(usually cast from so-called bell bronze), a sound source having a dome-shaped shape and, usually, a tongue striking the walls from the inside. There are also known bells without a tongue, which are struck with a hammer or a log from the outside.
Bells are used for religious purposes (calling believers to prayer, expressing solemn moments of worship) and in music. It is known that bells are used for socio-political purposes (as an alarm to call citizens to a meeting (veche)).
Classic bell as a musical instrument
Bells are medium in size and have long been included in the category of percussion musical instruments that have a certain sonority. Bells come in various sizes and all tunings. The larger the bell, the lower its pitch. Each bell makes only one sound. The part for medium-sized bells is written in the bass clef, for small-sized bells - in the treble clef. Medium-sized bells sound an octave higher than the written notes.
The use of bells of a lower pitch is impossible due to their size and weight, which would prevent them from being placed on a stage or stage. So, for a sound up to the 1st octave, a bell weighing 2862 kg would be required, and for a sound an octave lower in the church of St. Paul in London, a bell weighing 22,900 kg was used. There is nothing to say about lower sounds. They would demand the Novgorod bell (31,000 kg), Moscow (70,500 kg) or Tsar Bell (350,800 kg). In the 4th act of the opera “The Huguenots,” Meyerbeer used the lowest of the commonly used bells for the alarm, producing sounds of F from the 1st octave to the 2nd. Bells are used in symphony and opera orchestras for special effects related to the plot. In the score, one part is written for bells numbered from 1 to 3, the tunings of which are indicated at the beginning of the score. The sounds of medium-sized bells have a solemn character.
Since the end of the 19th century, theaters began to use bells-caps (timbres) made of cast bronze with rather thin walls, not so bulky and emitting lower sounds than a set of ordinary theater bells.
In the 20th century to imitate the ringing of bells, it is no longer classical bells that are used, but so-called orchestral bells, in the form of long tubes. See bells (musical instrument).
“BELLS OF THE RUSSIAN LAND. From time immemorial to the present day” is the title of the book by Vladislav Andreevich Gorokhov. It was published in Moscow in 2009 by the Veche publishing house. The book belongs to the category of spiritual and educational literature and is hardly intended for a wide range of readers. This is a scientific study about the creation of bells, about the bell business, about its history, about the fate of the famous masters of bell ringing, about the foundry masters and much more, directly and indirectly related to casting and the history of bells. Reading the book is not very easy - it is by no means fiction. But it contains a lot of very interesting information about Russian bell ringing. I will present some of them in this publication. You can read it while the Suzdal bells ring.
Bells. Story
When did the bell first come to Rus' and why is it called that?
Scientists are still arguing about the etymology of the word. There is a word in the Greek language “kalkun”, which is somewhat consonant with the word “bell”; it means “beat”. In the same Greek language, the verb “kaleo” is translated as “to call.” The cry in the ancient Indian language is “kalakalas”, and in Latin it is “kalare”. All of them are consonant to one degree or another and explain the pre-Christian purpose of the bell - to convene people. Although most likely, the word “bell” originates from the Slavic “kolo” - circle. Other words come from the same designation, for example, “kolobok”, “kolobok”. There are also astronomical concepts with the same root - “bell of the sun”, “bell of the moon”. Therefore, the concept of “kolo-kol” can be explained as a circle in a circle – “kolo-kol”.
True, the President of the Russian Academy of Sciences from 1813 to 1841 A.S. Shishkov in his “Brief ABC Dictionary” describes the origin of the word “bell” from the word “stake” and explains that in ancient times, to produce sound, they struck with a copper pole called a “stake” about another similar pole - “stake on stake.” Consonance is indeed obvious, but not all words in the Russian language originate from simple consonance and the merger of several definitions.
It is not known for certain when people first began to use bells. Unlikely in pre-Christian times. Mentions of them in chronicles date back to the 12th century. There is a record of a bell in Putivl, from 1146, in Vladimir-on-Klyazma in 1168. And the famous veche bell in Veliky Novgorod was first mentioned in 1148.
Bells. What metal was it cast from?
What were the bells made of? It is clear that it is made of bell bronze - an alloy of copper and tin. Many believe that precious metals were added to the alloy for purity of sound. Nothing like this! On the contrary, to achieve the best sound, the bell should not contain any impurities - only copper and tin, and in the following ratio - 80% copper and 20% tin. No more than 1, maximum 2% of natural impurities (lead, zinc, antimony, sulfur and others) were allowed in the alloy for making a bell. If the composition of impurities in bell bronze exceeds the permissible two percent, the sound of the bell deteriorates significantly. There have always been difficulties with bell copper. After all, no one knew exactly the percentage of impurities; chemical analysis did not yet exist. Interestingly, depending on the size of the bell, the master increased or decreased the tin ratio. For small bells, more tin was added - 22-24%, and for large ones - 17-20%. After all, if there is more tin in the alloy, the sound will be louder, but the alloy will be fragile and the bell can easily break. In the old days, the percentage of tin was reduced to guarantee the strength of the bell.
