1. Taynitskaya tower

The first tower, which was laid during the construction of the Kremlin, was Taynitskaya. The Taynitskaya tower is so named because a secret underground passage led from it to the river. It was intended to be able to take water in case the fortress was besieged by enemies. The height of the Tainitskaya tower is 38.4 m.

2. Vodovzvodnaya tower

Vodovzvodnaya tower - so named because of the car that was here once. She raised water from a well, arranged at the bottom to the very top of the tower into a large tank. From there, water flowed through lead pipes to the royal palace in the Kremlin. The height of the Vodovzvodnaya tower with a star is 61.45 m.

3. Borovitskaya tower

At the Vodovzvodnaya Tower, the Kremlin wall turns away from the river. Here on the corner stands another tower - Borovitskaya. This tower stands near Borovitsky Hill, on which a pine forest grew a long time ago. From him came its name. The height of the tower with a star is 54.05 m.

4. Gun tower

Once upon a time, ancient weapons workshops were located next to it. They also made precious dishes and jewelry. The ancient workshops gave the name not only to the tower, but also to a wonderful museum located next to the Kremlin wall - the Armory. Many Kremlin treasures and simply very ancient things are collected here. The height of the Armory tower is 32.65 m.

5. Kutafya and Trinity Towers

If we go a little further along the walls of the Kremlin, we will see the Trinity Bridge. It was thrown across the Neglinnaya River many centuries ago, even before it was hidden underground. Troitsky Bridge leads to the gates of one of the tallest Kremlin towers - Troitskaya.

6. Kutafya tower.

In the old days, this was the name of a clumsily dressed woman. The tower was decorated already in the seventeenth century. Prior to this, Kutafya was very harsh, with drawbridges at the side gates and hinged loopholes. She guarded the entrance to the Trinity Bridge. The height of the Trinity Tower with a star is 80 m. This is the highest tower of the Moscow Kremlin. The Kutafya Tower is only 13.5 m high. This is the lowest tower of the Kremlin.

7. Corner Arsenal Tower

From a distance, it seems round, but if you get closer, it turns out to be not so at all, because it has 16 faces. This is the corner Arsenal tower. Once she was called Sobakina, by the name of a person who lived nearby. But in the 18th century, the Arsenal building was erected next to it, and the tower was renamed. There is a well in the dungeon of the corner Arsenal tower. He is over 500 years old. It is filled from an ancient source and therefore there is always clean and fresh water in it. Previously, there was an underground passage from the Arsenal Tower to the Neglinnaya River. The height of the tower is 60.2 m.

8. Middle Arsenal Tower

It was built in 1493-1495. After the construction of the Arsenal building, the tower got its name. Near the tower in 1812 a grotto was erected - one of the attractions of the Alexander Garden. The height of the tower is 38.9m.

9. Nabatnaya tower

Once upon a time, sentinels were constantly on duty here. From a height, they vigilantly watched - if the enemy army was coming to the city. And if danger was approaching, the sentinels had to warn everyone, strike the alarm bell. Because of him, the tower was called Nabatnaya. The height of the alarm tower is 38 m.

10. Royal tower

It is not at all like other Kremlin towers. There are 4 columns directly on the wall, and on them there is a peaked roof. There are no powerful walls, no narrow loopholes. But they are of no use to her. Because the tower was not built for defense at all. According to legend, Tsar Ivan the Terrible liked to look at his city from this place. Later, the smallest tower of the Kremlin was built here and called it the Tsarskaya. Its height is 16.7 m.

11. Constantino-Eleninskaya Tower

It was built in 1490 and used for the passage of the population and troops to the Kremlin. Earlier, when the Kremlin was made of white stone, another tower stood in this place. It was through her that Dmitry Donskoy with the army went to the Kulikovo field. The new tower was built for the reason that there were no natural barriers on its side outside the Kremlin. It was equipped with a drawbridge, a powerful diversion archer and a passage gate, which after, in the 18th and early 19th centuries. were disassembled. The tower got its name from the church of Constantine and Helena, which stood in the Kremlin. The height of the tower is 36.8m.

