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The Night Watch and the Day Watch both have large offices in Moscow, which are very common locations for scenes in the books. Based on their descriptions and their relationship to other real places in Moscow, what can we say about their specific locations?

Where are the Moscow Night and Day Watch offices?

BONUS: where is the Moscow office of the Inquisition? This should be much harder to find out, since:

"The address of the Inquisition!" I exclaimed, suddenly realising the problem.

"Now you're thinking. Could you send a letter to the Inquisition?"

I didn't answer. I'd been put firmly in my place. Gesar had told me straight out about the letter to the Inquisition!

"In our Watch I'm the only person who knows their address. In the Day Watch, I presume Zabulon is the only one. So where does that leave us, Gorodetsky?"

-- The Twilight Watch, Chapter 1

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  • The office of Day Watch in so-named movie is hotel Cosmos in Moscow ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmos_Hotel ). But in the books it likely can be another location – Schullz Apr 06 '16 at 14:30
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    @Schullz Definitely not a hotel in the books. Also, screw the film :-) – Rand al'Thor Apr 06 '16 at 14:48

1 Answers1

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Night Watch office is in the Moscow area called Sokol.

Через полчаса я доехал до "Сокола", выбрался наверх. Вокруг было шумно, в воздухе – выхлопная автомобильная гарь. И все-таки – весна.
... Наш офис не в худшем московском районе. Далеко не в худшем, если не сравнивать с резиденцией Дневного Дозора. Но Кремль при любом раскладе не для нас: слишком сильные следы наложило прошлое на Красную площадь и древние кирпичные стены. ("Night Watch", Story #2, "Among his own", Chapter 1)

In half an hour, I got to Sokol station, and climbed upstairs. It was noisy around me, the air full of car exhaust. But still - spring.
...
Our office is not in the worst area of Moscow. Far from the worst, if you don't compare it to Day Watch residence. But the Kremlin isn't for us in any case: the past has stamped its residue too hard on the Red Square and the ancient brick walls ("Night Watch", Story #2, "Among his own", Chapter 1)

and

Я сам полиция! – Пастухов одной рукой достал из кармана «корочку» и сунул водителю под нос. – Никакого Склифа. Гони на Сокол.
Зачем на Сокол? – поразился водитель.
Там офис Ночного Дозора, - сказал Пастухов, укладывая девочку на сиденье и подсовывая ей под голову ее же сумку. ("Шестой Дозор", Часть первая - Вынужденные действия - Пролог)

"I'm the police!" Pastukhov took out his police ID shell[1] and showed it to the driver. "No Sklif![2] To Sokol, quickly!"
"Why Sokol?" asked the confused driver.
"That's where the Night Watch Office is," said Pastukhov, putting the girl on the car seat and placing her bag under her head. ("Sixth Watch", Part One - Necessary Actions - Preface)

[1] - In Russia, law enforcement officers carry their IDs in special hard-body mini wallets called "shells/covers", acting as a combination of US badge and LEO ID

[2] - Sklif is a diminutive of "Sklifosifsky", a main central emergency services and trauma hospital in Moscow

Day Watch is on the Tverskaya Street which is near Kremlin.

До самого офиса Дневного Дозора на Тверской. Хорошо, что мне попался замечательный водитель ("Дневной Дозор", Глава 4)

Straight to the Day Watch office on Tverskaya. It's a good thing I got an excellent driver ("Day Watch", Chapter 4)

Also, see confirmation in the next section.

By book #6 (14 years later), Day Watch moved from Tverskaya to Moscow-City (aka Moscow International Business Center):

Раньше офис Дневного Дозора располагался на Тверской улице, недалеко от Кремля. ... пару лет назад Темные перебрались в Москва-Сити, откупив три этажа одного из офисных небоскребов. ("Шестой Дозор", Часть первая, "Вынужденные действия", Глава 3)

Previously, the Day Watch office was located on Tverskaya Street, not far from the Kremlin. ... a couple of years ago, The Dark Others moved to the Moscow-City, buying up three floors in one of the office towers. ("The Sixths Watch", Part 1, "Forced actions", Chapter 3)

Bonus Round: the Inquisition's Moscow office (or at least one of their buildings) is in the main Moscow State University building.

