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Andrey Chokhov, also spelled Chekhov (''Андрей Чохов (Чехов)'' in
Andrey Chokhov began his career at the Cannon yard in Moscow during the reign of Ivan the Terrible in the 1550s as an
Russian
Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including:
*Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
) (c. 1545 – 1629, allegedly 8 December, Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...
) was a highly prominent Russian cannon and bell caster
A caster (or castor) is an undriven wheel that is designed to be attached to the bottom of a larger object (the "vehicle") to enable that object to be moved.
Casters are used in numerous applications, including shopping carts, office chairs, ...
. He worked in Moscow at the Cannon Yard for more than 40 years, where he was responsible for casting many heavy weapons. Over 20 were documented, from 1568 to 1629, including the Tsar Cannon
The Tsar Cannon (russian: Царь-пушка, ''Tsar'-pushka'') is a large early modern period artillery piece (known as a ''bombarda'' in Russian) on display on the grounds of the Moscow Kremlin. It is a monument of Russian artillery casting ar ...
cast in 1586. His traditions were continued by the Motorin family.
Biography
Andrey Chokhov was born in about 1545, and entered the teaching of the well-known master cannon caster Kashpir Ganusov at a very young age, and stood out from the mass of Ganusov's students who performed regular work. Chokhov took the lead in casting cannons in Moscow in 1590.Chokhov as cannon maker
Andrey Chokhov began his career at the Cannon yard in Moscow during the reign of Ivan the Terrible in the 1550s as an apprentice
Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a ...
to a German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
(?) caster Kashpir Ganusov (russified name). In the 1570s, Chokhov became one of the leading Muscovite casters and supervised production of heavy battering weapons, such as siege
A siege is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or a well-prepared assault. This derives from la, sedere, lit=to sit. Siege warfare is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict characteriz ...
arquebus
An arquebus ( ) is a form of long gun that appeared in Europe and the Ottoman Empire during the 15th century. An infantryman armed with an arquebus is called an arquebusier.
Although the term ''arquebus'', derived from the Dutch word ''Haakbus ...
''Лисица'' (Vixen) and battering ram
A battering ram is a siege engine that originated in ancient times and was designed to break open the masonry walls of fortifications or splinter their wooden gates. In its simplest form, a battering ram is just a large, heavy log carried b ...
''Собака'' (Dog) (both made in 1575), big cannon
A cannon is a large- caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder ...
''Волк'' (Wolf; 1576-1577), and a colossal arquebus ''Инрог'' (Unicorn), which would become the largest cannon of the Russian siege artillery (1577; weight - 7,134 kg; displayed in St. Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
). In 1586, Andrey Chokhov founded his famous Tsar Cannon
The Tsar Cannon (russian: Царь-пушка, ''Tsar'-pushka'') is a large early modern period artillery piece (known as a ''bombarda'' in Russian) on display on the grounds of the Moscow Kremlin. It is a monument of Russian artillery casting ar ...
(Царь-пушка), a masterpiece of the casting art of the second half of the 16th century.
Chokhov as bell maker
Andrey Chokhov is also known as a bell founder. In 1594 and 1603, he cast two huge bells (called ''благовестники'', or blagovestniki) weighing 625pood
''Pood'' ( rus, пуд, r=pud, p=put, plural: or ) is a unit of mass equal to 40 ''funt'' (, Russian pound). Since 1899 it is set to approximately 16.38 kilograms (36.11 pounds). It was used in Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine. ''Pood'' was first m ...
s (10.2 metric ton
The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the short ton ( United State ...
s) and 1,080 poods (17.8 t), correspondingly. These bells were donated by Boris Godunov to the Troitse-Sergiyeva Lavra
The Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius (russian: Тро́ице-Се́ргиева ла́вра) is the most important Russian monastery and the spiritual centre of the Russian Orthodox Church. The monastery is situated in the town of Sergiyev Pos ...
. In 1621, Andrey Chokhov and other masters cast four bells for the Ivan the Great Bell Tower
The Ivan the Great Bell Tower (russian: Колокольня Иван Великий, ''Kolokol'nya Ivan Velikiy'') is a church tower inside the Moscow Kremlin complex. With a total height of , it is the tallest tower and structure of the Kreml ...
(one of them called ''Глухой'' (Muffled) can still be seen in the middle tier of the bell tower). In 1622, Chokhov cast a 20-ton bell called ''Реут'' (Reut).
His biggest bell weighing 40 tons (cast in 1600) didn't survive to this day, as well as the so-called ''Godunov Bell'' (also known as Old Assumption Bell, or Resurrection Bell), which would be destroyed by fire in 1701.
See also
*List of Russian inventors
This is a list of inventors from the Russian Federation, Soviet Union, Russian Empire, Tsardom of Russia and Grand Duchy of Moscow, including both ethnic Russians and people of other ethnicities.
This list also includes those who were born in Rus ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chokhov, Andrey Russian bell makers Russian cannon makers Russian inventors Foundrymen 1540s births 1629 deaths