As for gold and silver, these metals were often used to gild or silver the surfaces of bells and make inscriptions and images. There is a known bell that was completely covered with silver. And sometimes those that contained a lot of tin were called silver bells - in this case the alloy turned out to be light.
To emphasize the amazing ringing of a bell or an ensemble of bells, they say that they have a “crimson ringing”. It turns out that this definition has nothing to do with the berry. It comes from the name of the city of Mechelen, which is located in that part of Belgium that in the old days was called Flanders. The French name of the city is Malines; it was there that the optimal alloy for casting bells was developed in the Middle Ages. That’s why we began to call people with a pleasant timbre, soft, iridescent ringing from the city of Malina - i.e. raspberry ringing.
Already by the 17th century, Mechelen had become the center of bell casting and bell music in Europe, and remains so to this day. The famous carillons are made in Malin. In Russia, the first carillon was heard thanks to Peter I, the Tsar ordered it in the Southern Netherlands and its ringing corresponded to the Mechelen (raspberry) standard.
Bell names
How many bells were there in Rus'? Or at least in Moscow? According to the information of the Swedish diplomat Peter Petrey, who wrote “The History of the Grand Duchy of Moscow,” there were over four thousand (!) churches in the capital of the state in the 17th century. Each has from 5 to 10 bells. And the Norwegian writer Knut Hamsun writes at the turn of the 19th – 20th centuries:
“I have visited four out of five parts of the world. I've set foot in all sorts of countries, and I've seen some things. I saw beautiful cities; Prague and Budapest made a huge impression on me. But I have never seen anything like Moscow. Moscow is something fabulous. There are about 450 churches and chapels in Moscow. And when the bells begin to ring, the air trembles with many sounds in this city of a million people. From the Kremlin you can see a whole sea of beauty. I never imagined that such a city could exist on earth. Everything around is replete with red and gilded domes and spiers. Before this mass of gold combined with a bright blue color, everything I have ever dreamed of pales.”
In the old days, and even now, large sonorous bells received their own names. For example - “Bear”, “Gospodar”, “Hood”, “Perespor”, “Burning Bush”, “George”, “Falcon”. Some, on the contrary, received offensive nicknames: “Ram”, “Goat”, “Restless” - this is how people called those bells that were dissonant with the sound of the general ensemble of the belfry.
Bells on the bell tower and belfry
It is interesting that the sound of a selection, that is, a group of bells, depends on where they are located.
Suzdal. Bell tower of the Smolensk Church It is necessary that the weight of the bells is evenly distributed on the supporting structures of the belfry to avoid distortion. Usually the bells are hung, increasing their weight from right to left from the bell ringer's platform.
It also turned out that the optimal bell tower for euphony is a tented bell tower with a support pillar in the middle. The largest bell (or a pair of large ones) is placed on one side of the pillar, all the others - on the other. The bells are hung on beams, which simultaneously serve as a support for the base of the tent; sometimes they are placed on special beams.
Suzdal. Kremlin clock tower. Why are bell towers built in some churches and monasteries, and belfries in others? Bell towers are convenient from the point of view of placing bells on different tiers. They can hold many different bells. And the sound from the bell tower spreads evenly in all directions. From the belfry the sound of the bell is heard differently from different sides. But it is convenient to achieve coherent sound with them. After all, on different tiers of the bell tower the bell ringers do not see each other, whereas on the belfry they stand side by side and the ensemble of bell ringing sounds harmoniously.
In the Russian North, where settlements are rare and distances are vast, they tried to place bell towers in such a way that the sound from one of them could be heard from the other. In this way, the bell towers “talked” to each other, conveying messages.
Bell masters
The harmonious ringing of bells depends not so much on their location. Each of them has its own parent - the master who made them. There is an opinion that the old bells rang better, their ringing was silver and crimson. But you need to know that the ancient masters also made mistakes. They had no manuals or technical techniques at their fingertips. Everything was done by trial and error. Sometimes it was necessary to refill the bell more than once. Experience and skill came with time. History has brought to us the names of famous masters. Under Tsar Boris Godunov, there lived a foundry worker who is best remembered as the creator of the famous one in Moscow. But he was also known as a bell maker. His name was Andrei Chokhov. Four of his cannons and three bells have survived to this day. Bells hang on the Assumption Belfry of the Moscow Kremlin. The largest of them is called “Reut”. It weighs 1200 pounds and was cast in 1622. There are also two small bells cast a year earlier.
Cathedral Square of the Kremlin. Assumption Belfry and Ivan the Great Bell Tower Literary master Alexander Grigoriev was also famous. He lived under Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. The bells of his work were intended for the most famous temples. In 1654, he cast a 1000-pound bell for the St. Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod. A year later - a 187-pound alarm sounded at the Kremlin's Spassky Gate. A year later - a bell weighing 69 pounds for the Iversky Monastery in Valdai. In 1665, 300 pounds for the Simonov Monastery in Moscow and in 1668 - for the Savvino-Storozhevsky Monastery in Zvenigorod, weighing 2125 pounds. Unfortunately, not one of them has survived.
