The address: Russia, Moscow, Moscow Kremlin
Date of creation: 1735
Placed on a pedestal: 1836
Coordinates: 55°45"02.9"N 37°37"07.1"E

Content:

The Moscow Kremlin is famous for one of its most notable historical sights - the Tsar Bell.

Moreover, it impresses not with its sound (the Tsar Bell never rang), but first of all with its own mass and enormous size. Currently, the bell is located on Ivanovskaya Square and everyone can see it. It is authentically known that the Tsar Bell was cast in the 18th century by the Motorins, a family of well-known foundry masters at that time: father Ivan and son Mikhail.

Of course, the Tsar Bell is their best and most monumental work, but the Motorins cast many other bells and over 10 cannons. And not only for the churches of the Russian capital - the bells of their work, for example, can be seen in St. Petersburg and Kyiv.

The history of the creation of the Tsar Bell

The Tsar Bell, which can be seen today in Moscow, is not the first. Turns out it was an earlier version. It was cast in 1600 and weighed approximately 40 tons. Unfortunately, in the middle of the XVII century it crashed. Immediately after this sad event, they decided to melt a new bell, much larger than the previous one. The weight of the new bell was 130 tons, which was installed next to the bell tower of Tsar Ivan the Great. But he was not destined to "live". The exact date of its fall is known - it was 1654, Christmas. The bell was damaged during the Christmas bell ringing. But we decided not to stop there. Turning to the professional caster A. Grigoriev, the master ordered the bell even more - weighing already 160 tons.

However, he was not destined to ring for a long time - the Grigoriev bell crashed during a strong fire that happened in 1701. And only 30 years later, Empress Anna Ivanovna decided to make another attempt to revive the Tsar Bell. The duration of the preparatory work was 4 years.

To cast a new bell on Ivanovskaya Square, a special mold was created in a pit 10 meters deep. The walls of the mold were reinforced with bricks and special oak inserts, and an iron grate was placed on the bottom. Oak piles were used as the foundation of this structure. Next, a bell shape was placed in the pit, into which the metal melted in four melting furnaces was poured. The remains of the old Tsar Bell, which crashed during a fire, went to the casting material. The project was "officially" directed and executed by Ivan Motorin. Starting from this moment, the chronology of the creation of the Tsar Bell is as follows: the preparatory work was completely completed in November 1734. On November 26, a service was held in the Assumption Cathedral, immediately after which the melting furnaces were flooded.

And now, it would seem, nothing should prevent the casting of a new bell. However, the unexpected happened again. Two furnaces malfunctioned, molten copper began to flow out and it all ended in a big fire. And after a while, Ivan Motorin died ...

They decided not to leave the work they had begun, and the son of Ivan Motorin, Mikhail, took up the next attempt to create the Tsar Bell. 1 hour and 12 minutes is the exact time it took to cast the last version of the Tsar Bell. The exact date of its creation is also known - November 25, 1735. After casting, the bell began to be decorated with chasing. However, fate intervened here. In May 1737 another fire broke out in Moscow. As a result, wooden logs and boards, which served as a frame for the casing in the casting pit, caught fire. The Tsar Bell began to heat up and so that it would not melt again, it was decided to fill it with water. Naturally, the metal could not withstand such a temperature difference, and a piece broke off from the Tsar Bell. The weight of this piece was 11.5 tons. The most interesting thing is that after the fire no one pulled it out of the casting pit. And the Tsar Bell lay in it for a long time - almost 100 years.

And only when the Kremlin was restored after the war with Napoleon, in 1836 the Tsar Bell was erected on a special pedestal. This is how you see it now. Installed near the bell tower of Tsar Ivan the Great, this is truly a masterpiece of the foundry art of Tsarist Russia.

Another remarkable person, August Montferrand, is inextricably linked with the history of the creation of the last Tsar Bell, which is now accessible to tourists. August Montferrand gained fame as a class specialist in working with heavy structures weighing several tens of tons after the construction of St. Isaac's Cathedral. By the way, he was its chief architect. It was he who helped organize the rise of the Tsar Bell to the pedestal. By the way, the pedestal itself was also designed by Augustus Montferrand. The people of that time were literally stunned when they saw the power and beauty of the raised Tsar Bell! Ornamental decorations were especially well done, this was noted in the newspapers of that time.