12. Senate Tower

The Senate Tower at first did not have a name, and received it only after the construction of the Senate building. After that, they began to call her the Senate. The tower was built in 1491, its height is 34.3 m.

13. Nikolskaya tower

It was built in 1491. architect Pietro Antonio Solari to strengthen the northeastern part of the Kremlin, not protected by natural barriers. It had a gate, it had a retractable archer with a drawbridge. The name of the Nikolskaya Tower comes from the name of the icon of St. Nicholas, installed above the gates of her barbican. The height of the tower with a star is 70.4m.

14. Petrovsky tower

The Petrovsky tower was built to reinforce the southern wall, as it was the most frequently attacked. She received her name from the church of Metropolitan Peter at the Ugreshsky Compound in the Kremlin. The height of the tower is 27.15m.

15. Commandant's Tower

It was built in 1495. Its first name - Kolymazhna - received from the Kolymazhny courtyard of the Kremlin. In the 19th century, when the commandant of Moscow began to live in the Kremlin, not far from it, they began to call it Komendantskaya. The height of the tower is 41.25m.

16. Annunciation tower.

According to legend, the miraculous icon of the Annunciation was previously kept in this tower, as well as 1731. the Church of the Annunciation was attached to this tower. Most likely, the name of the tower is associated with one of these facts. In the 17th century for the passage of laundresses to the Moscow River, a gate was made near the tower, called Portomoyny. In 1831 they were laid down, and Soviet time The Church of the Annunciation was also dismantled. The height of the Annunciation Tower with a weather vane is 32.45 m.

17. Spasskaya Tower (Frolovskaya)

It was erected on the spot where the main gates of the Kremlin were located in ancient times. It, like Nikolskaya, was built to protect the northeastern part of the Kremlin, which had no natural water barriers. The passage gates of the Spasskaya Tower, at that time still Frolovskaya, were considered “holy” by the people. They did not pass through them on horseback and did not pass with their heads covered. Regiments marching on the march passed through these gates, tsars and ambassadors were met here. In 1658 The Kremlin towers have been renamed. Frolovskaya turned into Spasskaya. It was named so in honor of the icon of the Savior of Smolensk, located above the gate of the tower from the side of Red Square, and in honor of the icon of the Savior Not Made by Hands, located above the gate from the Kremlin. In 1851-52. a clock was installed on the Spasskaya Tower, which we still see. Kremlin chimes. Chimes are called large clocks that have a musical mechanism. At the Kremlin chimes, bells play music. There are eleven of them. One large one, it marks the hours, and ten smaller ones, their melodious chime is heard every 15 minutes. There is a special device in the chimes. It sets the hammer in motion, it strikes the surface of the bells and the sound of the Kremlin chimes sounds. The mechanism of the Kremlin chimes occupies three floors. Previously, the chimes were wound by hand, but now they do it with the help of electricity. The Spasskaya Tower occupies 10 floors. Its height with a star is 71 m.

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For modern man, who speaks Russian, the word exists only in the stable phrase Kremlin - the Moscow Kremlin, celebrating every hour with a melodic battle. The chimes of the clock are preceded by several chords that evoke every quarter of an hour. The adjective Kremlin is understandable, but what, in fact, is it? In dictionary foreign words means fleeing. The explanation in relation to watch movements is dubious: we say the clock is running when it shows the wrong time, more than it really is. This is not applicable to the Kremlin chimes: this is a very precise mechanism by which the whole country compares watches.

