky, while they were standing on the street, one of the two cats that live in the museum came out to them. The cat caused a storm of delight, and was photographed a lot, and then they entered the famous entrance, decorated with drawings and inscriptions. Surprisingly, the whole group fit in it. It turns out that some of the guys were there for the first time and did not even know about the existence of such a place. Together with the guide, they went up to apartment number 50, better known as the "bad apartment", where Bulgakov lived for 4 years and in which he wrote "The White Guard". There are various rumors about this place, and the guests asked many questions, for example, whether people live in this house. They also asked the guides to tell whether there were any mystical stories associated with apartment No. 50. 

The groups' routes were approximately the same, but each guide added additional details in his own signature style, making the excursion truly unique even for corporate clients.

The guide Valeria said that a friend of the father of the head of “Radius” Anton once spent the night in this apartment and took the door handle from there as a souvenir. He brought it to his dacha, and then it burned down. 

By the way, the guests were accompanied by professional photographers from the customer’s side, who took many pictures at the Patriarch’s Ponds. Luckily the weather was fine. After the photo shoot, the tourists and guides went to Spiridonovka and from there to Tverskoy Boulevard, and ended the tour at the monument to A.S. Pushkin. 

An interesting moment of the walk was the appearance of a black hog (pictured), which the owner led on a leash. The guide Elena was just talking about how the cat Behemoth climbed onto the tram, trying to ride for a dime, but he was kicked out of there. The appearance of the black boar turned out to be very opportune.

Of course, the Radius guides also told a lot about Mikhail Afanasyevich himself as an author and playwright, as well as a person who tried to fit into the new conditions of life and realize himself in them. The guests were surprised by the story of Bulgakov's three wives: that Belozerskaya was his second, and he was her second, and Shilovskaya was his third wife, and he was her third husband. And, of course, the excursionists learned about the prototypes of the heroes of the immortal novel "The Master and Margarita".

The guys were satisfied: they liked the excursion, at the end they came up and thanked the guides. Many said that they would reread “The Master and Margarita”, as well as other novels by the writer. The guide Elena really wanted to awaken interest in the work of Mikhail Afanasyevich, as well as to interest tourists in films that were based on his works, for example, “Running” with Ulyanov. Judging by the reviews, she succeeded! The guests realized that the writer was a genius, a prophet and a master of words, possessing a wonderful language from which you get true pleasure. 

By the way, Elena even read out excerpts from the novel at some stops in order to better immerse the children in the atmosphere of the excursion. For example, the excursionists listened to a piece of the novel at the place where, in the story, Berlioz dies under a tram. 

It is noteworthy that despite the deep religious and life themes that Bulgakov reflected on in his novels, his work is still distinguished by sparkling humor, which cannot but attract. 

When guide Anastasia asked the guys from the group why they chose this particular excursion, they referred, among other things, to the fashion trend associated with the novel — The new film “The Master and Margarita” had recently been released, and they wanted to know more about the work. It must be said that among the guests there was only one couple who was well versed in Bulgakov’s work, the rest were new to Bulgakov studies. 

Overall, despite the large number of people, the city tour was very comfortable thanks to the radio guides. True, one of them unexpectedly broke down, but fortunately, the guides quickly found a way out of the situation. After the walk, the guides went to rest in "Kofemaniya", where they continued the conversation about Bulgakov, who is an author outside of time. Thus, one of the guides told his colleagues that he cried over the scene with which the novel "The White Guard" begins. Thus, the topics that Mikhail Afanasyevich raised in his works are interesting and relevant today. 

PS Below is a tour plan that may be of interest to corporate customers.

06.28.24 17:00 Excursion “The Master and Margarita”

15:30 The Supplier delivers radio equipment to the Customer at the Customer's office.

16:30 The guides arrive at the starting point of the excursion (the Client’s office yard). The supervising guide calls the Customer's coordinator on site and reports that the guides have arrived.

16:30 The radio guide logistician arrives at the venue, enters the Client’s office and distributes the equipment. The functionality of the equipment is checked.

16:45 The first group enters the courtyard. The person accompanying the group from the Customer hands over the transmitter (radio microphone) to the guide of the first group. The guide checks the functionality of the transmitter.

16:50 The first group starts 

17:00 The second group descends, the guide receives the rp, checks it and starts.

17:10 The third group descends, the guide receives the rp, checks it and starts.

17:20 The fourth group descends, the guide receives the rp, checks it and starts.

The courier must be at the Client’s office until the start of the fourth group in order to help with the equipment in case of problems.

19:20 The first group ends the tour on Pushkin Square.

The courier is already standing there.

The guide collects the equipment from the group, recalculates the radio guides, says goodbye to the participants and hands over the equipment to the courier.

19:30-50 The second, third, fourth groups finish the tour on Pushkinskaya Square.

The guide of each group collects the equipment, counts it, says goodbye to the participants and hands the equipment to the courier.

19:50 the excursion is over.

Note:

— Do not allow two groups to enter the entrance of the “bad apartment”. The guide of the next group must make sure that the previous group has left the entrance. Stay in the entrance: no more than 10 minutes.