![Tsar Kolokol with humans for perspective](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/Tsar_Kolokol_with_humans_for_perspective.JPG)
The Tsar Bell (russian: Царь–колокол; ), also known as the Tsarsky Kolokol, Tsar Kolokol III, or Royal Bell, is a ,
bell
A bell is a directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be made by an inter ...
on display on the grounds of the
Moscow Kremlin
The Kremlin ( rus, Московский Кремль, r=Moskovskiy Kreml', p=ˈmɐˈskofskʲɪj krʲemlʲ, t=Moscow Kremlin) is a fortified complex in the center of Moscow founded by the Rurik dynasty. It is the best known of the kremlins (R ...
. The bell was commissioned by
Empress Anna Ivanovna, niece of
Peter the Great
Peter I ( – ), most commonly known as Peter the Great,) or Pyotr Alekséyevich ( rus, Пётр Алексе́евич, p=ˈpʲɵtr ɐlʲɪˈksʲejɪvʲɪtɕ, , group=pron was a Russian monarch who ruled the Tsardom of Russia from t ...
.
It has never been in working order, suspended, or rung.
The present bell is sometimes referred to as ''Kolokol III'' (Bell III), because it is the third generation.
General description
The Tsar Bell is located between the
Ivan the Great Bell Tower and the Kremlin Wall. Made of
bell bronze
Bell metal or bell bronze is an alloy used for making bells and related instruments, such as cymbals. It is a form of bronze with a higher tin content, usually in approximately a 4:1 ratio of copper to tin (typically, 78% copper, 22% tin by ma ...
, the bell cracked during a fire after being completed and has never been rung. The bell is the largest bell in the world, weighing , with a height of and diameter of , and thickness of up to . The broken piece weighs .
[At 116 ]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 States c ...
s, the Bell of Good Luck in Foquan Temple, Pingdingshan
Pingdingshan (), also known as Eagle City ( zh, s=鹰城, p=Yīngchéng, t=鷹城), is a prefecture-level city in central Henan province, China. It had 4,904,701 inhabitants at the 2010 census whom 1,756,333 lived in the built-up (or metro) are ...
, Henan, China is the heaviest ''functioning'' bell in the world.
The bell is decorated with relief images of
baroque
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...
angels, plants, oval medallions with saints, and nearly life-size images of Empress Anna and Tsar
Alexey
Alexey, Alexei, Alexie, Aleksei, or Aleksey (russian: Алексе́й ; bg, Алексей ) is a Russian and Bulgarian male first name deriving from the Greek ''Aléxios'' (), meaning "Defender", and thus of the same origin as the Latin Ale ...
, who was reigning at the time the previous Tsar Bell was cast.
History
The history of Russian bell founding goes back to the 10th century, but in the medieval
Russian Orthodox Church
, native_name_lang = ru
, image = Moscow July 2011-7a.jpg
, imagewidth =
, alt =
, caption = Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, Russia
, abbreviation = ROC
, type ...
, bells were not typically rung to indicate church services, but to announce important ceremonies and celebrations, and as an alarm in case of fire or enemy attack. One of the largest of the early bells was the original Tsar Bell, cast in the 16th century. Completed in 1600, it weighed and required 24 men to ring its clapper. Housed in the original wooden
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 ...
in the Moscow Kremlin, it crashed to the ground in a fire in the mid-17th century and was broken to pieces.
The second Tsar Bell was cast in 1655, using the remnants of the former bell, but on a much larger scale. This bell weighed , but was again destroyed by fire in 1701.
After becoming Empress, Anna ordered that the pieces be cast into a new bell with its weight increased by another hundred tons, and dispatched the son of Field Marshal
Münnich to
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
to solicit technical help from the master craftsmen there. However, a bell of such size was unprecedented, and Münnich was not taken seriously. In 1733, the job was assigned to local
foundry
A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal into a mold, and removing the mold material after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals pr ...
masters,
Ivan Motorin
The Motorins, also spelled Matorins (''Моторины'', ''Маторины'' in Russian) were a famous Russian family of bellfounders.
Feodor Dmitriyevich Motorin
Feodor Dmitriyevich Motorin (Фёдор Дмитриевич Моторин) ...
and his son Mikhail, based on their experience in casting a
bronze
Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids such ...
cannon.
A pit deep was dug (near the location of the present bell), with a clay form, and walls reinforced with
rammed earth
Rammed earth is a technique for constructing foundations, floors, and walls using compacted natural raw materials such as earth, chalk, lime, or gravel. It is an ancient method that has been revived recently as a sustainable building method.
...
to withstand the pressure of the molten metal. Obtaining the necessary metals proved a challenge, for in addition to the parts of the old bell, an additional of
silver
Silver is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂erǵ-, ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, whi ...
and of
gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...
were added to the
mixture
In chemistry, a mixture is a material made up of two or more different chemical substances which are not chemically bonded. A mixture is the physical combination of two or more substances in which the identities are retained and are mixed in the ...
. After months of preparation, casting work commenced at the end of November 1734. The first attempt was not successful, and the project was incomplete when Ivan Motorin died in August, 1735. His son Mikhail carried on the work, and the second attempt at casting succeeded on November 25, 1735. Ornaments were added as the bell was cooling while raised above the casting pit through 1737.