The Motorin dynasty of foundry workers was also famous. Its founder was Fedor Dmitrievich. His work was continued by his sons Dmitry and Ivan, and grandson Mikhail. In the history of bell making, Ivan Dmitrievich is considered the most outstanding master. Its bells rang both in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra and in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. For the latter, he cast the most important bell weighing 1000 pounds.
Tsar Bell in Moscow Bell artels and factories
Single craftsmen were replaced by entire artels, and then by factories. The plant of P.N. Finlyandsky was famous throughout the country. The plant opened in Moscow at the end of the 18th century, when foundry production in the city itself, in the Cannon Yard, became no longer dangerous. His factory carried out orders for the casting of bells from Paris, San Francisco, Mount Athos, Jerusalem, Tokyo and other countries. Bells were also cast for the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood. And when the owner himself appeared on Sukharevka and bought scrap bronze, then in Moscow they knew that soon the bell would be cast. It's time to spread rumors. And amazing fables circulated along the golden-headed landscape - that a whale was caught in the Moscow River, that the Spasskaya Tower collapsed, and that at the hippodrome the doorman’s wife gave birth to triplets, all with foal heads! And everyone knew that they were ringing the bell at Finlyandsky, and to make the sound of the future newborn clearer and louder, they had to weave more tales, so they tried.
The plant of Mikhail Bogdanov was also famous. They also made small bells, and often on snowy roads “the bell” cast at Bogdanov’s factory sounded monotonously.
At the factory of Afanasy Nikitich Samgin, bells were cast for the Cathedral of Christ the Savior of the Most Glorious Transfiguration, which was built on the site of the crash of the royal train where, thanks to the enormous physical strength of Alexander III, the entire imperial family remained unharmed.
At the end of the 19th century, all Yaroslavl guidebooks insistently recommended visiting the foundry of the Olovyanishnikov partnership to watch the exciting spectacle of the casting of a new bell. The high quality of the Olovyanishnikov bells was recognized both in the Old and New Worlds - the plant received a silver medal at an exhibition in New Orleans and a gold medal in Paris.
Bell ringers. Konstantin Saradzhev
But no matter how good the bell is, if a stranger’s hand touches it, it will not sing, but will groan. There were famous bell ringers in Rus'. It still exists now. But one of them was a completely unique musician - you couldn’t call Konstantin Saradzhev anything else. His fate, like the fate of many others, was destroyed by the post-revolutionary hard times. The amazing bell ringer died in 1942 at the age of 42 in a home for neurological patients. This is what the bell ringer himself said about his sense of music:
“From early childhood, I too strongly, acutely perceived musical works, combinations of tones, the sequence of these combinations and harmonies. I distinguished significantly, incomparably more sounds in nature than others: like the sea compared to a few drops. Much more than absolute pitch hears in ordinary music!..
And the power of these sounds in their most complex combinations is in no way comparable to any other instrument - only a bell in its sound atmosphere can express at least part of the majesty and power that will be accessible to human hearing in the future. Will! I'm absolutely sure of this. Only in our century I am alone because I was born too early!”
Professional musicians, scientists, poets, and all lovers of good music came to listen to Sarajev. They learned from each other about where and when Sarajev would call and gathered at the appointed time. Among the admirers was Anastasia Tsvetaeva. This is how she wrote from her own impressions in the story “The Tale of the Moscow Bell Ringer”:
“And yet the ringing burst in unexpectedly, exploding the silence... It was as if the sky had collapsed! Thunderstrike! Rumble - and the second blow! Steadily, musical thunder crashes one after another, and a roar comes from it... And suddenly it began to roar, filled with bird chirping, the vibrant singing of unknown large birds, a festival of bell jubilation! Alternating melodies, arguing, yielding voices... deafeningly unexpected combinations, unthinkable in the hands of one person! Bell orchestra!
It was a flood, gushing, breaking the ice, flooding the surrounding area in torrents...
Raising their heads, those standing looked at the one who was playing above, leaning back. He would have flown if not for the ties of the bell tongues, which he ruled in a selfless movement, as if embracing with outstretched arms the entire bell tower, hung with many bells - giant birds emitting copper echoing ringings, golden cries, beating against the blue silver of swallow voices that filled the night an unprecedented bonfire of melodies"
Sarajev's fate is unenviable. The fate of many bells is also unenviable. High reliefs of famous scientists and writers that decorate the building of the library named after. Lenin in Moscow on Mokhovaya Street are made of bell bronze - for the 16th anniversary of the October Revolution, the bells of eight Moscow churches were recast for them.
Bells - travelers of the Danilov Monastery
And an amazing story happened with the bells of the Danilov Monastery. The communists banned the ringing of bells throughout Russia in the 20s of the twentieth century. Many bells were thrown from the bell towers, broken, and poured into the “needs of industrialization.” In the 30s, American entrepreneur Charles Crane bought the bells of the Danilov Monastery for the price of scrap: 25 tons of bells, the entire selection of monastery ringing. Crane well understood and appreciated Russian culture and realized that if this ensemble was not redeemed, it would be lost forever. In a letter from Charles to his son John we find an explanation for his action: “The bells are magnificent, beautifully set and made to perfection... this small selection may be the last and almost the only fragment of the beautiful Russian culture left in the world.”
