The Tsar Bell.

Sacrifice of fire or great mysterity of Russia?

The world's largest Great Assumption Bell - the King Bell stands in Moscow, on the territory of the Kremlin at the foot of the bell tower of Ivan the Great.

King Bell is a huge bell: height with ears 6.24 m, diameter is 6.6 m, a mass of about 200 tons. It was cast in 1735 from bronze by Russian masters by the father and son of the Mororian by decree of the Empress Anna John.

Decorations, portraits and inscriptions on it are made by the best artists and chasters of that time. The decorative decoration of the bell is surprisingly rich: the images of the religious saints and portraits of royal people and their heavenly patrons.

According to the official version, a 200-ton bell was cast on November 25, 1735 and was left in the foundry, where they were chased in the next year and a half. And in May 1737, an unprecedented fire happened in Moscow, from which almost the whole city suffered.

According to the official version, forests tanned over the king of the bell, with the help of which the giant was going to raise from the pit. Wanting to put out the fire, cold water liled on a hotbeled bell. From the temperature difference, the bell split.
From the king bells there was a significant piece weighing about eleven tons! The bell became unsuitable for use for its intended purpose, so it was so left in the foundry, where he was about 100 years old.

In 1836, the king of the bell was raised from the casting pit and installed in the Moscow Kremlin for a special pedestal.

Already about two and a half centuries have passed since the creation of the king bell. He was and remains not just a national attraction of Russia, but also is a monument of the foundry of the XVIII century of world importance.

In 2008, the magazine "Popular Mechanics" journal conducted their own investigation into the occurrence of the "chip" of the King Bell. And it turned out that the masters of the bell business had a long time ago there is an unusual version of the death of the famous king bell!

"Indeed, black metal, cast iron, for example, when heated and later, becomes fragile," says Valery Nikolaevich Anisimov, the founder of the largest specialized collapoline enterprise "Vera". However, non-ferrous metals, including bell bronze, in such conditions become soft and plastic, and therefore cannot break. "

Valery Nikolayevich demonstrates a video of the investigative experiment: the usual (and very uncomfortable) bell heat hot with diesel burner and immediately lowered in cold water.
A worker hits a sledgehammer in the bell - there is no sound, because the bronze became very soft. Such metal can not split.

"The cooling of the bell after casting is a very delicate moment," says Valery Nikolaevich. At this time, the metal decreases in the volume, the bell is compressed, still being based on-rod. To prevent breakdowns, it is necessary to knock out the rod immediately, as soon as the metal of the freshly tired bell starts to harden. I myself am so many bells: weekends, holiday, ran, forgotten the bell on the rod - get the crack in the morning.

Yes, this bell never called (like the girl you gave the phone in the bar). Today marks 180 years old, as it was installed by the Kremlin. In general, it is 280. And he spent 100 years from them under the ground. Already interesting!

01

The king bell is bad karma. It was cast from the remains of the bell made in 1654 and weighing 128 tons. To call it, the efforts of a hundred people were required! (Or ten Valuevy.) He crashed during a fire of 1701. It is noteworthy that this bell was cast from the predecessor, which was made at the beginning of the XVII century by order of Boris Godunov, weighed 35 tons and also crashed during a fire.

02

First, the work on the casting of the bell was offered to the French "Royal Golden Affairs to Master and a member of the Academy of Sciences" Germene, but he refused, considering the project is impracticable. Then the Russian masters of Motorins were taken for the case - Father Ivan and Son Mikhail. The preparation and casting of the bell lasted a year and a half, during which time the Sr. Motorin died.

03

To cast your name on the bell, Mikhail Motorin filed a special petition in the Senate, and personally approved Empress Anna Ioannovna. Apparently, in this undemocratic time the legislature was completely dependent on the head of the country. (Yeah, guess, it was irony.)

04

After one and a half years of chasing and decorative decoration of the bell in Moscow, the famous Trinity Fire began (how not to believe in karma?!), Destroying a quarter of the city. The wooden beams who supported the shape were caught fire, and so that the bell was not melted again, it was decided to cool with water. But the bell could not stand the temperature difference, gave a crack, and a piece of 11.5 tons split a piece from it. According to another version, Skol occurred due to violation of technology.

