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Tsar Bell
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The largest bell in the world, the Great Uspensky Bell, or the Tsar Bell, cast by Russian craftsmen Motorin and son, stands at the foot of the Ivan the Great Bell Tower.
In 1730, Empress Anna Ioannovna wished to re-cast the old Great Uspensky Bell which was broken in a fire in 1701, and increase its weight to 10,000 poods. This proposition was made to Parisian craftsmen, but the mechanic of the French king refused, believing it impossible to cast a bell of this size. Ivan and Mikhail Motorin agreed to try, and work began on Ivanovskaya Square in the Kremlin.
The first attempt to cast the bell was unsuccessful, and Ivan Motorin died “of sadness”, according to the official record. However, his son Mikhail brilliantly completed his father’s work, and on the night of 25 November 1735, 202 tons of bell bronze were successfully poured into the mould in just 36 minutes. The bell remained in the casting pit for embossing work, but during the fire of 1737, a piece of the bell weighing 11.5 tons broke off because of uneven cooling. The Tsar Bell lay in the casting pit for over 100 years, and it was not put on a pedestal until 1836 by architect A. Monferrand.
The Great Uspensky bell is over six metres high. The decorations on the bell are amazingly rich: there are depictions of the Saviour, the Blessed Virgin and John the Baptist, and also portraits of royalty and their heavenly protectors.
Bird’s Eye View of the Kremlin
Moscow Kremlin State Historical and Cultural Museum Sanctuary