The entrepreneur's acquisition has found a new home at Harvard University. This ensemble was tuned by Konstantin Saradzhev. Among the 17 newly arrived bells, students immediately identified one with an amazing and rare beauty of sound and immediately dubbed it “Mother Earth’s Bell.” It was cast in 1890 at the P.N. Finlyandsky factory by the famous master Ksenophon Veryovkin. The ensemble also included two bells by Fyodor Motorin himself, cast in 1682 - “Podzvonny” and “Bolshoi”.
After the war, students at Harvard University organized a club of Russian bell ringers and mastered the traditions of ringing. But bad luck, no matter how Russian bells were tuned in a foreign land, no matter what masters were invited, they did not sound as joyful, sonorous and cheerful as in their native Danilov Monastery. The sound from them came clear, loud, powerful, but very lonely and wary, not creating an ensemble. The bells confirmed the old Russian belief that best sound at the bell - in their homeland. After all, the Vladimir bell did not ring in Suzdal, where Grand Duke Alexander Vasilyevich of Suzdal took it. This is also mentioned in the chronicles. And as they returned him to his native place, “the voice, as before, was pleasing to God.”
Apparently the bells were yearning for their native Danilov monastery. Gone are the godless times. In 1988, the monastery of Prince Daniel was one of the first in Rus' to reopen, and services were resumed in its churches. Patriarch Alexy II consecrated the belfry of the oldest monastery in Moscow. For Harvard University, the Voronezh bell foundry of the Vera company ordered new bells - exactly the same, 18 in number, with a total weight of 26 tons. Casting was done using ancient technologies. Except that instead of clay molds they used ceramic ones. Therefore, the drawings on the new bells turned out to be extremely clear. And the sound of the duplicates corresponds to the sound of the original selection - this was the main condition for the return of the bells to Moscow. 
And the “wanderers”, who gratefully served American students for so many years, returned to their native abode. Along with copies of the bells of the Danilov Monastery, two more were cast at the plant - for the university with the symbols of Harvard with gratitude for preserving a priceless treasure, and for the St. Danilov Monastery with the symbols of Russia and the USA in gratitude to those who participated in the fate of our sounding shrine, who believed, waited and waited.
Bells. Customs
Speaking about bell traditions, one cannot help but recall the small arc bells that were cast on. These bells rang on all roadways, and in cities they were ordered to be tied up. Only imperial courier troikas could ride in cities with a bell. Legend has it that when the rebellious Veche Bell from Moscow was taken to Moscow, it did not submit to the conquerors. A bell fell from a sleigh and broke into thousands... of small bells. Of course, this is nothing more than a legend, but it is there that the only bell museum in Russia is located. Let me emphasize – bells, not Valdai bells.
Russian bells have always been colossal in size compared to their European counterparts. One of the largest Western bells – the Krakow “Zygmunt” (will be discussed below) – weighs only 11 tons, which sounds quite modest for Russia. Even under Ivan the Terrible, a 35-ton bell was cast here. There was a famous bell weighing 127 tons, cast by order of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. He crashed, falling from the belfry, during one of the many fires in Moscow. The casting of a huge bell was a godly deed, because the larger the bell, the lower its sound, the faster the prayers offered under this bell will reach the Lord. But there is another reason why bells in Western Europe did not reach the same size as ours. After all, in the West they swing the bell itself, but in Russia they only swing its tongue, which weighs disproportionately less. However, in the West there are many famous bells and no less legends and interesting stories associated with them.
Bells in Europe
An amazing bell story took place in the middle of the 17th century in Moravia. The Swedish commander Torstenson continuously attacked the richest city of the Czech Republic, Brno, for three months. But the Swedes were unable to take the city. Then the commander assembled a military council and announced to those gathered that the next day the final assault on the city would take place. Brno must be taken before the bell at St. Peter's Basilica rings at noon. “Otherwise we will have to retreat,” the commander said firmly. A local resident heard this decision and, appreciating their importance, made his way into the city and informed the townspeople about it. The inhabitants of Brno fought tooth and nail. But the Swedes were not inferior to them. Enemies in some places overcame the city walls when the cathedral bell tolled 12 times. No one dared to disobey Torstenson’s order; the enemy retreated in the evening and left Brno forever. So 12 strikes saved the city. Since then, every day at exactly 11 o’clock, in memory of this event, not 11, but 12 bell strikes are heard from the main cathedral. Just like more than 350 years ago, when resourceful townspeople struck the saving 12 strikes an hour earlier.