05

For the future bell on the Ivanovo Square, a pit was filmed a depth of 10 meters, where the shape was placed. Near the four casting furnaces. The process of melting the metal and casting the bell took 36 hours and ended on November 25, 1735. Safety followed 400 policemen with fire equipment.

06

After a hundred years, the king of the bell decided to raise on the surface. The task was laid on Montferran's Auguste, the architect of St. Isaac's Cathedral, who coped with it and on August 17, 1836 set the bell to the pedestal, which he originated himself.

07

Of course, you know that the King Bell has never called. We will only add that for him never even cast a language. And the one that lies on the pedestal, took from the other.

08

In August 1919, the White Army began issuing his own money. A king bell was depicted on the thousandth bill, so the people were in the people called "bells".

The famous king of the bell was intended for Ivanovo belfry. His story begins with the times of Boris Godunov, who has commanded to cast a bell weighing more than a thousand pounds and hang on a wooden srub. However, in one of the Kremlin fires, the wooden bells burned down, the bell fell and crashed. Alexey Mikhailovich ordered him to pour it with a large addition of metal, bringing the weight to 8,000 pounds, and put an extension on the phylaretic. But the royal blegus repeated the fate of the predecessor, crashing at the fire of 1701

In 1730, the Empress Anna Ioannovna had just asked for the throne wished again to pour fragments. The new bell was supposed to weigh 13,000 pounds (more than 200 tons). Casting of the bell of this size represented an extremely complex technical task. Master Ivan Motorin was taken to allow her. Right on the square in the summer of 1734 began to arrange the furnaces. The first casting was unsuccessful: the furnace broke, and the metal went to the ground, besides, a fire was not started. Motorin began preparations for the second casting, but did not have time to complete the work. The case successfully continued his son Mikhail. When everything was ready for casting again, 400 firefighters were collected on the square, and the Kolomna Archbishop of Veniamin after a prayer service personally flooded the first furnace. On November 25, 1735, casting was safely completed.

In general, the decorative decoration of the King Bell is a sample of the Baroque art, which reflects the trend of the Russian visual art of the first half of the XVIII century and the Italian sculpture of the sculptor. The sculptor F. Medvedev, once sent by Peter I for learning in Venice, decorated the casting form of a variety of ornaments, inscriptions and relief figures of Alexei Mikhailovich and Anna John, who had to be cleaned and burned. Therefore, the bell remained in the pit, on the lattice of a platform, until 1737, when the fiery element was once again launched in the Kremlin. A wooden roof broke out over the foundry of the pit, and when the fire is heated with water, the bell cooled unevenly and cracked. Initially, he was thought to pass, but according to the estimated expenses, the costs turned out to be more than spent on the initial casting. Then there was a project (however, it is hardly feasible) to solder a breakaway edge, but the author of the project, the Architect Forstenberg, died from the plague of 1770. Meanwhile, the bell continued to remain in the pit. In 1821, according to Alexander I, the pit was cleared and descended into it a staircase for the convenience of attractions of attractions. The tsar-bell was removed on the surface of the earth only in 1836, watershed to the pedestal and welded on top of the eyebrackets, carrying a power with a cross; The mechanisms for lifting the bell constructed the builder of St. Isaac's Cathedral in St. Petersburg, architect and engineer O. Montferran.

"Visitors of the Kremlin often ask the possibility of restoring a unique bell so that he could sound. This problem was interested in the XVIII century. At first, the proposals of the bell transfitted from the founders appeared. Later - about the possible soldering of a fragment. The most interesting were the projects of the 1890s The famous Russian engineers N.N. Benardos and N.G. Slavyanov. At the end of the XIX century, a discussion on the need to restore the bell even unfolded. The current state of technology, of course, allows you to secure existing cracks and even return shards to the place. However, it is inevitable The unique decor of the king bell is injured. Especially, it is impossible to transfer it to a new sounding bell, because it is a monument of history, art and foundry. " I.D. Kostin. Bells of the Moscow Kremlin. Moscow, 2007.

Much time has passed since the installation of the architectural monument in the Kremlin, but it will always be considered a historical heritage in casting creativity. The article contains a brief history of the occurrence of the king bell, the idea of \u200b\u200bdeveloping this product and its location.