All the same August Montferrand cast a copper orb with a cross, installed at the top of the Tsar Bell. The cross is not gold, as many people think, but only gilded. Nevertheless, the view of the Tsar Bell from this does not become less exciting. On the bas-reliefs decorating the Tsar Bell, you can see Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, under whom the previous copy was created, and Empress Anna Ioannovna, the inspirer of the creation of this copy.

After all, it was thanks to her decree that work began on casting a new copper bell. Immediately below the image of Empress Anna Ioannovna, there is an inscription informing about the creators of the Tsar Bell - the father and son of the Motorins. They also did not forget about Christian saints - on the Tsar Bell there are images of Christ with the Mother of God, the Apostle Peter and John the Baptist. However, the fire that happened in 1737 once again did not allow the plan to be completed. It is for this reason that traces of unfinished chasing are visible on the Tsar Bell. By the way, another master was engaged in chasing. Only recently was his name established - Fedor Medvedev.

Legend of the Tsar Bell

There is an incredible legend about the Tsar Bell. According to it, the bell was cast during the time of Peter I (late 17th - early 18th centuries). With the return of the tsar to Moscow after the Battle of Poltava, all the bells rang in honor of the victory. Only one bell did not ring, despite the efforts of the bell ringers to swing the bell tongue. In anger, Peter I sent a company of military men to help, but they only tore off their tongues, and the Tsar Bell never rang.

The people said that the bell is more stubborn than the king. In his hands, Peter held a club taken from the Swedish king. Enraged that the bell did not want to announce the victory, the king hit it with a club. A piece broke off from the blow, and the Tsar Bell itself sank into the ground with a rumble. Old Believers and sectarians believe that on the day of the Last Judgment, the Tsar Bell will rise and start ringing.

• In 1941, the bell housed the communications center of the Kremlin regiment. So that the giant did not shine and was not visible to the German bombers, it was specially painted;
• Several times there were talks about how to solder the bell to use it for its intended purpose. But experts assure that it will not work to get a clear sound;
• 72 kg of gold and 525 kg of silver were added to the melt. This was supposed to improve the sound;
• The Tsar Bell never had a language. The tongue next to it was taken from another bell.

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One of the most interesting and notable historical sights of the Moscow Kremlin is. But he strikes not with his strong sound (he never called), but with his huge size and weight. The Tsar Bell is located on Ivanovskaya Square and everyone can admire it. Its height with a bridge is 6.24 m, diameter - 6.6 m, weight 202 tons.

The Tsar Bell was cast by the Motorin family of famous casters (father Ivan and son Mikhail) in the 17th century. Undoubtedly, the Tsar Bell is their best and most grandiose work, however, the Motorins also cast many other bells and cannons. Moreover, they tried not only for Moscow churches - their bells, for example, can be found in St. Petersburg and Kyiv.

The history of the creation of the Tsar Bell

The current Tsar Bell had several successors. The very first was a bell weighing 40 tons and cast in 1600. In the middle of the 17th century, it crashed and it was decided to smelt a new one, but of a much larger size. The new bell was cast and placed at the bell tower of Tsar Ivan the Great. Its weight was 130 tons. But he could not live long either, having crashed in 1654 during the Christmas bell ringing. They also decided not to stop there and instructed the professional caster A. Grigoriev to cast a new bell, but already weighing 160 tons.

The next bell was also not destined to ring for a long time - it crashed in 1701 during a strong fire. And only 30 years later, Empress Anna Ioannovna attempted to revive the Tsar Bell. Only the preparatory work took about 4 years.

In order to cast a new bell, a special mold was created on Ivanovskaya Square, installed in a 10-meter pit. The walls of the mold were reinforced with bricks and special oak inserts, and an iron grate was placed at the bottom. For the foundation of this structure, it was decided to use oak piles. After the bell shape was placed in the pit, the metal melted in four smelters was poured into it. The material was the old Tsar Bell, which crashed during a fire. Ivan Motorin was the leader and executor of the project.

On November 26, 1734, after the service in the Assumption Cathedral, the melting furnaces were flooded. And now, when it seemed that nothing should interfere with the casting of the bell, two melting furnaces failed and molten metal began to flow through them, which led to a big fire. And after some time, Ivan Motorin died ...

