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Video: Foundry Tsars of the Moscow Kremlin: what a cannon and a bell have in common
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
What do a cannon and a bell have in common? At first glance, only that both items are cast in bronze. Although history knows many cases when during the war the bells were melted down for the manufacture of artillery pieces, and after the establishment of peace, the reverse process was going on, the church shrines were restored. In the Moscow Kremlin, literally a hundred meters apart, there are Tsar Bell and Tsar Cannon … And this is no accident …
Tsar Cannon
Tsar Cannon known for being the largest artillery piece in the world. The 40-ton record holder was cast from bronze in 1568 by master Andrey Chokhov. It adorned with a portrait of Tsar Fyodor I, the son of Ivan the Terrible. Having conceived to create a gigantic weapon, the designer thereby condemned the cannon to oblivion: you can shoot from it only once, and with a high degree of probability it will be destroyed. It is for this reason that no volleys were fired from the Tsar Cannon. Although, according to some reports, once they still fired buckshot, but the cannonballs were left nearby as a decoration. Despite its unsuitability for military affairs, the Tsar Cannon began to be used to intimidate enemies, its formidable for many years became a symbol of the power of Russia.
Today the skill of Russian foundry workers is known all over the world. And the defense industry, in general, is working on many of the latest developments. The Tsar Cannon stood on Red Square for more than a century, after which it was moved to the Kremlin. Today it stands on a pedestal as one of the main monuments of Russian artillery.
The Tsar Bell
The Tsar Bell - also a record holder, this is the largest bell in the world, work on it began in 1730. The 6-meter giant weighs about 202 tons, and is also decorated with images of angels and saints, portraits of Empress Anna and Tsar Alexei. This artifact was also never used for its intended purpose due to its gigantic size.
The history of the creation of the Tsar Bell is full of tragic events: in order to cast it, it took 1, 5 years of preparatory work, and during this time the master Ivan Motorin died, who began a large-scale project, his son Mikhail took up his father's work. The cast bell was damaged during the Trinity fire, they did not dare to restore it, since it required too much effort, despite the fact that it was almost impossible to achieve its sound. It was put on a pedestal a century later, in 1836.
More about how the most famous monument of foundry art was created - in our article. null
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