The king of the bell is located on an equipped elevation inside the Moscow Kremlin, in Ivanovo Square. This is one of the historical heritage known to the whole world. The bell was created in the XIIX century by the family of the founders: Ivan Motorina and his son Mikhail. The exhibit is an important monument in the history of the state.

How many tsar bell weigh

The king bell is considered one of the largest copies of the bells in the world.

Tsar-bell is an excellent product of bell tower, which has no analogues in the world.

Bell dimensions:

• height - 6.24 meters;
• diameter - 6.6 meters;
• weight - 202 tons.

The idea of \u200b\u200bthe structure of the monument

The history of the creation of the monument is ambiguous, as it may seem:

Who cast a monument

Initially, the casting of the bell wanted to entrust the master from Paris, but he refused, accepting this offer for a joke. This post was taken by the compatriot Ivan Motorina, who in 1730 began to go. He was given to help another master, 10 students and 2 officers.

Also, the work helped to perform people of different construction specialties: carpenters, bricklayers, carpenters, locksmiths, blacksmiths. The utility workers wore water, bricks, lime and mixed clay. In total, there were about 190 people drawn into the creation of a monument. Sculptures and cutters were engaged in casting details and monument.

For the resumption of melting furnaces destroyed during the first smelting, Motorin ordered new materials to existing consumables. They had a huge amount of red brick. It was used when finishing the furnace, to cladding, strengthening and base. This time we accepted the warning measures from the emergence of a fire.

Preparatory stage

Motorin at the beginning of work created a small sample (weighing 12 poods) for the example of which the drawings were made. The created draft with the drawings sent to St. Petersburg for approval. The process of preparing and waiting for the approval took 2 years.

For casting historical heritage, several types of metals were used: a mixture of new metals and a metal alloy from a large Assumption bell, which split off during a fire in the Kremlin in 1701. Such work with metals is called foundry. The hot metal is poured into a certain form, waiting for its cooling and it turns out some kind of product. According to this technology, a bell was manufactured.

The use of metals required accurate calculations. It was necessary to immerse in the furnace a certain amount of metal during the second casting. In the laboratory, at the end of the analysis, determined which metal and in what quantity was used when creating a casting monument.

The product includes the following metals:

Metal	Percentage of detention
Copper	84,51%
Tin	13,21%
Sulfur	1,25%
Gold	0,036%
Silver	0,25%

Process of creation

To create a giant, it took 2 templates on the drawings of great masters. For finishing inside the construction, one template was used, and for the design outside the other. In Ivanovo Square, a place under the shape of the bell was prepared. It was a dumped recess in the ground about 10 m.

The sides strengthened with wooden bars, which bind to metal rims. For the strength, the pit was laid with bricks and was installed on the bottom of the iron lattice.

Then they started making the blanks and installed another template, resembling the appearance of the facility. Upon completion of these works, the form was raised using special cargo plants. After decoration, the blanks was made iron loop for the giant language. All technical works ended on November 25, 19535.

Finish the casting of the bells Ivan was failed due to death, but his business continued his son Mikhail. His hand in the creation of the final tsar-bell was attached to another person - Russian architect Auguston Monferran. He was a Frenchman by origin, who received an invitation to work in Russia. Raising the king-bell on the foundation was done by him.

Installation Tsar Bell

King Bell (story briefly tells about his lift) installed on the stone base in the Kremlin in the summer of 1836. On the giant made 4 subways that kept the ball. From above the ball was installed cross from bronze.

Augusto Monferran also became famous as a decorator and a person who knows how to draw wonderful. It is the creator of the Power with a gold-plated cross. On the paintings depicted on the king bell, you can see Russian Romanov Alexey Mikhailovich, in which the preceding sample was performed, and Empress Anna John, who inspired to create a similar sample.

Below images with an empress is a mark of people who created this sculpture - Ivan and Fyodor Motorins. On the bell also depicts Christian Saints - Christ and Maria, John the Forerun and Apostle Peter. Murals were performed by the best artists of that time.