Or, at least, that's where they held the court hearing that involved the Mirror - however, in Book #3, Geser discusses with Anton that Anton doesn't know the Inquisition's address, and therefore MSU, which Anton knows about, isn't their main office (hat/tip @Rand, the original question author).

Главное здание МГУ, – сообщил Эдгар. – В башне. Там Шагрон внизу со своей машиной, можешь поехать с ним. ("Дневной Дозор", Глава 20)

"The main building of Moscow State University," Edgar stated. "In the tower." ("Day Watch", Chapter 20)


Maps

Moscow metro lines plan, Day and Night Watch's offices circled in red

map of a part of Moscow streets, with Day and Night Watch's offices highlighted

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    I'm ignoring the films as being even less canon than Harry Potter films. – DVK-on-Ahch-To Apr 06 '16 at 16:17
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    Russian=>English tranlations are mine. NOT from English books. – DVK-on-Ahch-To Apr 06 '16 at 16:26
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    Nice job on the main question! But the answer to the bonus can't be right: if the address of the Inquisition office was such a big secret, they wouldn't have held a court hearing there with half the Others of Moscow in attendance. Anton came to that hearing, but at the start of the next book he still had no idea of the Inquisition's address. So +1 but no tick yet :-) Re films: I've heard they're very different from the books, and wouldn't touch them with a bargepole. Re translations: I may take the liberty of improving them slightly... Also, welcome back - good to see you posting again! :-D – Rand al'Thor Apr 06 '16 at 17:12
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    @Randal'Thor - yes, I think you're right. Updated the wording. And TY. I find it hard to resist a "Watches" question :) – DVK-on-Ahch-To Apr 06 '16 at 17:14
  • Well, prepare for more temptation then! Watches books are next on my list of less popular SFF works to try to popularise here (per my manifesto), as well as being one of my favourite series in their own right. – Rand al'Thor Apr 06 '16 at 18:24
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    @Randal'Thor - To tempt you into asking: Maps. With hand drawn circles. – DVK-on-Ahch-To Apr 06 '16 at 20:11
  • AWESOME! Might award this a bounty at some point - as if you don't have enough rep already :-P Next question: what's the leylineological significance of that NW-SE line, with both a road and a Metro line (I assume that's what the top map is) running along it, which passes through the Night Watch and Day Watch offices and the Kremlin? – Rand al'Thor Apr 07 '16 at 00:19
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    @Randal'Thor - think less "ley lines" and more "traffic". Tverskaya is IIRC one of the main radial transport arteries in Moscow. And of course DayWatch central near-Kremlin location is for obvious reasons. Closer to center of power, and more ritzy area – DVK-on-Ahch-To Apr 07 '16 at 00:25
  • Still, quite a coincidence that they're both on the same transport artery, surely? I wasn't expecting it to be so easy to get from one to the other. – Rand al'Thor Apr 07 '16 at 00:30
  • Bounty started. Just a small one, since you already have more rep than you know what to do with ;-) – Rand al'Thor Jun 18 '16 at 18:02
  • @Randal'Thor - well, to deserve the bounty, I just had to improve the answer meaningfully. Voila - new location of Day Watch from Book #6 added (no spoilers) – DVK-on-Ahch-To Jun 18 '16 at 20:04
  • Nice! Could you also edit the Inquisition section to say that the MSU building isn't their main office but only where they held a trial? It can't be their main office, because they held the trial there in book 2 (with half the Others of Moscow present, IIRC) but Anton didn't know where their office was (Gesar and Zabulon were the only non-Inquisition Others who knew the address) even in book 3. – Rand al'Thor Jun 18 '16 at 20:07
  • @Randal'Thor - done – DVK-on-Ahch-To Jun 18 '16 at 20:13