Some Western bell traditions are interesting. In Bonn, the “Cleanliness Bell” convened residents for weekly cleaning of city streets and squares, a German “Sunday”. In Turin, the “Bread Bell” informed housewives that it was time to knead the dough. Baden's "labor bell" announced the lunch break. In Danzig they were waiting for the sound of the “Beer Bell”, after which drinking establishments would open. In Paris, on the contrary, they were closed at the signal of the “Drunkards’ Bell.” In Etampes, the ringing of the bell ordered the city lights to be extinguished and was nicknamed the “Pursuer of Revelers,” and in Ulm, the “Bell of Eccentrics” reminded that it was dangerous to stay in the dark and cramped medieval streets of the city late at night. In Strasbourg, the beginning of a thunderstorm was heralded by the “Storm Bell”. There is a house “At the Stone Bell”, the corner of its facade is decorated with an architectural element in the form of a bell. An old legend says that the time will come and this bell will come to life and speak its own language. The ancient bell in “Sigmund” can disperse clouds and call girls to their betrothed.
Krakow. Wawel. Bell “Sigmund” Bells in literature
The Russian people have come up with many riddles about the bell. Here are the most interesting ones:
They took it from the ground,
They warmed themselves on the fire,
They put it in the ground again;
And when they took me out, they started beating me,
So that he could speak.
He calls others to church, but does not attend it himself.
Russian poets did not ignore the bell either. There is a well-known poem by Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich Romanov (K.R.) about Russian bells. Everyone remembers Vladimir Vysotsky’s poem “Alarm”. On the poet’s memorial plaque on Malaya Gruzinkaya Street, where Vysotsky lived, his portrait is depicted against the background of a broken bell.
Memorial plaque to Vladimir Vysotsky on the house Malaya Gruzinskaya, 28 Bulat Shalvovich Okudzhava collected a large collection of bells. Until now, every year on August 27, Peredelkino celebrates Bell Day. On this day, admirers of Okudzhava’s work bring another gift to his museum home - a bell.
How joyful it is that church bells are now ringing again. Still timid and modest. But a silver ringing floats clear and sonorously over the Motherland.
“...In the blue sky, pierced by bell towers,”
Copper bell, brass bell -
Either he was happy or he was angry...
Domes in Russia are covered with pure gold -
So that the Lord will notice more often...”
V. Vysotsky “Domes” 1975
And this is the real bell ringing of the Suzdal bell ringers of the Spaso-Evfimievsky Monastery. Everyone can hear them; they perform a small bell concert every hour when the monastery is open to visitors. Two recordings, three minutes long.
And in short - less than two minutes.
Based on materials from the book by V.A. Gorokhov “Bells of the Russian Land. From time immemorial to the present day." M, "Veche", 2009
For an Orthodox person, the temple of God and the ringing of bells are inseparable concepts. The ancient Russian tradition of taking off your hat when the bells ring suggests that Orthodox people treated the ringing with great reverence, which, in fact, is a special type of prayer. Only this prayer - the gospel - begins long before the service, and it can be heard many kilometers from the temple. And just as church singing intersects with the prayers of the priest, so the Orthodox ringing symbolizes important moments of the service. And no religious procession is complete without the ringing of bells.
From the history of bells
The bell has a very interesting history. Bells, which were more like bells, were known even before the Nativity of Christ. They were worn in national costumes in many countries. For example, in ancient Israel, the high priests decorated their clothes with small bells, which were distinctive signs of certain ranks.
The bell appeared as a musical instrument of a certain canonical shape by the 3rd century. The history of its origin is connected with the name St. Paul the Merciful, Bishop of Nolan, whose memory we celebrate on February 5 (January 23, O.S.). He lived in the Italian province of Campana. One day, returning home after visiting his flock, he became very tired, lay down in a field and saw in a dream how the Angel of God played the field bells. This vision struck him so much that, upon arriving in his city, he asked an artisan to make him bells from iron similar to those he had seen in his dream. When they were done they turned out to have a very good sound. Since then, they began to make bells of various shapes and sizes, which subsequently increased and led to the appearance of church bells.
Initially, bells were cast from a variety of metals, but over time, the most suitable composition developed, which is still used today: bell bronze (80% copper and 20% tin). With this composition, the sound of the bell is ringing and melodious. The size of the bell gradually increased. This was due, first of all, to the skill of the bell-casters. The casting process became more complicated and improved. It is interesting to note that when the bells were over-watered, their weight necessarily increased. This is due to the fact that copper loses its properties during remelting, and tin burns out, so with each remelting it was necessary to add pure copper and tin, which increased the weight of the bell by at least 20%.
And the bells had to be re-watered, since they also have their own service life - usually 100-200 years. The service life of a bell depends on many things: on the quality of casting, on the ringing, on how carefully the bell is handled. A large number of bells were broken only because the ringers did not know how to ring correctly. And they broke more often in the winter - in the cold the metal becomes more fragile, but on a great holiday you really want to ring the bell louder, hit the bell harder!
Three lives of the Tsar Bell
The recasting of the bell was as significant an event as the casting of a new one. It was often given a new name, hung in a new place, and if the bell tower did not allow it, a separate belfry was built. Large bells were cast right outside the temple, because transporting them was sometimes even more difficult than casting them and lifting them to the bell tower.
