Tsar Cannon

History: The famous Tsar Cannon, which is an integral part of the exhibition exposition of the Moscow Kremlin, was created in 1586. It was cast on the Cannon yard by the famous master Andrei Chokhov on the orders of Fyodor Ivanovich, the tsar of the Russian State. The name of the creator of the unusual giant-sized cannon kept the story, as it was engraved on a massive trunk, as was the year of its casting. The appearance of such an unusual foundry product was the result of the centuries-old improvement in the technology of casting reliable and powerful guns.

Over the four-year history, the Tsar Cannon changed its location many times. At first it was in the territory of the Cannon Court, and only in the 18th century it was with great difficulty managed to move it to the Moscow Kremlin. And even here the masterpiece of the foundry was at first in the courtyard near the building of the Reserve, and then this sight was moved to the main gate and installed on the carriage.

At the foot of the massive cannon, four large cores were placed, and each of them weighed almost a ton. The core for this masterpiece was specially cast in St. Petersburg in 1834 at the famous foundry of Bird. The last time the masterpiece of foundry production changed its location in 1960, when the Kremlin Palace of Congresses was being built . The gun was neatly transferred to Ivanovskaya Square and installed next to the Temple of the Twelve Apostles, where it adorns even now.

The massive Tsar Cannon was never used as a powerful weapon, since it is simply impossible to shoot from a huge cast iron gun. If you try to shoot from a large trunk with a bomb or a core, the gun can simply be smashed to pieces, and the nearby Gunners will die. And documents relating to the testing of the gun, have not reached our days, so scientists are still arguing about its main purpose. Until the twentieth century, many military historians believed that the cannon could shoot a shot made up of small stones.

But most researchers are convinced that the masterpiece of foundry production was created with the sole purpose - to scare ambassadors of foreign states, and in particular - the envoys of the Crimean Khan. The secret of the gun was revealed in 1980 at the time of scheduled maintenance, when the masters examined the internal channels. It turned out that this product is neither a gun nor a shotgun, but was created as a bombardment, so its trunk did not require any bias.

Features: Grandiose Tsar Cannon in Moscow is a huge 5.34 meter long gun, the diameter of its trunk is 120 centimeters from the outside, and the caliber is 890 millimeters. For casting a massive gun, only high-quality bronze was used, and the surface of the trunk is beautifully decorated with all sorts of figurative friezes, unusual inscriptions and ornamental belts. The breech and muzzle trimmings of the trunk slightly protrude above the surface of the decorative belt, for the design of which the creator of the gun used unique figured hinges.

The central part of the huge trunk of the grandiose gun is divided into separate parts by flat and ornamental relief friezes. On the side, you can see cast braces, designed to fully strengthen the ropes at the time of moving the gun. Above the front right bracket adorns the inscription, which exalts the sovereign, Fyodor Ivanovich. A seed hole is located directly in the trunk, near the large rear belt. The huge Tsar Cannon weighs almost forty tons, so moving it out of the way is an impossible task even for Russian warriors.

Now Tsar Cannon and Tsar Bell are the most unusual sights of Moscow, attracting the attention of visitors to the Moscow Kremlin.