The famous Tsar Bell was intended for the Ivanovo Belfry. Its history begins with the time of Boris Godunov, who ordered to cast a bell weighing more than a thousand pounds and hang it on wooden frame. However, in one of the Kremlin fires, the wooden belfry burned down, the bell fell and broke. Alexei Mikhailovich ordered to pour it with a large addition of metal, bringing the weight to 8,000 pounds, and place it on the Filaret's annex. But the royal evangelist repeated the fate of his predecessor, having crashed in a fire in 1701.
In 1730, Empress Anna Ioannovna, who had just ascended the throne, wished to pour the wreckage again. The new bell was supposed to weigh 13,000 pounds (more than 200 tons). Casting a bell of this size was an extremely difficult technical task. Master Ivan Motorin undertook to resolve it. Right on the square in the summer of 1734 they began to arrange stoves. The first casting was unsuccessful: the furnace burst, and the metal went into the ground, besides, a fire almost started. Motorin began preparations for the second casting, but did not have time to complete the work. The business was successfully continued by his son Michael. When everything was ready for casting again, 400 firefighters were gathered on the square just in case, and after the prayer service, Archbishop Veniamin of Kolomna lit the first furnace with his own hands. On November 25, 1735, the casting was successfully completed.
In general, the decoration of the Tsar Bell is an example of Baroque art, which reflects the trends of Russian fine art in the first half of the 18th century and the Italian skills of the sculptor. The sculptor F. Medvedev, once sent by Peter I to Venice to study, decorated the casting mold with many ornaments, inscriptions and relief figures of Alexei Mikhailovich and Anna Ioannovna, which had to be cleaned and minted. Therefore, the bell remained in the pit, on the lattice platform, until 1737, when the fiery element raged once again in the Kremlin. Over the casting pit flashed wooden roof, and when extinguishing the fire with water, the bell cooled unevenly and cracked. At first, they thought of pouring it, but according to the estimates, the costs turned out to be more than those spent on the initial casting. Then a project arose (though hardly feasible) to solder the broken edge, but the author of the project, the architect Forstenberg, died of the plague of 1770. Meanwhile, the bell continued to remain in the pit. In 1821, by order of Alexander I, the pit was cleared and a ladder was lowered into it for the convenience of sightseeing lovers. The Tsar Bell was brought to the surface of the earth only in 1836; the mechanisms for lifting the bell were designed by the builder of St. Isaac's Cathedral in St. Petersburg, architect and engineer O. Montferrand.
“Visitors to the Kremlin often ask about the possibility of restoring a unique bell so that it can sound. This problem was already of interest in the 18th century. well-known Russian engineers N. N. Benardos and N. G. Slavyanov. late XIX century, there was even a discussion in the press about the need to restore the bell. Current state technology, of course, allows you to solder existing cracks and even return the fragment to its place. However, the unique decor of the Tsar Bell will inevitably suffer. Moreover, it is impossible to pour it into a new sounding bell, since it is a monument of history, art and foundry." I.D. Kostina. Bells of the Moscow Kremlin. Moscow, 2007
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 much bigger 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 on preparatory work took about 4 years.
In order to cast a new bell, on Ivanovskaya Square they created special form, 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 coinage 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 Battle of Poltava, in honor of the victory all the bells rang. 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.
The Tsar Bell - a giant bell weighing 200 tons, cast in bronze by Russian craftsmen by order of Anna Ioannovna, is the world's largest hand-cast bell. So it never rang, and in 1837 it was installed on a pedestal as a monument of Russian foundry art. Located on the territory.
Photos of the Tsar Bell in Moscow
History of the Tsar Bell
Empress Anna Ioannovna ordered to make a new bell from the broken bell of the times of Alexei Mikhailovich, only of a larger size, bringing it all up to 10 thousand pounds (about 164 tons). The French engineer Germain did not cope with this task: he considered it a joke. Then master Ivan Motorin volunteered to do the work together with his son. But things did not work out right away: in 1734, after two years of preparation, metal smelting began, but a leak from the furnaces was discovered. As a result, a fire broke out that destroyed the tower erected over the bell. wooden structure for his rise. It all started all over again, but a year later a new misfortune came - Ivan Motorin died, so his son Mikhail began to manage the work. The work was completed in November 1735, but for several more years the bell was in the foundry pit - there it was caught by the Trinity fire of 1737. Then an 11-ton piece broke off from the bell, which is now displayed next to it on a pedestal.
The destruction of the bell is explained by two versions. One says that the cracks appeared due to the ingress of water on the metal heated by the fire and a large temperature difference. Other researchers believe that violations of casting technology are to blame. That is why the bell remained in the casting pit for so long, and the fire turned out to be a convenient excuse.
Be that as it may, the bell is an outstanding monument of history and foundry art. Not only incredible sizes are interesting, but also fine workmanship bas-reliefs depicting Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, Empress Anna Ioannovna, as well as floral ornaments. This was understood 200 years ago. Repeated attempts were made to raise the bell from the casting pit, but this was only possible in 1836 by Auguste Montferrand, who built Saint Isaac's Cathedral in . According to his project, a lifting device and a pedestal were created, on which the Tsar Bell was hoisted.
How much does the Tsar Bell weigh?
The Tsar Bell weighs about 200 tons, and the piece that broke off from it weighs 11 tons.
Tsar Cannon and Tsar Bell
And the Tsar Bell in the minds of people always follows side by side: it is worth mentioning one thing, you immediately remember another. And they are located nearby, on the territory of the Kremlin. Cannon - between the bell tower of Ivan the Great and the Church of the Twelve Apostles, the bell - opposite the bell tower. However, the cannon is older and, unlike the bell, could properly perform its functions, although it never took part in battles.
Where is it located and how to get there
The Tsar Bell is located in the Moscow Kremlin, next to the Ivan the Great Bell Tower on Cathedral Square. The most convenient way to get to the ticket office and the entrance to the Kremlin is from the Aleksandrovsky Sad and Lenin Library metro stations.
Opening hours: entrance to the territory of the Kremlin is carried out from 10:00 to 17:00, Thursday is a day off. Ticket price: minors are free of charge, an adult ticket costs 350 rubles, preferential tickets depending on the visited exposition - 250-300 rubles. Website:
Dear visitors! We draw your attention to some changes in the opening hours of the Museum
In connection with the repair and restoration work, the entrance of visitors to the territory of the Kremlin is carried out through the Trinity Gate, exit - via Spassky and Borovitsky. Passage of visitors to the Armory and exit is through the Borovitsky Gate.
October 1st to May 15th The Moscow Kremlin Museums switch to winter mode work. The architectural ensemble is open to the public from 10:00 to 17:00. The Armory is open from 10:00 to 18:00. Tickets are sold at the box office from 9:30 to 16:00. Day off - Thursday. The exchange of electronic tickets is made in accordance with the terms of the User Agreement.
October 1st to May 15th the exposition of the bell tower "Ivan the Great" is closed to the public.
In order to ensure the preservation of monuments under adverse weather conditions, access to some museum-cathedrals may be temporarily limited.
We apologize for any inconvenience caused.