Let's turn to history. The word chimes is of foreign origin. However, in none of the European languages ​​are tower clocks with musical chimes called chimes:
in Polish - zegar wygrywajacy melodie ("clock playing a melody");
in German - Turmuhr mit Glockenspiel ("tower clock with a bell chime");
in French - horloge a carillon ("tower clock with a chime");
in Italian - orologio a cariglione ("clock tower with a chime").
A clock with a musical strike appeared in Russia under Peter I on the bell tower of the old St. Isaac's Church, the predecessor of the current St. Isaac's Cathedral, as well as in Peter and Paul Fortress. However, then such clocks were not called chimes, but fighting or bell clocks. And yet, in one monument of this era, we find the expression chiming clock: “... from the aforementioned lightning, the St.
Was there a noun chimes and what did it mean?
In the “Archive of Prince F. A. Kurakin” (1705) we read: “In Amsterdam, the clock on the town hall is large - the custom is this: every Monday the watchmaker himself plays on that clock for half an hour after twelve, as he beats different chimes, with his hands and feet, and then grand difficult, since I could see in one case that I came into a great sweat.
Here the chimes mean musical pieces. The name comes from a dance tune originating in France: danse courante literally "running dance" (as opposed to ceremonial dances with bows). It must be assumed that the dance was considered extremely fashionable and popular - if its melody sounded not only on the town halls, but also on the bell towers. Over time, the dance went out of fashion, was forgotten, but its name still continues to be found in texts. For example, in A. S. Pushkin's "Arap of Peter the Great": "This honored dance master was 50 years old, his right leg was shot near Narva, and therefore was not very capable of minuet and chimes." In The Golovlyov Gentlemen (1875), M. E. Saltykova-Shchedrina, Arina Petrovna, says to her son: “My dear, I don’t have crazy money; I didn’t acquire them with dances and chimes, but with a ridge and then” (chapter “Family Court”). Nevertheless, the word of the chime ( female) as the name of an ancient dance is included in the seventeen-volume Dictionary of Modern Russian literary language(1948-1965), and the form chimes (masculine) is characterized as obsolete.
In the second half of the 18th century, the word chimes was preserved only to refer to simple melodies performed manually or mechanically on the bells of the clock tower. In the "Russian dictionary with German and French translations, composed by Ivan Nordsteth", the first volume of which was published in 1780, the Russian title word chimes is translated as "ein Glockenspiel, un carillon", that is, "bell chime". A set of bells (or bells) on which the melody was played was also called chimes: “... he sent to ... the church, ordered that a death song be played on the bells located on the bell tower (Economic Store magazine, 1785, vol. 21). In the "History of the Kingdom of Japan" (1789) we read: "They play flutes, harps, organs, trompets, drums, tambourines, chimes and copper basins of various kinds."
Already in the first half of the 18th century, the word chimes acquired another meaning - the mechanism of musical striking in clocks (including room clocks). The inventory of 1741 mentions “large clockwork and with chimes, in a wooden case, made by master Stepan Yakovlev in St. Petersburg [made]” (“Materials for the History of the Imperial Academy of Sciences”, v.4). This meaning was also preserved in the poem by G. Derzhavin “To the portrait of N. A. Dyakov”:

Spiritual chime, ubiquitous:
Just turn on
And go away
Plays arias of heaven.
This meaning of the word chimes, it seems, was the main one until the middle of the 19th century. So, in the French-Russian Dictionary of I. I. Tatishchev (1827), the French verb carrillonner is translated as “start the chimes so that they play.”
A. I. Herzen writes in a letter to N. A. Zakharyina on November 30, 1836: “Suddenly, the clock with chimes began to chime loudly.” This meaning is recorded by the Dictionary of the Academy of Sciences (1847): “Clocks. 1. Music in hours. Clock with chimes ... ".
If the tradition of such use of the word chimes continued to this day, it would naturally lead to the fact that music in mobile phones began to be called this word. However, this did not happen. Clocks with a musical chime somehow disappeared from everyday life and are preserved only as antiques (or a fake under one), and the word chimes has firmly grown together with the Spasskaya Tower of the Kremlin and acquired a touch of solemn statehood.

(PhD in Philology N. Arapova)

The Kremlin chimes are tower clocks with a set of tuned bells that strike in a certain melodic sequence, installed on one of the 20 towers of the Moscow Kremlin. Previously, this tower was called Frolovskaya, and now Spasskaya, named after the icon of the Savior of Smolensk, placed above the gate from the side of Red Square. The tower overlooks Red Square and has front gates, which were considered holy. And in the tented top of the tower, built by the Russian master Bazhen Ogurtsov, the main clock is installed Russian state, the famous Kremlin chimes.

