The Tsar Cannon is telling what event. Huge Tsar Cannon of the Little Tsar
On Ivanovskaya Square of the Moscow Kremlin there are two unique monuments of Russian foundry art. One of them, the world's largest bell, is described. But in addition to the huge bell that has never rung, we also have the world’s largest medieval (I emphasize MEDIEVAL) cannon that has never fired.
It is called the Tsar Cannon not because of its size, but because of the image on the barrel of Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich, by whose order it was created. 
Tsar Fedor is depicted as a horseman with a scepter in his hand on the right (facing the Tsar Bell) side of the barrel near the muzzle of the cannon. In addition, the following inscriptions were cast on both sides of the trunk - on the current northern side of the trunk, facing the building of the residence of the President of Russia: “By the command of the pious and Christ-loving Tsar and Grand Duke Fyodor Ivanovich, the sovereign autocrat of all great Russia under his pious and Christ-loving queen, Grand Duchess Irina.” . 
Inscription on opposite side The barrel facing the Tsar Bell reads: “This cannon was poured out in the most famous royal city of Moscow in the summer of 7094 in the third year of its state. The cannon was made by cannon litts Ondrei Chokhov.”
The year 7094 comes as a surprise to many. The fact is that in the 16th century chronology in Russia was carried out from the “Creation of the World”. The more familiar chronology from the Nativity of Christ was introduced by Peter I only in late XVII century.
The Tsar Bell was cast by the famous master Andrei Chokhov. Seven of his works have survived - four artillery pieces and three bells. Two cannons are located in Sweden, one in St. Petersburg.
The Tsar Cannon itself is a bronze barrel covered with the patina of time. Its dimensions are colossal: the weight of the gun is 40 tons (2400 pounds), the barrel length is 5 m 34 cm, the caliber is 890 mm. The cannon is mounted on a late decorative carriage, cast from cast iron in 1835 at the Berda factory in St. Petersburg. 
At the same time, 4 decorative cores were cast. The decorative carriage was made according to the drawings of the architect Alexander Pavlovich Bryullov, brother of the famous painter Karl Bryullov. 
The carriage was cast using the drawings of Pieter Jan de Witte. The weight of the carriage is 15 tons, each of the 4 decorative cores weighs 1 ton. 
This information is taken from a book about the Moscow Kremlin, written by employees of the museum-reserve. And at the gun carriage, on the south side, there is a sign about this. 
I mention this due to the fact that for some reason in Internet sources there appears a figure of 1.97 tons that was taken from nowhere.
Of course, the Tsar Cannon cannot and should not have fired such heavy cannonballs. In ancient documents the cannon is often called the “Russian Shotgun”. The Tsar Cannon was designed to fire with shot, in other words, with buckshot. 
The Moscow Tsar Cannon is truly the largest medieval weapon in the world. The famous “Mad Greta” or “Big Red Devil” from Ghent, created at the beginning of the 15th century, weighs only 16.4 tons, its caliber is almost half that of the Tsar Cannon and is 640 mm, but the barrel is slightly longer: 5 m 50 cm . 
The name “Mad Greta” comes from Flemish folklore. The heroine of the same name led the female army to plunder... hell! The second name is associated with the historical red color of the gun.
No less famous is the Scottish cannon nicknamed “Mons Meg”. Its dimensions are significantly smaller than our Tsar Cannon. “Mons Meg” weighs only 6.6 tons, its length is 4 m 60 cm, and its caliber is 520 mm. “Mons Meg” was made in 1449 in Mons in what is now Belgium, and then presented as a gift to the King of Scotland. The cannon is installed in Edinburgh Castle and serves as one of the symbols of Scotland. 
There are many mysteries associated with the Moscow Tsar Cannon. It is well known that initially the cannon did not have a carriage and stood on a special wooden machine opposite the Spassky Gate of the Kremlin not far from Lobnoye Mesto. It is believed that the Tsar Cannon never fired. During the restoration of the 19th century, the remains of a casting mold, which was made from special sifted earth, were found in its trunk. At the first shot, these remains would inevitably burn out. However, specialists from the Military Engineering Academy named after. Dzerzhinsky, who examined the cannon during the restoration of 1977-80, claimed that at least one shot was fired from the Tsar Cannon.
It is not known for sure, but is it a cannon? The fact is that, based on the design of the barrel, it can be classified as a mortar - a mounted combat weapon. Some call the Tsar Cannon a bombard, like “Mad Greta” and “Mons Meg.” But to the term “bombard”, i.e. medieval weapon should generally be treated with great care.