The son of Ivan Motorin, Mikhail, undertook to complete the creation of the Tsar Bell. On November 25, 1735, the last version of the bell was cast in 1 hour and 12 minutes, after which they began to decorate it with embossing. However, another fire, which occurred in May 1737, again intervened in the fate of the bell. As a result, the logs that serve as the frame of the casing in the casting pit caught fire. The bell began to heat up and so that it would not melt again, it was decided to fill it with water. The Tsar Bell could not withstand such a temperature difference and a piece broke off from it, the weight of which was more than 11 tons. After the fire, the Tsar Bell remained lying in the casting pit, having stayed there for almost 100 years.

Only after the war with Napoleon, during the restoration of the Kremlin in 1836, the Tsar Bell was installed on a special pedestal. This is how it can be seen today. The Tsar Bell became a masterpiece of the foundry art of Tsarist Russia. Talking about the Tsar Bell, one cannot fail to mention one remarkable person - Augustus Montferrand. He gained fame as an excellent master of heavy structures after the construction of St. Isaac's Cathedral, where he was the chief architect. It was he who organized the rise of the Tsar Bell on a pedestal built according to his own project. People were amazed when they saw the power and greatness of the raised Tsar Bell.
August Montferrand also cast a copper orb with a cross mounted on top of the Tsar Bell. The cross is not golden, as many people think, but gilded. Nevertheless, this does not make the view of the Tsar Bell any less exciting. On the bas-reliefs decorating the Tsar Bell, you can see Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, under whom the previous bell was created, as well as the inspiration for the creation of the new one, Empress Anna Ioannovna. Under the image of the Empress, there is an inscription about the creators of the Tsar Bell - Ivan and Mikhail Motorin. Also on the bell are depicted Christian saints - Christ with the Mother of God, the Apostle Peter and John the Baptist. However, due to a previous fire in 1737, the minting was not fully completed. Fyodor Medvedev, whose name was established only recently, was the master of coinage.

Legend of the Tsar Bell

There is an incredible legend about the Tsar Bell. According to it, the bell was cast during the time of Peter I (late 17th - early 18th centuries). When the tsar returned to Moscow after the Battle of Poltava, all the bells rang in honor of the victory. Only one bell did not ring, despite the ringer's efforts to swing the bell tongue. In a rage, Peter I sent a company of military men to help him, but they only tore off their tongue, and the Tsar Bell did not start ringing. The people said that the bell was more stubborn than the king. In his hands, Peter I held a club taken from the Swedish king. In anger because the bell did not want to announce the victory, the king hit it with a club. A piece broke off from the blow from the Tsar Bell, and he himself went into the ground with a rumble. Old Believers and sectarians believe that on the day of the Last Judgment the Tsar Bell will rise and start ringing.

• The Tsar Bell never had a language. The one next to it was taken from another bell.
• 525 kg of silver and 72 kg of gold were added to the melt, which was supposed to improve the sound.
• Several times it was proposed to solder the bell to use it for its intended purpose. However, experts assure that it will not work to get a clear sound.
• In 1941, the bell housed the communications center of the Kremlin regiment. So that it would not shine and be invisible to German bombers, it was specially painted.

1. "Silent" Tsar Bell. Its casting was completed in 1735, after which one of the symbols of Russia remained in the pit, since there was no suitable building that could support its weight. And in 1737, during a large-scale Moscow fire, a piece weighing 11 tons broke off from the bell. For another hundred years, the "giant" remained in the casting pit, after which it was installed on a pedestal in the Kremlin.

2. The big Assumption bell did not ring and will not. Several times the question was raised about how to solder the Tsar Bell and use it for its intended purpose. However, experts say that it will not work to get a clear sound after soldering. By the way, the tongue was not made for the Tsar Bell, but the one that lies on the pedestal was taken from another, unknown bell.

3. The current Tsar Bell had two "ancestors" with the same names."Grandfather" was cast for the Kremlin bell tower at the beginning of the 17th century by order of Boris Godunov. Its weight was 35 tons. And during one of the numerous Moscow fires, it crashed, after which the bell was poured, increasing its weight to 128 tons. It took a hundred people to set his tongue in motion! This bell "died" in 1701, after it broke again.