The history of the ancient Spassky chimes is inextricably linked with the history of the Kremlin and goes back into the distant past. The exact date of installation of the clock is not known, but it is assumed that the clock was installed immediately after the construction of the tower in 1491 by the architect Pietro Antonio Solario at the behest of Ivan III. Documentary evidence of the clock dates back to 1585, when watchmakers were at work at the three gates of the Kremlin, at the Spassky, Taynitsky and Troitsky gates. Whether these watches were the first or not is not exactly known, but they are counted from them.

In all likelihood, the clock had an old Russian (Byzantine) account of time. The then day, according to the account of time adopted in Russia, was divided into "day" hours, from sunrise to sunset, and "night" hours. Every two weeks, the length of the hours with the change in the length of day and night gradually changed. The hours were unusual for us appearance with one fixed hand in the form of a sunbeam just above the dial. Under it, a dial with Old Slavonic letters denoting numbers rotated: A - one, B - two, and so on. There were 17 designations, in accordance with the maximum length of the day in the summer.

The watch mechanism was an outlandishly woven gears, ropes, shafts and levers. At the Spassky Clock, watchmakers were in the service, who monitored the mechanism and reconfigured it. At dawn and at sunset, the dial was turned so that the arrow fell on the first hour - A, and the counting of the hours began from the beginning. In order to know how long the day is and how long the night is, watchmakers were given tables - wooden tags in which everything was noted. The task of the watchmaker-caretaker was to strictly follow these tables and timely translate the watch dial to , as well as to repair them in case of malfunctions.

The clock on the Spasskaya Tower was given special attention because they were considered the main ones. But despite this, frequent fires damaged the details of the tower clock, and the clock mechanism often failed. After one of the fires in 1624, the clock was so badly damaged that it was sold as scrap, by weight, to the Spassky Monastery in Yaroslavl for 48 rubles. In place of the defective watches sold in 1625, under the guidance of the English mechanic and watchmaker Christopher Galovey, Russian blacksmith-watchmakers of the Zhdan family made new, larger watches.

For this watch, 13 bells were cast by the Russian caster Kirill Samoilov. To install a new clock, the tower was built on four tiers. On the ancient quadrangle of the Spasskaya Tower, under the direction of Bazhen Ogurtsov, an arched brick belt with white stone carved details and decorations was built on. And on the inner quadrangle a high tent top with arched chimes was erected, on which hour bells were hung. At 7,8,9 tiers, a new main clock of the state was installed. On the 10th tier there were 30 bells for the chime, which was heard for more than 10 miles.

The clock had an old Russian account of time, and the mechanism consisted of oak ties, collapsible, fastened with iron hoops. Thanks to a special mechanism, the clock from time to time chimed a certain melody, and they became the first Russian chimes. The dial diameter of the new watch was about 5 meters, weighed 400 kg and was assembled from heavy oak planks. The dial of this watch rotated, and the fixed hand was made in the form of a ray of the sun. The arrow was placed above the dial, indicating both night and day time. The inner circle of the dial was covered with blue azure and depicted the vault of heaven, on which golden and silver stars, images of the sun and moon were scattered. The numbers were denoted by Slavic letters, and the dial was called the “indicative word circle” (recognizable circle). The letters were made of copper and covered with gold. Dials deployed in different sides, were divided into 17 divisions and placed in the central keel of a prominent arch of the reinforcing belt above the ancient quadrangle. At the top of the wall, in a circle, the words of a prayer were written and the signs of the zodiac carved from iron were located, the remains of which have survived to this day under the existing clock faces.

The clock of Christopher Galoway was less than modern by about a meter. The accuracy of the movement directly depended on the watchmaker serving them. After installation, the clock burned in fires more than once, after which it was restored again. However, the Galoway clock on the Spasskaya Tower stood and served people for a long time.