How the king bell was created:

Friend piece

In the history of the bell, not one fire happened. In the spring of 1737 at the final stage of the chased work, namely, the creation of decorative jewelry and inscriptions, a fire, known to everyone like Troitsky, began. The melted bell was in the pit, in which all technical works were performed, and the pit was blocked on top of the oak bars.

During this fire, wooden installations were destroyed with a tent installed above the casting pit. Flooded bars began to fall down on the monument. People in a panic did not know how to put on the fire and decided that the water is the best option.

In the process of extinguishing a fire on a hot bell, cold water hit, and the heated metal could not stand the heatpad. On it was formed splits and scars. The bell with a crackle lost the separated part of the weight of 11.5 tons. Broken and failed, he was not needed anyone and left it in the same place.

The story briefly describes that the King Bell was in the pit for almost 100 years. The pit decided to clean, equip the boards and build a staircase with the railings. Those who wish could go down and admire the masterpiece .

A special stage since the creation of the monument is considered to raise from the bottom of the deepening. A long period of time was assumed that it would not be possible to raise it.

Preparatory work on the raising of the bell passed scrupulously and in detail. It was important every little thing. To begin with, removed the entire ground from the recess around the bell and installed a log house to prevent collapse. Then the water was removed. Preparation was carried out about 2 months.

A huge number of people gathered on the day of lifting the monument. The weight was so large that 2 ropes could not withstand the tension and cracked. Bell measurement in the wrong position. One worker fell down under the bell and built a stand under it with a log. After that, the bell was installed on the logs.

The engineer explained the unsuccessful attempt to raise the foundry due to the fragile ropes, which were unusable six months after their acquisition. New ropes were ordered in more. Now they were not 4, but 20. This time the rise was performed for an hour.

The installation was reconstructed, as well as a fragment broken once, which was underground. The bell was placed on an eight-marched setup near the bell tower of Ivan the Great, where he was from the summer of 1836.

Legend of Tsar-Bell

King Bell (history is briefly based on the facts) reproduced during the reign of Peter I. There is a legend that when the king returned home by defeating in Poltava battle, all the bells called, except one. None of the ringing could cope with him. Peter I was angry and sent to the bell of the military, but they only managed to tear the bell tongue.

After that, the people said that the bell stubborn the king himself. Inspired by rage, Peter I hit the battle on the bell. As a result, the bell himself fell into the ground, and part of the product broke away. Some believe that on the day of the court, the king of the bell will not only shine, but also rises from the ground.

The monument of foundry creativity Tsar-Bell is the great property of his native state for children and for an adult generation.

History briefly describes the unique work of the art of that time. The visitors and residents of the city can take this product of architecture in the same form as he was taken from the casting pit. Restoration work was planned, but they were postponed due to the high value of the material and the lack of a guarantee that the bell ever be sorted.

Article clearance: Svetlana Ovsynikov

Interesting video about the amazing king bell

Tsar-gun and Tsar Bell: Creation History:

"The bell of this will fall out in 1733, the legality of the Empress of Anna John,
stayed in the land of a hundred and three years and the will of the pious of the sovereign of the emperor Nicholas I
summer set 1836, August in the 4th day. "

So it says a gilded inscription on the marble board on the pedestal of the king bell, but everything is true in it, let's figure it out.

In general, the king bell was known from the first half of the XVI century:
"At the site of the bell tower of Ivan the Great was the church of John of the Pathrodnichnik, and with her a small tsar-bell hung, weighing a thousand pounds, merged into the times of Okrichnina John Grozny."

True, subsequently, this bell was transferred with the addition of copper and heated on an extension of Ivan the Great. His place was taken by another bell in 8,000 pounds, cast under Alexei Mikhailovic in 1654.

According to legend, no one was taken to raise the transfused bell, and he remained without a business until 1668, when, finally, he was hanging on an extension of the royal gatekeeper self-taught mechanic. The bell has checked around the bell tower until the fire on June 18, 1704, during which he burst. He was removed only 27 years later. In 1734, on the command of Anna Ioannovna, it was decided to add a thousand pounds of weight to the bell. For such a bulk, a small separate bell tower was going to attach to Ivan.
Count Miniu was instructed to contact a member of the Paris Academy of Sciences by Germene. Minich wrote in his notes: "This artist was surprised when I declared him about the weighing of the bell, and at first I thought that I was joking, but, causing the proposal in the truth, was a plan where I had increased the difficulty of work and the cost of them that the Empress refused his plans."