4. There is a bell that rings almost constantly. If the Tsar Bell has never rung, then at Oxford University there is a bell that has been ringing almost non-stop (except for short breaks caused by high indoor humidity) for about 170 years. So, with the help of Volt poles (devices for generating electricity used in advanced electrical engineering), the tongue swings between two bells.

5. The ringing of a bell can serve a variety of purposes. So, for example, in Turin (Italy) there was a "bread bell" that rang at the moment when it was time to knead the dough for bread so that it was ready for dinner. In Gdansk (Poland) for a long time there was a "beer bell" that announced the opening of drinking establishments. And the "Bell of Purity" in Bonn (Germany) urged residents to sweep the streets.

6. The bell was a pagan symbol. Today, bell ringing is associated with Orthodoxy, but at the dawn of Christianity, bells were considered pagan symbols. There is a legend that the oldest bell in Germany called “Saufang” (“Pig prey”) was dug out of the mud by pigs. Even after he was washed and hung on the bell tower, he refused to call. This continued until the bishop consecrated it, thereby purifying it from pagan filth.

7. Crimson ringing appeared thanks to Peter I. The phrase "Mechelen (crimson) ringing" appeared after Peter I ordered the first carillon for Russia (a musical instrument with a number of bells) in the Belgian city of Mechelen, which in French is called Malines (Malin). It was there that in the Middle Ages they developed a successful alloy for casting bells, which gives a soft and very pleasant ringing, called today "raspberry".

8. Some bells in Russia were exiled and even tortured. In 1591, the Uglich bell was thrown from the Spasskaya bell tower, its tongue was torn out, its ear was cut off, it was publicly punished on the square with 12 lashes, and eventually “exiled” to Siberia. The reason for such cruel treatment of the bell, which was then about 300 years old, was the "incitement" to rebellion (with its ringing he gathered the townspeople in the square) on the occasion of the death of Tsarevich Dmitry. There is also a legend that in 1681 the “Nabatny” bell of the Moscow Kremlin was “exiled” to the Korelsky Nikolaevsky Monastery (Nikolo-Korelsky Monastery): his fault was that he woke up Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich at night with his ringing.

9. There are bells not only on Earth, but also in space. So, there is a bell on the International Space Station. It is called when the captain of the crew is replaced.

10. Big Ben is called only the bell in the clock in the northern part of the Palace of Westminster. But often this name extends to the clock, and to the tower as well. However, since September 2012, the official name of the tower is "Elizabeth Tower". It was renamed in honor of the 60th anniversary of the reign of Queen Elizabeth II.

Moscow has a huge number of curious and amusing monuments from different eras, whose history arouses the irrepressible curiosity of both adults and children.

These can be sculptures dedicated to fairy tales, heroes of books and films, real people, the vices of society, and even such “ordinary” things as a stool, a fly, or the signs of students.

Some of these monuments have a rather long and interesting history. This should include 2 famous monuments Tsar Cannon and Tsar Bell, which are located on the territory of the Moscow Kremlin.

Unfortunately, the latter is remarkable not for its main purpose (ringing), but only for its appearance and weight. It is about him in this article that there will be a story from which you will find out in what year it was cast and how much it weighs.

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Appearance

This is not just a huge structure that stands in the Kremlin, but one of the main attractions of Russia. It is also considered a monument of the art of casting of the 18th century.

"Royal" copy. View from Ivanovskaya Square

In height, it exceeds the mark of 6 meters, in diameter it is more than 6.5 meters. The weight of the whole structure is more than 200 tons. The authors were well-known at that time casters father Ivan and son Mikhail Motorins. The design was originally created for the Ivan the Great bell tower, but was not used for some reason.

Outside, royal persons, the Mother of God, Christ and other saints are minted, there is a commemorative record with a description of the creation, the names of the creators and the date “1733”, although the copy was cast only after 24 months.

Above and below it is encircled by a pattern, at the top there is a large gilded cross. However, many researchers note differences in the coinage of reality and in the images of past centuries. Information and photos about this can be additionally found on the Internet.

Interesting fact: there is no tongue inside the structure: for the reasons indicated below, it was not cast at all, a tongue from someone else was placed inside.

According to the analysis carried out in the Soviet Union, the royal specimen consists of a mixture of several metals. Almost 85% is copper, another 13% is tin, a little more than 1% is sulfur. Less than 0.5% is occupied by silver and gold. However, gold accounts for more than 70 kg, silver for more than 500 kg.