By decree of Peter I in 1705, the whole country switched to a single daily countdown. Returning from foreign travels, he ordered to replace the English mechanism of the Spasskaya Tower clock with a clock bought in Holland with a 12-hour dial. The new Kremlin chimes chimed the hours and quarters, and besides, they called back the melody. The installation of the purchased clock on the tower and the alteration of the dial were led by the Russian watchmaker Ekim Garnov. The complete installation of the chimes was completed in 1709. A whole staff of watchmakers was kept to service the Dutch watches, most of whom were foreigners, however, despite all efforts, the clock often broke down and did not please the Muscovites for a long time with their chime. At that time, the clock caused "assembly dances". Bells were also arranged there, knocking out the "fire alarm".

Dutch watches had 4 winding shafts: 1st for the clock mechanism; 2nd for the fight of the clock; 3rd for a quarter hour fight; 4th for playing melodies. The shafts were driven by weights. After a grandiose fire in 1737, the Petrovsky clock was badly damaged. Then everything burned down wooden details Spasskaya Tower, and the shaft for the chimes was damaged. As a result, the bell music no longer sounded. Interest in the chimes disappeared after the transfer of the capital by Peter I to St. Petersburg. The chimes were broken and restored many times, and the maintenance of the clock was carried out negligently.

Having ascended the throne and visited Moscow, Empress Catherine II became interested in the Spassky chimes, but by that time the clock had already fallen into complete disrepair. Attempts to restore them were not successful, and on the orders of Catherine II, the “large English chimes” found in the Faceted Chamber began to be installed on the Spasskaya Tower.

The German master Fatz was invited for installation, and together with the Russian watchmaker Ivan Polyansky, within 3 years, the installation was completed. In 1770, the chimes began to call the Austrian melody "Ah, my dear Augustine" because the watchmaker, a German by origin, who serviced the clock, liked it very much. And for almost a year this melody sounded over Red Square, and the authorities did not pay any attention to it. It was the only time in history when the chimes rang out a foreign melody.

In 1812, Muscovites saved the Spasskaya Tower from being destroyed by French troops, but the clock stopped. Three years later, they were repaired by a group of craftsmen led by watchmaker Yakov Lebedev, for which he was awarded honorary title- master of the Spassky clock. The clock installed under Catherine II worked successfully for eighty years without a major overhaul. However, after a survey in 1851 by the brothers Johann and Nikolai Butenopov (Danish subjects) and the architect Konstantin Ton, it was established: “The Spassky tower clock is in critical condition close to complete breakdown (iron gears and wheels have worn out, the dials have dilapidated, the wooden floors have settled, the oak foundation rotted under the clock, the staircase needs to be reworked).

In 1851, the Butenop Brothers company, known for installing tower clocks in the dome of the Grand Kremlin Palace, took up the repair of the Spassky chimes and entrusted the manufacture of new clocks to skilled Russian craftsmen. According to the drawings of the experienced architect Ton, the interior of the Spasskaya Tower was refurbished. The new watches used parts from old watches and all the achievements of watchmaking of that time.

A massive amount of work has been done. A new cast-iron frame was cast under the clock, on which the mechanism was located, the wheels and gears were replaced, and special alloys were selected for their manufacture, which could withstand high humidity and significant temperature changes. The chimes received a Gragham move and a pendulum with a thermal compensation system designed by Garrison.

Special attention was paid to the appearance of the Kremlin clock. New black iron dials with gilded rims on 4 sides were made, for which figures were cast from copper, as well as minute and five-minute divisions. The iron arrows are wrapped in copper and covered with gilding. The total weight of the watch was 25 tons. The diameter of each of the four dials is over 6 meters; the height of the digits is 72 centimeters, the length of the hour hand is about 3 meters, the minute hand is another quarter meter longer. Digitization on the dial was done at that time in Arabic numerals, and not in Roman numerals, as it is now.