The Moscow Tsar Bell, one might say, had several lives. In 1652, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich ordered the casting of the world’s largest “Uspensky” bell (our first Tsar Bell), weighing 8,000 pounds (128 tons), which was suspended in 1654 and soon broken. In 1655, the “Great Assumption” bell (the second Tsar Bell) weighing 10,000 poods (160 tons) was cast from it. It was suspended in 1668 on a specially built belfry, but during a fire in 1701 this bell was broken.
In 1734-1735, Anna Ioannovna completed the epic of the Tsar of Bells, casting a bell of 12,000 poods (about 200 tons). For further cleaning, the bell was lifted onto wooden saws. It was supposed to build a special bell tower for him, since he could not fit into either the bell tower of Ivan the Great or the Assumption Belfry.
But soon there was a strong fire in the Kremlin, and the wooden structure on which the bell hung caught fire, and the bell fell into a hole. Fearing that burning wood falling on the bell might melt it, the people began to pour water on it. And after the fire it was discovered that a piece weighing 11 tons had fallen off the bell. What caused the bell to split—its fall into a pit (the base of which was rocky) or temperature changes when water was poured over it—is unknown. Without ringing once, the Tsar Bell lay in the ground for more than a hundred years. In 1836, under Nicholas I, the Tsar Bell was raised from the ground and placed in the Kremlin on a pedestal designed by the Italian engineer-scientist Montferrand.
Methods of bell ringing
There are two methods of bell ringing, characteristic of our country: terrible And lingual. The peculiarity of the first is that the bell is firmly mounted in a movable axis, to which is attached a lever (ochep) with a rope tied to it. The bell ringer stands on the ground and pulls on it, swinging the bell evenly. The language remains free. With the usual method of ringing, you can use small bells. If the weight of the bells is large enough, the system of their fastening becomes more complicated, and large loads lead to rapid wear of the moving parts, as well as the destruction of the walls of the bell tower themselves.
When, under Tsar Boris Godunov, a bell weighing 1,500 pounds (about 24 tons) was cast and hung on a belfry specially built for this purpose, it took a hundred people to swing it.
Belfry
The bells on the belfry are divided into three groups: evangelists(the heaviest), which are controlled through a pedal, and if the weight is very large, the second person swings the tongue; half-ringed(medium in weight), which are connected by a system of constrictions to the control panel and are operated by the left hand; ringing(the smallest ones), which are usually trilled with the right hand.
There are four types of Orthodox ringing: blagovest(uniform strikes on the largest bell), overkill(one by one they strike each bell once from small to large, and then all at once - strike “all the way”, and so on for several series), chime(several series of alternating single strikes on each bell from large to small, then “all the way”), pealing(the richest ringing in rhythm and composition, in which all three groups of bells are involved). Before the start of the service there is a bell ringing, then a trezvon, and at the end of the service a trezvon. The Blagovest calls Christians to worship, and the ringing of the trezvon symbolizes the joy of the celebrated event. The bell is placed during a funeral and symbolizes a person’s life: the sound of small bells signifies a person’s childhood and, in increasing order, his growing up, after which the blow “all the way” symbolizes the end of life. The chime (from large to small) symbolizes the exhaustion of Christ during the suffering of the cross, the blow “all over” symbolizes His death on the cross. The chime is set once a year - on Maundy Thursday evening on the removal of the shroud.
Bell ringing was used in Rus' not only during the celebration of church services. Bells were used to call people to a meeting, to warn about danger or bad weather (fire, etc.), to show the way to lost travelers (at night, in a snowstorm) or sailors (if the temple was located near the sea), to call for the defense of the Motherland, when sending troops to war, celebrating victories.
Having fallen in love with the ringing of bells, the people associated all their solemn and sad events with it. The bell was believed to have some kind of miraculous power, and it was often identified with a living creature. The names of its main parts speak about this: tongue, ears, queen cell, shoulder, body(or skirt). It is interesting to note that in foreign languages the main parts of the bell do not have such “living” names. For example, in English or French, the tongue is called the drummer (hammer), the queen with ears is called the crown, the body and shoulder are called the ramp.
The effect of bell ringing on humans has been studied very little, but it is known for sure that ringing, even from a physical point of view, is good for health, since the ultrasound emanating from it (but inaudible) clears the air of germs. It is not for nothing that in the old days, during epidemics and terrible pestilences, bells were supposed to be ringed tirelessly. And it was noticed that in those villages where there was a church and bells were constantly ringing, the pestilence was significantly less than in those places where there was no temple. The ringing of bells can greatly influence a person’s mental (psychological) state. Scientists attribute this to the existence of biorhythms and resonant frequencies for each organ. Typically, low frequencies, characteristic of large bells, calm a person, and high ones most often excite. Today, special techniques have even emerged for using bell ringing to treat mental disorders. And the statement that all bell ringers are deaf is completely implausible. Talk to any experienced bell ringer, and he will probably tell you that he does not have any hearing disorders.
The Russian people found a worthy expression of the church idea of the bell in their mighty, solemn ringings, in their tall, unique bell towers; he loves the bell and reveres it. This is his victorious banner, his solemn confession in front of the whole world of his best and most cherished hopes, of what is most dear and sacred to him, of what makes him strong and invincible.