This is interesting: According to Wikipedia, during the Civil War, Denikin, being a general, decided to print his own currency, choosing this monument as an image - because of this, after depreciation, they received the nickname "bells".

You can see the monument in the Moscow Kremlin: it stands on Ivanovskaya Square not far from Ivan the Great. He never left this place in his life.

"Ancestors"

The first Russian "Tsar Bell", which was cast at the beginning of the 17th century.

Today, this is far from the only "sovereign" that existed in Russia. Such a title appeared long before the current one - each had an outrageous mass and size at a certain moment:

1. For the first time, such a nickname was given to a copy cast at the beginning of the seventeenth century, which weighed 40 tons, but its fate turned out to be unenviable: in the middle of the century it crashed.
2. The next one was immediately smelted - already weighing 130 tons. But he lived even less: already in 1654 he fell and crashed during the Christmas bells.
3. The next was a bell weighing 160 tons, made by the foundry worker Grigoriev. In order to shake it, it took about a hundred bell ringers. He lived until the beginning of the 18th century. and fell down when a big fire started.

It's important to know: the material of the Grigorievsky bell went to the ebb of the current one.

1. After that, the bells were left alone for 30 years, but Empress Anna Ioannovna decided to try again to break the record and ordered the largest version - the one that stands in the Kremlin today. However, his fate was not much better than that of the "ancestors".

How was the work

The preliminary work took several years. First, four years were spent preparing the forms. To do this, a hole 10 meters deep was dug on Ivanovskaya Square, in which a mold was placed.

The distance between the walls of the pit and the form was filled with rammed earth, the form itself was reinforced with broken bricks and oak inserts. An iron grate was placed at the bottom, on which the form stood.

The embossing on the foundry monument-bogatyr belongs to the hands of the sculptor Fyodor Medvedev: he carved patterns and images from wood, and then made an impression on the inside of the casing. Also, several craftsmen took part in the work, who, by order of Peter I, took courses in molding and pedestal work abroad.

Chasing made by sculptor Fyodor Medvedev

Do you know that: at first, the work on casting was offered to the French royal mechanic by the name of Germain, but he decided that this was a joke - it was difficult to even imagine a product of the required parameters and weight.

Casting began in 1733 and took more than twelve months. In 1734, just before the start of work in the smelters, an accident occurred: spilled copper not only spoiled the sample, but also led to a major fire in the city. Its consequences were eliminated only a year later. During this period, the project manager changed: Ivan Motorin died, and the business passed to his son.

Everything was ready only two years later. In four melting furnaces, the required amount of metal was melted in 36 hours, after which it was poured into molds.

The process took a little over an hour, and all this time about 400 firefighters were on duty nearby. A pit with a huge structure was covered with wooden ceilings and left to cool. Then, without pulling it out, they began to make chasing, since the image on the walls came out uneven and blurred.

Note: since the production, apparently, took place according to the old forms, this copy has the wrong casting date - “1733”.

How did the piece break off?

But the adventures did not end: in 1737 there was a major fire. The wooden ceilings above flared up, and then the bell was red-hot. It was decided to pull him out of the pit.

The metal was pre-cooled with cold water, but due to the huge temperature difference, several through cracks appeared. This was the main reason why, when raised, it split, making a fall. The fallen off piece weighed more than 11 tons.

However, some researchers believe that the fire was just a pretext, and the blame should be placed on carelessly done work, for example, on violations that occurred during the casting.

Confirmation is often called the price paid to the foundry worker Motorin: for his work he received a thousand rubles and the shopmaster rank of a foundry worker. However, his next orders were estimated at almost eight times more: 8 thousand per work.

This is how the uprising took place in Moscow in 1836. Pictures

The first projects to extract the "king" from the forms ended in failure. It was possible to do this only after a hundred years: the project of pulling out was made by the architect Mironovsky.

Note: when a huge colossus was pulled out, several ropes burst, and it lists dangerously. The case was saved by an unknown worker: having made his way under a loosely hanging object, he installed props that held the structure while the ropes were changed.

In mid-August 1836, the “king” was nevertheless pulled out of the pit and placed on a specially built bronze pedestal. The whole process was led by the architect of St. Isaac's Cathedral Auguste (August) Montferrand: he already had experience in lifting weights to considerable heights. He also created a copper cross, then covered the structure itself with gilding.