Also, the Butenop Brothers company completely redesigned the musical unit. The old clock bells were supplemented with bells taken from other towers of the Kremlin, the clocks of which were not working by that time (16 from Troitskaya and 8 from Borovitskaya), bringing the total number of bells to 48 with the aim of more melodic chime and accurate performance of melodies. The fight of the clock was achieved by hitting special hammers on the surface of the lower base of the bell. The musical mechanism itself consisted of a drum with a diameter of one and a half meters, in the middle of which a gear wheel was fixed. Parallel to the axis of the musical drum, there is an axis for 30 levers of the hammer cocking mechanism, which ensures the sound of bells located in the uppermost tier of the Spasskaya Tower. On the playing shaft of the clock, by the nominal order of the sovereign Emperor Nikolai Pavlovich, the melodies of the hymn “Kol our Lord is glorious in Zion” (music by Dmitry Bortnyansky) and the march of the Life Guards of the Preobrazhensky Regiment of Petrovsky times were dialed. New chimes were called over Red Square every three hours, and the melodies had an important ideological significance and sounded until 1917. At 12 and 6 o'clock the march of the Life Guards of the Preobrazhensky Regiment, and at 3 and 9 o'clock the anthem "How glorious is our Lord in Zion."

In 1913, a full-scale restoration of the appearance of the chimes was carried out, timed to coincide with the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty. The Butenop Brothers Company continued to service the clock mechanism.

In 1917, during the storming of the Kremlin, the clock on the Spasskaya Tower was seriously damaged. One of the shells, hitting the clock, interrupted the arrow, damaging the mechanism for rotating the hands. The clock stopped, and for almost a year it was faulty.

In 1918, by decree of V.I. Lenin, it was decided to restore the Kremlin chimes. First of all, the Bolsheviks turned to the firm of Pavel Bure and Sergei Roginsky, but after the announced sum for the repair, they turned to Nikolai Berens, a locksmith working in the Kremlin. Behrens knew the device of the chimes since his father worked in a company that served the chimes earlier. Together with his sons, Behrens was able to start the clock by July 1918 by repairing the mechanism for rotating the hands, repairing a hole in the dial and making a new pendulum about one and a half meters long and weighing 32 kilograms. Since Berens could not set up the musical device of the Spassky Clock, at the direction of the new authorities, the artist and musician Mikhail Cheremnykh figured out the order of the bells, the score of the chimes and scored revolutionary melodies on the playing shaft. In accordance with Lenin's wish, at 12 o'clock the bells rang "International", and at 24 o'clock - "You fell a victim ..." (in honor of those buried in Red Square). In 1918, the commission of the Moscow City Council accepted the work, having listened to each tune three times on Red Square. The first at 6 in the morning sounded "Internationale", and at 9 o'clock and 15 o'clock - the funeral march "You fell a victim." After some time, the chimes were reconfigured. At 12 o'clock the bells rang "International", and at 24 o'clock "You fell a victim."

Refurbished in 1932 appearance and made a new dial, which was an exact copy of the old one. 28 kg of gold was used to gild the rim, numbers and hands, and "Internationale" was left as the melody. At the direction of I.V. Stalin, the execution of the funeral march was canceled. A special commission recognized the sound of the musical device of the chimes as unsatisfactory. Frost and wear and tear of the mechanism greatly distorted the sound, as a result of which in 1938 it was decided to stop the musical drum and the chimes fell silent, starting to strike the hours and quarters.

In 1941, an electromechanical drive was mounted specifically for the performance of the Internationale, which was subsequently dismantled.

In 1944, a new anthem of the USSR was adopted to the music of A.V. Alexandrov and poems by S.V. Mikhalkov, and G.G. El Registan. In this regard, by the decree of I.V. Stalin, they tried to adjust the chimes for the ringing of a new anthem, but for a reason unknown to us, this did not happen.

In 1974, a major restoration of the Spasskaya Tower and chimes was carried out, the clock was stopped for 100 days. During this time, the clock mechanism was completely disassembled and restored by specialists of the Research Institute of the Watch Industry, and the old parts were replaced. An automatic lubrication system for parts, which was previously carried out manually, was also installed, an electronic clock control was added.