Based on materials from the magazine “Slavyanka”
HOW BELLS ARE MADE
Andrey Kordakov, the head of the only manufacturing enterprise in Siberia, Svetolitie, which has been casting church bells for many years, says:
“Making bells is a busy industry. And the most important thing is to tune the bell. The metal must be poured into a “customized” form. The mold itself for casting the bell determines the sound of the future instrument in advance. It must be said that the process of forming the sound of a bell, its euphony has not yet been stopped, it is constantly being improved and developed. And the main thing in sound quality is the shape of the bell. Of course, the metal itself plays a significant role. Why did I call bell production busy? Because you have to start with the shape of the bell, then work is done on its images, sketches and drawings are made. Then these sketches are turned into three-dimensional ornaments and images. They should not be more than 2 millimeters in height, otherwise the bell decoration may affect the sound. Next comes molding - removing the mold from the bell model. Then this form is processed in a certain way, dried and fired, and then assembled for casting. The mold itself is made of special heat-resistant mixtures that can withstand the high temperature of molten metal. The next step is to melt the copper in the furnace. Pure, without any impurities. Then, when the melt is prepared, bell bronze is added to it. By the way, this bronze melt is not used anywhere else. Tin is added to this bronze by a quarter. Then the melt is purged with argon. All impurities and slag inclusions that formed during the smelting process come out of it. They go upstairs and are collected together with the film. Now the metal is ready and poured into the mold. Then the bell cools down during the day. The slower it cools and languishes, the higher the quality of its ringing. At this time, the so-called crystallization, on which its durability depends. You may be surprised, but bell metal is very fragile. And the sound of the bell is on the border of fragility and strength. Movement in any direction, the slightest inaccuracy in the formation of the alloy composition is unacceptable. The bell will either burst or sound dull. This is especially important during winter ringing.<…>We sorted out the form. And here the temptation is very great to check the bell for sound. But they never do this! There is a kind of languor of the bell and treatment of it as if it were alive. After all, this is simply insulting: it has not yet been caressed with hands, has not yet been processed. Then, after processing and cleaning, we hang the bell and freeze in anticipation of its voice. And only after that we make a decision: to release it into the world or...<...>How the bell will look and how it will sound is determined by us, of course, in advance. And the sound of our bells was determined by the first set that we cast. And now we are practically replicating this bell selection. The canon of sound must have a main tone and 3 overtones. But, of course, the richness of the sound of the bell is not limited to this. Now we attach a special passport to each bell, which describes all its characteristics and features.<…>The selection of bells must first of all be harmonious. Yes, of course, we need to choose the best option for each temple. For a small village church, 70- or 130-kilogram bells are suitable as evangelists. The Blagovestnik is the largest bell in the set. And in this case, 2-3 bell or pick-up ones will suit it. This will be enough for a small church. And also in terms of money.<…>The sets are different. And this depends on the wishes of the rector of the temple and the possibility of the benefactor - the one who donates to the bells. Then the discussion begins appearance bell, what images should be cast on it, what ornaments and inscriptions should be, incl. and prayer inscriptions. And it turns out that almost every set is exclusive, and it largely depends on what its name is given for.<…>Yes, we provide a 1 year warranty on our bells. Some companies provide a guarantee for... 100 years. But this is a little from the evil one. In 100 years, who to ask? What is 1 year for a bell? This means it sounded in winter, spring, summer and autumn. And if it has gone through all 4 seasons, this means that it will sound for a very long time. To make the bell last longer, we suggest detailed instructions on using a bell for bell ringers. In winter, before ringing, hit the bell 3 times, as if warming it up. Such instructions are needed because bells are mostly damaged by young, inexperienced ringers. We read the instructions further: “Do not hit the bell with foreign objects, except for the tongue suspended under the arch of the bell.” We had such a case when our bell was brought from church broken. And this happened due to the fact that they rang the bell by hitting it with a hammer.<…>The tongue of the bell is made of black metal. This is forged metal. It is soft, but at the same time forged. Why the so-called Is the “apple” of the tongue forged? It is clear that it is the language that bears the main burden. And after forging, the tongue does not wrinkle. It is clear that the tongue must have a certain weight. Otherwise, it will not produce the bright sound that a bell is capable of.<…>There are cases when bells served for more than one century.<…>Immediately after the baptism of Rus' (988), there were not bells, but so-called bells. These are wooden boards that were beaten with mallets. Later, metal plates appeared, which were struck to call for prayer. Then European-style bells appeared. Their ringing principle was different, different from our Orthodox ringing. In them, the tongue hung motionless, and the bell itself swayed. Such bells are called detachable bells. But the Russian people are savvy! Why swing a bell with considerable weight when you can swing your tongue? In Rus' they quickly changed everything. But Europeans, as a more conservative people, are still rocking the bells. The only innovation in Europe is the so-called. carillons. In them, the bells are tuned to only one note, and the overtones are removed. And with any strike, such a bell produces only one specific sound, as when pressing a piano key. And from our bell you can extract a whole range of sounds. The carillon has about 30 bells, the range of which is 3 octaves. You can play any melody on this carillon. True, this has very little to do with bell art. There, the bell is struck not with a tongue, but with electromagnetic hammers.”