However, before the last ornamentation was completed, a major fire broke out at the Kremlin in May 1737. The fire spread to the temporary wooden support structure for the bell, and fearing damage, guards threw cold water on it, causing eleven cracks, and a huge slab to break off. The fire burned through the wooden supports, and the damaged bell fell back into its casting pit.
The Tsar Bell remained in its pit for almost a century. Unsuccessful attempts to raise it were made in 1792 and 1819.
Napoleon Bonaparte
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
, during his
occupation of Moscow in 1812, considered removing it as a trophy to France, but was unable to do so, due to its size and weight.
It was finally successfully raised in the summer of 1836 by the French architect
Auguste de Montferrand
Auguste de Montferrand (; January 23, 1786 – July 10, 1858) was a French classicist architect who worked primarily in Russia. His two best known works are the Saint Isaac's Cathedral and the Alexander Column in St. Petersburg.
Early ...
and placed on a stone pedestal. The broken slab alone is nearly three times larger than the world's largest bell hung for
full circle ringing
Full circle ringing is a technique of ringing a tower bell such that it swings in a complete circle from mouth upwards to mouth upwards and then back again repetitively.
Technique
Full-circle tower bell ringing in England developed in the ea ...
, the tenor bell at
Liverpool Cathedral
Liverpool Cathedral is the Cathedral of the Anglican Diocese of Liverpool, built on St James's Mount in Liverpool, and the seat of the Bishop of Liverpool. It may be referred to as the Cathedral Church of Christ in Liverpool (as recorded in the ...
.
For a time, the bell served as a chapel, with the broken area forming the door.
Voltaire
François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778) was a French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher. Known by his ''Pen name, nom de plume'' M. de Voltaire (; also ; ), he was famous for his wit, and his ...
once joked that the Kremlin's two greatest items were a bell which was never rung and a cannon (the
Tsar Pushka) that was never fired.
Computational simulation of sound
In the spring of 2016, a team of
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
;
Stanford University
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
; and
University of Michigan
, mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth"
, former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821)
, budget = $10.3 billion (2021)
, endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
researchers publicly performed an electronic reproduction of how the Tsar Bell would sound if it had not been damaged during casting.
To simulate the sound of the bell, the team researched the bell's material characteristics and constructed a
polygon mesh
In 3D computer graphics and solid modeling, a polygon mesh is a collection of , s and s that defines the shape of a polyhedral object. The faces usually consist of triangles (triangle mesh), quadrilaterals (quads), or other simple convex polyg ...
that modeled the shape of the bell. The team then used
finite element analysis
The finite element method (FEM) is a popular method for numerically solving differential equations arising in engineering and mathematical modeling. Typical problem areas of interest include the traditional fields of structural analysis, heat ...
to compute the component frequencies of the bell when rung.
For the first public performance, a stack of twelve speakers installed below the campanile on the
UC Berkeley campus played the digital simulation of the Tsar Bell. The
fundamental frequency
The fundamental frequency, often referred to simply as the ''fundamental'', is defined as the lowest frequency of a periodic waveform. In music, the fundamental is the musical pitch of a note that is perceived as the lowest partial present. In ...
of the sound was approximately 81 Hz. The American disk jockey
DJ Spooky
Paul Dennis Miller (born September 6, 1970), known professionally as DJ Spooky, That Subliminal Kid, is an American electronic and experimental hip hop musician whose work is often called by critics "illbient" or "trip hop". He is a turntabli ...
composed ''New Forms'' (2016), a
duet
A duet is a musical composition for two performers in which the performers have equal importance to the piece, often a composition involving two singers or two pianists. It differs from a harmony, as the performers take turns performing a solo ...
for
carillon
A carillon ( , ) is a pitched percussion instrument that is played with a keyboard and consists of at least 23 cast-bronze bells. The bells are hung in fixed suspension and tuned in chromatic order so that they can be sounded harmoniou ...
and the reproduction of the Tsar Bell.
See also
*
Russian Orthodox bell ringing
Russian Orthodox bell ringing has a history starting from the baptism of Rus in 988 and plays an important role in the traditions of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Theology
The ringing of bells is one of the most essential elements of an Orthodox ...
*The
Liberty Bell
The Liberty Bell, previously called the State House Bell or Old State House Bell, is an iconic symbol of American independence, located in Philadelphia. Originally placed in the steeple of the Pennsylvania State House (now renamed Independence ...
, a damaged colonial American bell cast two decades later
*
List of heaviest bells
Following is a list of the heaviest bells known to have been cast, and the period of time during which they held that title.
Heaviest functioning bell in the world
The title of heaviest functioning bell in the world has been held chronologicall ...
Notes
Footnotes
Citations
References
*Klein, Mina. ''The Kremlin: Citadel of History''. MacMillan Publishing Company (1973).
*Tropkin, Alexander. ''The Moscow Kremlin: history of Russia's unique monument''. Publishing House "Russkaya Zhizn" (1980).
External links
Official website
{{Authority control
Broken bells
Moscow Kremlin
1735 works