Today, a commemorative plaque flaunts on the pedestal. It contains a brief history, period of creation and time of pulling out of the form.

Further fate

A piece weighing 11.5 tons, which broke away from the main structure during the Trinity fire

Of course, no one wanted to lose such a huge and long-suffering colossus, and therefore the question of soldering a chipped piece was raised several times. But all this was just talk: the spike would completely distort the sound, and therefore would be meaningless.

During the Second World War, this attraction turned into a communications center: Signalmen of the Kremlin Regiment hid inside it. To prevent enemy bombers from noticing it, the structure was painted, and after the victory it was wiped off again.

Curious legend

Despite the fact that the fate of the monument of foundry art is interesting in itself, it seemed to many that this was not enough.

Peter I the last Tsar of All Russia (since 1682) and the first All-Russian Emperor (since 1721)

Incredible rumors about him circulated among the people. Many believed that the bell was cast much earlier, even before Peter I came to the throne, and even successfully raised to the bell tower.

When, after the victory over the Swedes near Poltava, all the bells of the country began to ring, the "Tsar" could not even be moved.

Angry, the king sent a company of soldiers, but they only tore out his tongue, without achieving a single sound. The people gathered in the square began to laugh, shouts were heard that Tsar Peter would have to yield to the stubborn one.

Perth I, who was standing on the bell tower, was furious and hit this landmark with all his might with a baton. Because of the impact, a piece bounced off and fell to the ground, even went deep into it, from where it was taken out only after several decades.

Good to know: among the Old Believers there was an opinion that when the Last Judgment came, the monument to foundry art would fly into the air by itself, and its ringing would be heard, even though it would be without a language.

Not only Muscovites, but also many tourists know about this attraction. Huge and completely useless, he lived an interesting life, although he never rang, and even managed to help his country during the war, albeit in an unusual way.

Watch the video in which the historian briefly tells the history of the creation and the further fate of the Tsar Bell:

On November 28, 1734, a most unpleasant event happened in Moscow - when casting the Tsar Bell, two foundry furnaces failed at once. As a result, the bell was still cast, but its fate was not easy, however, like many other Russian bells. In Russia, the bells were not only raised with trepidation to the bell towers and listened to the "crimson" ringing. They were exiled, tortured, and in the heat of theomachy they were thrown from the belfries, smashed and sent to be melted down. So, the most interesting facts about Russian bells.

The first thousandth bells were damaged by fires

"Thousanders" in Russia called bells, the weight of which reached a thousand pounds (16 tons or more). The first such bell was cast in 1522 under Ivan III by craftsman Nikolai Nemchin and installed on the wooden belfry of the Moscow Kremlin.
In 1599, already in the reign of Boris Godunov, the Great Assumption Bell was cast, the weight of which exceeded 3 thousand pounds. The bell died in 1812, when the French, who captured Moscow, blew up the belfry attached to the bell tower of Ivan the Great. In 1819, the foundry worker Yakov Zavyalov managed to recreate this bell. And today, a giant bell weighing 64 tons and 4 meters 20 cm in diameter can be seen on the Assumption Belfry of the Moscow Kremlin. The tongue of the bell weighs 1 ton 700 kg, and its span is 3 meters 40 cm. On Bright Week, the Big Assumption Bell announces the Easter blessing to all the monasteries of Moscow.
Big Assumption bell. Dormition belfry. Kremlin

Big Assumption bell. Kremlin

The world's largest bell is cast in Russia

In the 17th century, Russian bell makers again distinguished themselves: in 1655, Alexander Grigoriev cast a bell weighing 8,000 pounds (128 tons). In 1668, the bell, which even foreigners called the one and only in the world, was raised to the belfry. According to eyewitness accounts, at least 40 people were required to swing the tongue of the bell, which weighed more than 4 thousand kilograms. The bell rang in the Kremlin until 1701, when it fell and broke during one of the fires.

Empress Anna Ioannovna decided to recreate the world's largest bell, increasing its weight to 9 tons. Foreign masters said that this was impossible. The bell master Motorina decided to take up this charitable work. Father started the business. But something went wrong, and immediately two foundry furnaces failed. The master fell ill with excitement and soon died, but his son successfully completed what he started.

