Спереводом, the ringing of bells accompanied the whole life of moscow in ancient times. bells rang invasions and during the frequent fires, in cases of popular uprisings, and to announce victories or holiday celebrations. even today bells ring on the kremlin’s spassky tower. at present there are 29 ancient bells in the moscow kremlin. some of them hang in the ivan the great bell tower and in the buildings around it. the biggest bell weighting 65 tons and 320 kg can be seen in the embrasure of the “filaret building” which rises next to the belfry under a golden dome. the bell is called the assumption day bell. it was cast by yakov zavyalov of metal taken from an even older bell which used to hang in the building and was broken when the bell tower blew up in 1812. the most famous of all bells, the tzar bell, stands on the ground at the foot of the ivan the great bell tower, and is surrounded by people from morning till night. it’s history in brief is as follows. in 1730 empress anna ivanovna ordered that a bell weighting 9000 poods (126 tons) should be cast. german, the casting master of the french king thought it was a joke. ivan motorin, the most famous casting master in moscow in those days, declared that it was possible. a special casting pit was dug in ivanovskaya square in the kremlin. the pit was 10 meters deep. huge amounts of copper, tin and sulphur, as well as 72 kg of gold and more than 500 kg of silver were used. ivan motorin failed to finish the casting and it was completed by his son mikhail. apart from all kinds of ornaments found on the bell, there is the following inscription: “this bell was cast by russian craftsman ivan motorin, the son of fyodor motorin, and his son mikhail motorin”. the casting was successful and finally the bell stood ready to be lifted on an iron grating. during a very bad fire that raged in the kremlin on may 29, 1737, the wooden building above the pit caught fire. people rushed to extinguish the flames and poured water onto the burning log that had fallen into the pit. due to uneven and fast cooling the metal cracked out and a fragment weighing 11,5 tons broke off. the bell remained in the pit for a hundred years. in the 19th century it was hoisted onto a white stone pedestal for public observation. here are a few statistics about the dimensions and weight of the giant. it is 6,14 metres high, has a diameter of 6,6 metres, and weighs 202 tons and 924 kg. hence its name – the tzar bell.

mikatay    3   07.08.2019 12:00    0