Despite their colossal size The Tsar Cannon changed its location several times. In the 18th century it was moved to the courtyard of the Arsenal, then placed at its main gate. In 1835, the Tsar Cannon was installed on the already familiar decorative carriage, fake cannonballs were laid out and placed opposite the Arsenal near the old Armory building. (not preserved). In 1958, on the initiative of N. Khrushchev, construction of the Kremlin Palace of Congresses - the current State Kremlin Palace - began in the Kremlin. The old Armory was demolished, and the Tsar Cannon was moved to its current location on Ivanovskaya Square.
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The famous Tsar Cannon in the Kremlin, one of the most visited attractions of the Moscow Kremlin, can be seen today on the western side. Each of the tourists arriving in Moscow must include in their visit an inspection of the grandiose weapon of the 16th century. A brief history of the Tsar Cannon for both children and adults is given in our article.
Cast in gigantic proportions from high-quality bronze, the cannon is even listed in the Guinness World Records. And this is not without reason. Here are just its most basic parameters:
- length - more than 5 m.,
- the outer diameter of the trunk reaches 134 cm,
- caliber - 890 mm,
- the product weighs about 40 tons.
When and why was it created?
Photo 1. The Tsar Cannon is one of the main attractions of the Kremlin
History and little-known facts about the Tsar Cannon in the Kremlin
In 1586, an alarming message was brought to the city of Moscow: the Crimean Khan with his large army was marching on the capital. To repel the invasion, by decree of the then reigning Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich, a huge in size was cast in the Cannon Yard of Moscow by Russian foundry worker Andrei Chokhov artillery piece, which was intended for firing stone grapeshot.
Since the gun was originally intended for the defense of the Kremlin, it was installed on a hill above the shore - on, not far from the famous and.
However, the Crimean Khan never approached the walls of the Mother See of the Capital, and therefore Muscovites were never able to find out how powerfully this weapon, nicknamed the Tsar Cannon for its size, fired.
Later, during the reign of Peter I, the gun was moved to the Kremlin territory with the help of special rollers: first to the courtyard of the building under construction, and then to its main gate. There it was mounted on a wooden carriage, which, along with the carriages of other guns, burned down in a fire in 1812.
In 1835, at the Berda shipyard in St. Petersburg, according to the drawings of the military engineer Witte (some sources mention Academician Alexander Pavlovich Bryulov as the author of the sketch), a more durable cast-iron carriage for the grandiose gun was made.
In 1843, the Tsar Cannon was removed from the Arsenal gates, where it had been located all this time, and installed next to the old building of the Armory Chamber. There it stood until 1960, when, as part of its construction, the gun was again moved, this time to Ivanovskaya Square, where it remains to this day.
So, we have briefly described the history of the cannon, and now we will continue our story for more curious children and adults.
Description of the legendary Tsar Cannon
As mentioned above, the gun carriage is made using cast iron and performs purely decorative functions. The body of the gun itself is cast from bronze. Next to the carriage there are cast iron cores, which are also a decorative element.
On the right side of the gun there is an image of the autocrat Fyodor Ivanovich sitting on a war horse. The prince's head is crowned with a royal crown, and in his hands is one of the symbols Russian authorities- scepter An inscription explaining the image is poured nearby.
One of the hypotheses for the appearance of the name “Tsar Cannon” is precisely the image of the king who ruled at the time of the creation of this formidable artillery weapon, who is immortalized on the plane of the cannon. True, there is another name found in Russian documents different eras, is a “Russian shotgun”. The fact is that this was the designation for guns intended for firing shotguns (in other words, buckshot).
The left side of the gun is decorated with an inscription immortalizing its creator and which reads “litz Ondrej Czokhov.”
The plane of the barrel itself, among other things, is decorated with an original ornament.
Separately, I would like to highlight the carriage itself, which is decorated in such a way as to clearly highlight the high status of the artillery piece. Its main component is the image of a lion - a formidable and strong king of animals. The symbolic representation of a lion fighting a mythical serpent can also be seen in the intricacy of ornamental plants on the plane of the carriage.
I would like to add that to move the cannon located in the Moscow Kremlin, 200 draft horses were simultaneously harnessed.
Despite the impressiveness of the gun, some experts agree that it was not made for shooting, but solely to intimidate the enemy, in this particular case, the troops of the Crimean Khan advancing on the capital. The technical side of the gun will be discussed further, from which we will find out whether it is a prop or a truly formidable artillery weapon.