Tsar Bell. Anthology

The bell was ready in 1735. 6.6 meters in diameter, 6.1 meters in height and about 200 tons in weight (12327 pounds), it was called the "Tsar Bell". But 2 years later, during another fire, the shed over the bell pit caught fire, the bell became red-hot, and when water got into the pit, it cracked. It all ended with a piece weighing 11.5 tons breaking off from it. Only 100 years later, the Tsar Bell was installed on a pedestal near the Ivan the Great Bell Tower in the Kremlin. Where it can be seen today.

During the Civil War, the Tsar Bell was depicted on 1000-ruble bills, which were issued in the Crimea by General Denikin. The people called this money "bells".

Some bells in Russia were exiled and even tortured

Bells in Russia were not only admired, some of them were severely punished. So for "incitement" to rebellion in 1591, when Tsarevich Dmitry died, the Uglich bell was punished. He was first thrown from the Spasskaya bell tower, then the executioners used torture - they cut off his ear, pulled out his tongue and punished him with 12 lashes. This seemed not enough, and the bell, which at that time was 300 years old, was sent into exile in Siberia.

The fact is also known that in 1681 the “Nabatny” bell, which was located in the Moscow Kremlin, was “exiled” by the Nikolo-Korelsky Monastery to Nikolaev because he woke Tsar Fedor Alekseevich with his ringing at night.

The most famous Russian bell ringer distinguished 1701 sounds

Konstantin Konstantinovich Saradzhev

Konstantin Konstantinovich Saradzhev is an Armenian by origin and the most famous of the Russian bell ringers. This is a man with absolute pitch, and some claimed that he had "colored" hearing. Saradzhev distinctly distinguished 1701 sounds within one octave. He could hear the sound of every thing, stone and person, even if he was silent. Pythagoras had the same unique hearing, according to the legends. At least that's what his students said.

Saradzhev owns a musical notation of 317 sound spectra of the largest bells of Moscow churches, cathedrals and monasteries. Today this manuscript is kept in the Danilov Monastery.
Konstantin Konstantinovich Saradzhev - the most famous Russian bell ringer

Konstantin Konstantinovich Saradzhev - the most famous Russian bell ringer

The sound of Sarajev's bells was more like music than ringing. The ringer constantly improved the methods of ringing, dreamed that someday the bells would sound not only in church acoustics and that a concert belfry would appear in Russia. But in 1930, church bells were completely banned in the USSR, and Saradzhev's dreams were not destined to come true.

The power of the Soviets for several years destroyed almost all the bells of Orthodox Russia

At the beginning of the 20th century, there were 39 “thousander” bells in the Russian Empire, and in the 1990s there were only 5 of them left. Small and medium bells were almost completely destroyed.
The Soviet government treated the church very negatively, including bells. All the churches were placed at the disposal of the Local Councils, which could "use them for their intended purpose, based on public and state needs." In 1933, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee established a plan for the procurement of bronze bells for the republics and regions, and within just a few years, almost all the bells were destroyed. Exactly how much, no one can say.

Some bells perished with temples, some were deliberately destroyed, others went to the "needs of industrialization." The sad fate did not pass even the bells that were cast for the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, Ivan the Great, St. Isaac's Cathedral, Valaam, Solovetsky, Savvino-Storozhevsky and Simonov monasteries and thousands more churches throughout Russia. In 1929, the bell was removed from the Kostroma Assumption Cathedral weighing 1200 pounds. As a result, not a single bell remained in Moscow.
Destruction

Destruction

Destruction

It is known that some of the bells were sent to such large construction sites as Dneprostroy and Volkhovstroy for technical needs. Of these, boilers were made for canteens. In 1932, the Moscow authorities cast high reliefs from 100 tons of church bells for the new building of the library. Lenin.

The return of the bells

Experts say that it is impossible to restore the bell, but it is possible to cast a copy of it according to sound and weight. Recently, the famous “thousanders” began to return in Russia. So, the Trinity evangelists have already returned to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra - the bells "Tsar", "Godunov" and "Kornouhiy", which in 1930 were thrown from the bell tower by atheists. The largest bell cast in Russia in our time is the Great Bell of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow, recreated in the 1990s. Its weight is 27 tons.