Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Ring my bell: The Tsar Bell/Царь–колокол (and one more Russian "biggest ever)"

By Jack Brummet, Kremlin Editor





The Tsar/Czar's Bell is 20 feet tall and sits on a little stone pedestal on the Kremlin grounds.  It was commissioned by Peter the Great's niece,  Empress Anna Ivanovna.  It was broken while they casted the bronze, and has never been rung. It weighs nearly 200 tons.  That broken chunk you see resting on it weights eleven tons itself.

The bell was cracked when there was a fire with the superstructure (which was wooden) while it was being tempered and decorated.  After a year or so of cooling, the fire broke out in 1737.  The guards poured water onto the bell and structure in order to save it.   The water caused 11 cracks in the bell, and the chink you see broke off.

For some period of time, the bell actually served as a chapel; you walked in through the doorway created by the cracked section.  And it has sat in the same spot on the Kremlin grounds for 260 years.  Naturally, like with their world's largest cannon, it's the biggest and baddest ever.  But is it a bell if it is still unrung?






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