In 1996, during the inauguration of B.N. Yeltsin, the chimes, silent for 58 years, after the traditional chime and striking the clock, began to play again. At noon and midnight, the bells began to sing "Patriotic Song" by M.I. Glinka, and every 3 and 9 o'clock in the morning and evening the melody of the choir "Glory" from the opera "Life for the Tsar" (Ivan Susanin) M.I. Glinka. The choice of the song was not accidental, "Patriotic Song" from 1993 to 2000 was the official anthem of Russia. The implementation of this project required research work carried out by specialists from NIIchasoprom. As a result of the work, recordings of the chime of the bells on the Spasskaya Tower, which have survived to this day, were listened to. At different times, there were up to 48 bells, the tone of each of the 9 surviving bells was revealed. After that, it became clear that they would not be enough for the normal sound of the selected melodies, 3 more bells were needed. According to a special spectral recording of the sound of each missing bell, new ones were made.

The last major restoration work was carried out in 1999. Work was carried out for half a year. The arrows and numbers were again gilded and the historical appearance of the upper tiers was restored. Important improvements were made in the work and control over the work of the Kremlin Chimes: a special ultra-sensitive microphone was installed for more accurate timely control of the movement of the clockwork. The microphone picks up the accuracy of the movement, on the basis of which the software helps to determine the presence of problems and quickly identify which part of the watch mechanism is out of rhythm. Also, during the restoration, the chimes were reconfigured, after which, instead of the "Patriotic Song", the chimes began to play the approved national anthem Russian Federation.

The Kremlin chimes in our time are located in the tent completion of the Spasskaya Tower and occupy 8, 9, 10 tiers. The main mechanism is located on the 9th floor and is located in a dedicated room. It consists of 4 winding shafts, each of which is assigned certain functions. One is for keeping the hands, the other is for striking the clock, the third is for calling the quarters and another is for playing the chimes. Each mechanism is driven by three weights weighing from 160 to 220 kg, pulling the cables. The accuracy of the watch is achieved thanks to the pendulum, weighing 32 kg. The clock mechanism is connected to the musical node, which is located under the tent of the tower in the open 10th tier of chimes, and consists of 9 quarter bells and 1 bell that strikes the full hour. The weight of quarter bells is about 320 kg, hour bells - 2160 kg.

The strike of the clock is achieved by striking a hammer connected to the mechanism of each of the bells. At the beginning of the hour, the chimes are called 4 times, and then the big bell strikes the clock. Every 15, 30, 45 minutes of the hour the chime plays 1, 2 and 3 times. The musical mechanism of the chimes itself consists of a software copper cylinder with a diameter of about two meters, dotted with holes and pins in accordance with the typed melodies. It is rotated by a kettlebell weighing more than 200 kg. The drum, when rotated, causes the pins to press the keys, from which the cables are connected to the bells on the belfry. At noon and midnight, the anthem of the Russian Federation is played, and at 3, 9, 15, 21 hours - the melody of the choir "Glory" from Glinka's opera "Life for the Tsar". The melodies differ greatly from each other in the rhythm of performance, therefore, in the first case, one first line from the anthem is performed, and in the second, two lines from the “Glory” choir are performed.

Today we see on the Spasskaya Tower of Red Square those chimes that the Butenop brothers restored in 1852. Since its appearance on the Spasskaya Tower, the clock has been constantly reconstructed in connection with the development of progress in a particular area of ​​mechanics, materials science and other sciences. Until 1937, the watch was wound manually twice a day, and then this process was mechanized, thanks to 3 electric motors, the lifting of weights for the factory was carried out without much effort. For each shaft, weights up to 200 kg are collected from cast iron ingots, and in winter this weight is increased. A preventive inspection of the mechanism is carried out every day, and once a month - a detailed one. The course of the clock is controlled by the watchmaker on duty and a special device. The mechanism is lubricated 2 times a week, while summer or winter lubrication is used. The watch mechanism has been working properly for over 150 years.

Chimes are tower or large room clocks with bells that beat a given melody every hour. However, for the inhabitants of the Russian Federation, this word is steadily associated with the Chimes of the Moscow Kremlin.

It is well known that the Kremlin chimes are the main clock in Russia. However, a much smaller number of people know that modern chimes are already the fourth in a row installed in the Spasskaya Tower.

At present, it has not been established when the first clock was mounted on the Spasskaya Tower. The first mention of this that has come down to us dates back to 1585, but there is no exact certainty that these were the first clocks. Despite the lack of reliable information, the history of the existence of the Kremlin chimes is counted from this date.