Let us immediately note that the cast iron cores placed in a pyramid near the gun carriage are just decoration, hollow inside. If they are made real, then the stone core will weigh about 819 kilograms, and the cast iron core will weigh about 2 tons.
Further, according to experts, the carriage itself is not technically suitable for firing from such a powerful weapon, and the heavy cast-iron cannonballs themselves would not be physically suitable - the barrel of the Tsar Cannon would simply be torn apart during the shot. About him combat use facts are not attested in history.
But it cannot be that in those distant times, before the threat of an attack on Moscow, an artillery gun would have been created just to “show off.” Let's try to figure this out!
Let's start with the fact that until the 20th century, military experts and historians still designated the current “Tsar Cannon” as a shotgun, i.e. designed for shooting buckshot, which was replaced in those distant times by ordinary small stones. The current name was established only in 1930, when the authorities decided to improve the status of the weapon for propaganda purposes. Which ones? Probably based on the fact that great country, must be all the grandest things in the world. It’s like the joke from Soviet times that the USSR had “the largest radio components in the world.”
But let’s not slander and continue, especially since the veil of secrecy over the gun was nevertheless lifted, and this happened during the planned restoration work carried out in 1980.
The gun was removed from the carriage and sent to one of the military factories in the city of Serpukhov, where its restoration was carried out. Along with the usual work in this case, military specialists from the Moscow Artillery Academy carried out measurements of the Tsar Cannon, although the main report has not yet been made public. True, draft drawings have been preserved, which emphasize that this gun is not a gun at all in its actual designation.
So, in order. The diameter of the barrel bore, from which the cannon is loaded with cannonballs, is 90 centimeters, and towards the very end of the warhead it decreases to 82 centimeters. The depth of this cone is about 32 centimeters. Next comes the flat-bottomed charging chamber, 173 centimeters deep, with a diameter of 44.7 centimeters at the beginning, increasing to 46.7 centimeters at the end.
These data allow us to classify the weapon as a bombard, which means that it was quite possible to fire stone cannonballs from it. Name this one artillery installation You can’t use a gun, because one of the main conditions is not met: the barrel length must be at least 40 calibers. Right we're talking about about four in total. As for using the weapon as a shotgun that fires buckshot, based on the existing characteristics, this would be very ineffective.
The bombards themselves belong to the class of battering guns designed to destroy fortress walls. In most cases, they didn’t even make a carriage for them, because... part of the trunk was simply buried in the ground. The gun crew was located in trenches built next to the bombardment, because barrels often burst when fired. The rate of fire left much to be desired and rarely reached 6 shots... per day.
At research work Particles of gunpowder were found in the Tsar Cannon canal. The only question is, was it a test shot or did they manage to use the weapon against the enemy? The latter is most likely impossible. This can also be confirmed by the fact that no longitudinal scratches were found on the walls of the barrel, which should have been left either by the cannonball or by stone shrapnel.
The myth of the weapon and the impostor Tsar False Dmitry
And yet she shot!? A myth that has survived to this day says that the only shot was fired by the ashes of the temporary Russian Tsar False Dmitry.
After exposure, he tried to escape from Moscow, but stumbled upon a combat patrol and was brutally killed. The body was interred twice, and twice it again appeared on the surface: first at the almshouse, then in the graveyard. Rumors spread that even the earth did not want to accept him, after which it was decided to cremate the body and fire the ashes from a cannon, turning the gun towards the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (present-day Poland), where he was from.
This is the story of the Tsar Cannon in brief - the largest weapon of its era.
Today, smaller copies of the Kremlin gun are installed in Donetsk, Perm and Yoshkar-Ola. However, neither in parameters nor in characteristics do they even come close to the Moscow giant.
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Perhaps only our Russian history, with all its tendency to contradictions and extremes, could give rise to two such paradoxical monuments: the Tsar Bell, which never rang, and the Tsar Cannon, which, as many believe, never fired (as far as this statement corresponds Actually, we'll figure it out later). However, the Tsar Bell is a topic for a separate discussion, but now we will talk specifically about the Tsar Cannon.