After that, the artillery of bellworks Master Ivan Fedorovich Maorin took the job for the work. It was not even scared of a certain weight of the future bell at 12,000 pounds.
The bell decided to cast in the Kremlin, where they arranged the casting pit between the miracle monastery and Ivan the Great. 15.312 pounds and 24 pounds of metal were released on the work. Since there were particles of gold and silver brought from Siberia, the bell was characterized by whiteish color. The new bell came out 12,327 pounds of 19 pounds.

Two inscriptions are on the king bell. First: "Blessed and everlasting memory of the great sovereign of the king and the Grand Duke Alexei Mikhailovich, All Great and Malya and Belya Russia, the autocrat of the command, in the first-passive church of the Most Holy Virgin of Honest and Glorious Assumption, was merged by the great bell, eight thousand copper in himself containing from the creation of the world of 7162, from christmas for the flesh of God the words 1654; From the cop of this, the govetress began in the summer of the Universe 7176, Christ's christmas of 1668 and appealing to the summer of the Universe 7208, the Christmas of the Lord of 1704, in which month of June 19th, from the Great in the Kremlin of a former fire, damaged; Until 7239 of the summer from the beginning of the world and Christ, in the world of Christmas, arrivals in shameless ".
Second inscription: "The pious and autocracy of the Great Empress of the Empress Anna Joanovna, the self-dealers of all Russia by the command of God's glory in the Trinity of the Slavima in honor of the Most Holy Mother of God, in the first-passive Church of the Glorious Assumption, cast a bell from the Copper forenight eight thousand, from the creation of the world in 7242, from Christmas In the flesh of God, the words 1734, the prosperous Majesty of the reign in the fourth summer. "
From above, the bell is decorated with images of Moscow miracle artists, and in the middle of the speech of the imperial surname, from them Empress Anna Joanovna is depicted in full growth, but only the head and the crown came out.

The bell was raised over the pit and hung on special beams. In a strong fire of 1737, he fell from the burntable bars to the pit, where he was Lily, and either from falling, or from the fact that the water was lied on him, he cracked, and a big piece fell out of it.

Elizabeth Petrovna wanted to re-put it again, but estimated at 107,492 rubles 47 kopecks, against the previous 62.008 rubles 9 kopecks, it seemed too big to her, so the giant remained in the pit.

There was a lot later about it projects: In 1770, Architect Forstenberg was taken to solder the edge for him; In 1797, they instructed the mechanics of Girta to draw up a plan for raising the bell from the pit; In 1819, General Betankur instructed the architect Montferan to inspect and describe it; Then it was ordered to inspect his engineering General Fabru. Emperor Nicholas I, having learned about the newly invented method of repairing bells, assumed to remove the bell, repair it, build a special bell tower for him and hang it on it. But the huge sizes of the bell, forced to postpone this case.

Meanwhile, the bell was untolded by the Kremlin Square extensive pit. The king of the bell lay in the deep pit opposite the miracle of the monastery, the wooden platform was chained over the jamu. The keys to the door were kept in the ringing of Ivanovo bell tower. Curious descended to watch the bell in the dungeon along a steep wooden staircase after the conductor who went ahead with a lit lantern.

In 1836, it was decided to remove the bell and put on the granite pedestal near the bell tower of Ivan the Great. Montpherry took for work and after one unsuccessful experience on July 23, 43 minutes with the help of twenty gates raised him.
A 26 numbers tsar-bell was installed on a pedestal. A gilded apple was installed on the top of the bell, and at the bottom of the marble board, the same inscription was drawn with which we started our narration.
But, as we already understood, there are two mistakes in this inscription. The first - the bell is not in 1733, because in 1734 in January, the Senate office came in January, that the bells and the bell casing were finished and scored permissions to burn and proceed to cast. The first casting did not work, and the bell was cast again in 1735. The second - the bell stayed in the ground not one hundred and three years, because the fire was in 1737, but raised the bell in 1836, he he, he stayed in the land of 99 years. These errors are sometimes presented even the sources that seem to be the most reliable!