The Kremlin clock, which was the first to be installed in the Spasskaya Tower, had a 17-hour dial, which displayed the longest day in summer. Only in 1705, by decree of Peter I, the tower clock was replaced with a normal 12-hour one. These chimes, purchased in Holland, were of insufficient quality and constantly broke down, in connection with which Peter had to keep a large number of watchmakers for repairs.

After the capital of the Russian State was moved to St. Petersburg, the courtiers ceased to be interested in the fate of the Kremlin chimes. The staff serving them was irresponsible in the performance of their duties. So, in 1770, at the whim of the master who served the chimes, and he was a purebred German, an Austrian folk song became one of the watch melodies, while, state authorities for a year they did not react to such a disgrace in any way.

During the sack of Moscow by Napoleon, the chimes suffered significant damage, and after the liberation of the city, the clock could not return to normal for a long time.

However, the history of the Kremlin chimes received a new round when, in 1852, the clock so familiar to us was installed in the Spasskaya Tower. They have already been produced in Russia. Their authors were Danes - the Butenop brothers.

With the development of science and technology, the watch mechanism was modernized: individual blocks were remade, parts were replaced with better ones, made from new materials, etc. The melodies played for hours were also updated. This was primarily facilitated by the political events taking place in the country, revolutions, changes of sovereigns and leaders, as well as many others.

Modern chimes play two melodies at once. When it strikes "six" or "twelve" hours, the national anthem of the Russian Federation plays, and at "three" and "nine" - the melody "Glory". In 1937, three electric motors were integrated into the watch mechanism, which carried out automatic winding of the watch. Currently, the Kremlin chimes are the hallmark of Russia.

Although the word chimes is quite generally recognized and denotes a type of tower or large room clock with bells that strike a certain melody every hour, playing it at different quarters in 15 minutes, but for every Russian, there is only one chimes in the world - the Moscow Kremlin Chimes.

Everyone knows that the Kremlin chimes are the country's main clock. But not many people know that today's chimes are the fourth in a row that were installed on the Spasskaya Tower. When the first appeared is not known for certain. The first record that has survived to this day and indicated the presence of a clock on the tower dates back to 1585. It is also not known for sure whether these were really the first clocks, but it is from them that the modern report is being made.

The first and second hours had not 12, but 17 hours, indicating the maximum length of daylight hours in summer. The first "correct" clock appeared on the Spasskaya Tower only in 1705 by decree of Peter I. Peter's Kremlin chimes were not of very high quality, although they were bought in Holland. They often broke down, and a whole staff of watchmakers was kept for their maintenance, the bulk of which were foreigners. After the capital moved to the newly built St. Petersburg, the interest of the authorities in the Kremlin chimes completely disappeared. The watch was serviced "sleevelessly". In 1770, the chimes even began to play an Austrian folk song only because the watchmaker of the chimes acting at that time, a German by birth, so desired. And the authorities did not pay attention to this for almost a year.

The clock was badly damaged when the French came to Moscow in 1812. After their expulsion, the clock was restored many times, but not for long. In 1852, the chimes that we see today appeared on the Spasskaya Tower. This time the watch was made in Russia, but under the direction of the Butenop brothers, they were Danes.

Watches were constantly reconstructed with the development of progress in a particular field of mechanics, materials science and other sciences. But even more often the melodies played by the chimes changed. The coronation of the new sovereign, and subsequently the turbulent events of 1717, the changeable Soviet period, more than once changed the music played by the bells of the Spasskaya Tower. Today, the clock plays two melodies - the National Anthem of Russia at the 6 and 12 o'clock positions, and "Glory" from the opera A Life for the Tsar at the 3 and 9 o'clock positions. The rest of the time, a characteristic chime and a regular battle sound. Until 1937, the watch was wound manually twice a day, and then the process was mechanized by installing as many as three electric motors for the factory.

Today, the Kremlin chimes are one of the symbols of Russia, which, as in the old days, measure the course of the country's history.