This miracle of arms production was made at the end of the 16th century, during the reign of Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich, the son of Ivan the Terrible and the last tsar of the Rurik dynasty. Most historians believe that this happened in 1586, but some researchers also name another date - 1591, when Moscow faced the danger of raids by the Crimean Khan Kazy-Girey, and the Tsar Cannon was intended to protect against his troops. Yes, she was not cast like “ Museum exhibit", but as military weapon! The name of the master who did this is well known - it is immortalized in the inscription on the gun; it was the outstanding cannon and bell foundry master Andrei Chokhov, who worked at the Moscow cannon yard for more than 60 years and created more than 20 guns during this time. But the Tsar Cannon undoubtedly became the pinnacle of his creativity. Its dimensions are amazing: the weight of the gun is 39,312 kilograms, its length is 5,345 meters, and its barrel diameter is 1,210 meters!
Nowadays, few people remember that until later times this weapon was called a “cannon” only in colloquial speech Yes, in verse, and in official documents it is up to the 30s. XX century was listed as... a shotgun! Perhaps fuel to the fire was added to the decorative cannonballs cast in St. Petersburg in 1934, which can still be seen today next to the cannon, and which, of course, were not even supposed to be fired, and this is impossible: the cannon will immediately blow apart! The cast iron carriage, cast at the same time, is also unsuitable for use in combat conditions, and initially the gun was mounted on a wooden flooring made of logs (the so-called cannon roll).
The i's were dotted by the restoration of the gun in 1980, the results of which for some reason were not presented general public. Studies carried out at the same time showed that its channel has the shape of a cone with an initial diameter of 0.9 meters and a final diameter of 0.825 meters. The 1.73 meter long, flat-bottomed charging chamber has a reverse taper. This structure suggests that this is not a cannon or even a shotgun, but a bombard, from which it was supposed to fire stone cannonballs weighing about 100 kg, while a cast-iron cannonball of this caliber (and guns fired cast-iron cannonballs) was supposed to weigh about two tons True, using old guns for such shooting was risky; they could be blown apart when fired, so after a certain time they were classified as shotguns that fired “stone shot,” but in the 19th century such details were no longer obvious, so confusion arose with the types weapons.
Then, during restoration in 1980, researchers discovered another interesting detail: particles of burnt gunpowder in the channel. This means that the Tsar Cannon, contrary to popular belief, still fired! However, there were no scratches from the stone cannonballs on the walls of the canal, but they definitely should have remained. This suggests that the shot was a test shot, but the Tsar Cannon was not used in combat conditions. There is a legend that the ashes of False Dmitry were shot from it, but this is just a legend, there is no talk of any evidence.
It should be noted that one day this monument was under threat. When Peter I began intensively casting cannons, they used not only church bells, but also ancient tools of historical value. The Tsar Cannon was saved by its colossal size: the irresponsible Tsar did not dare to attempt such a miracle. Two more works by master A. Chokhov survived then, which can still be seen today in the St. Petersburg Artillery Museum.
The Tsar Cannon is installed on Ivanovskaya Square in the Moscow Kremlin. It was cast in bronze by the Russian master Chokhov at the Cannon Yard in 1586. This was the time of the reign of Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich.
Initially, the cannon was installed on Red Square, near Lobnoye Mesto. The gun was intended to protect the Kremlin from invaders, but did not take part in hostilities. In the 18th century, the cannon was moved to the Arsenal building in the Moscow Kremlin. In the sixties of the twentieth century, due to the construction of the Kremlin Palace of Congresses, the cannon was moved to Ivanovskaya Square of the Kremlin, to the Church of the Twelve Apostles.
Nowadays, the Tsar Cannon is mounted on a decorative cast-iron carriage. Nearby there are cannonballs cast in 1834, but the cannon does not fire them, but stone cannonballs. This was established by specialists from the Artillery Academy named after. Dzerzhinsky, who in 1980 inspected and repaired the gun. The study showed that the cannon is a classic bombard that fires stone cannonballs. Researchers also determined that the cannon was fired at least once.
The gun carriages are decorated with cast ornaments. They were manufactured at the Berda plant in St. Petersburg. The sketches were made by A.P. Bryullov, and the drawings were made by engineer de Witte.
The Tsar Cannon is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the cannon with the most large caliber– 890 mm or 35 inches. The length of the Tsar Cannon is 5.34 m. The weight of the gun is 39.31 tons or 2400 pounds.
The cannon is decorated with relief belts. On the right side, on the muzzle of the cannon, Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich is depicted on horseback. He is depicted wearing a crown and holding a scepter in his hand. There are four brackets on the cannon barrel intended for fastening ropes during movement of the Tsar Cannon.
According to some versions, the name of the cannon is associated with the image of the king on it. But a more likely version seems to be that the name “Tsar Cannon” appeared due to the impressive size of the gun. In the old days, the gun was also called the “Russian Shotgun”.