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It is useless to wait for the sound of a cracked bell. The technology of bell production, the rules for equipping bell towers, safety measures when working with bells - all this must be known by the future bell ringer, because he and no one else is responsible for the instrument entrusted to him. After all, even a bronze “giant” evangelist, despite its apparent strength, is a very fragile creature and requires careful treatment (especially during winter frosts). /The lifespan of a bell depends both on the quality of the casting and on the skillful handling of it by the bell ringer./
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The largest of the “newly made” operating bells in modern Russia is the large bell on the Cathedral of Christ the Savior (its weight is 36 tons). His sound is simply wonderful. It was cast on ZIL. /Lucky bells in Russia are also cast in Voronezh, Kamensk-Uralsky, Pskov and others. other cities./ In pre-revolutionary times, the best bells in Russia were cast at the famous Olovyanishnikov factories. /One of the Olovyanishnikovs wrote a book about the technological secrets of bell casting, and it indicated the optimal proportions of the alloy: pure copper - 75-80%, pure tin - 20-25%./
Note. The opinion that bells cast from silver have the best sound is erroneous (silver significantly dampens the sound of a bell).
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There are many resources dedicated to bells. Here I want to briefly highlight the topic of bells, since they are an integral part of Orthodox architecture, which does not go against the theme of my site.
§1 History of bells
1. The first bells
The making and use of bells dates back to ancient times. Bells were known to the Jews, Egyptians, and Romans. Bells were known in Japan and China.In the debate about the origin of the bell, a number of scientists consider its homeland to be China, from where the bell could have come to Europe along the Great Silk Road. Evidence: it was in China that the first bronze casting appeared, and the most ancient bells from the 23rd to 11th centuries BC were also found there. measuring 4.5 - 6 cm or more. They were used in different ways: they were hung on the belt of clothing or the neck of horses or other animals as amulets (to ward off evil spirits), they were used in military service, in the temple for worship, during ceremonies and rituals. By the 5th century BC. The passion for bell music became so great in China that entire sets were required. bells
However, in the literature, an Assyrian bell from the time of Shalmaneser II, stored in the British Museum, is sometimes mentioned as the oldest. (860 - 824 BC), discovered during excavations of the palace of Nineveh.
The Egyptians used bells in rituals dedicated to the holidays of the god Osiris.
The Romans used them to call servants and slaves, military signals, gathering people for public meetings, during sacrifices, and, finally, they decorated chariots at the ceremonial entries of triumphants. In Ancient Rome, the ringing of bells also served as a signal for watering the streets in the midday heat.
In ancient times, bells were small in size and were not cast from metal as they are now, but riveted from sheet iron. Later, bells began to be riveted from sheet copper and bronze.
It is not known exactly when bells began to be used in Christian worship. During the persecution of Christians, the use of bells was out of the question; the call to worship was carried out through special persons of the lower clergy (Laosinacts-collectors of the people).
In Europe from the 1st century BC. and in subsequent centuries, a small bell about 20 cm high performed the following functions: its signal in Bonn meant the beginning of street cleaning; in Etampes (France) the last stroke of the bell was called the “Pursuer of Revelers”: after it the city lights were extinguished; in Turin (Italy) there was a “Bread Bell” for housewives; in medieval England, a bell accompanied a funeral procession; and in Beauvain (France) there was a bell that announced the beginning of the fish trade, it was called “Fish Trader”.
Church tradition dates the first use of bells in Christian worship to St. Pavlin, Bishop of Nolan (353-431) . In a dream vision, he saw an angel with bells that made wonderful sounds. Wildflowers and bluebells suggested to St. The shape of bells was given to Peacock, which were used during worship, and the introduction of “bell ringing” in Catholic rites was attributed to Pope Savinian (5?? - 604/606).
Historical monuments of the West first mention bells only in VII c., at churches in Rome and Orleans. TO VIII V. in the West, thanks to Charlemagne, church bells were already widespread. Bells were made from an alloy of copper and tin; later iron and, in rare cases, silver were added to these metals.
Middle IX c., can be determined by the time of widespread use of bells in the Christian West.
In the Orthodox East, bells appeared only in the second half IX c., when, at the request of Emperor Basil the Macedonian (867-886) The Venetian Doge Orso sent 12 bells to Constantinople for the newly built church. This innovation was not widespread and only after the occupation of Constantinople by the crusaders (1204) Bells began to appear at churches again.
2. Bells of Rus'
Initially, before the appearance of bells in Rus', a more general way of calling believers to worship was determined by VI century when they began to use beat and riveted.Bila (and Kandi)- these are wooden boards, and riveted- iron or copper strips, bent into a semicircle, which were struck with special wooden sticks and only at the end X centuries, bells appeared.
The first chronicle mention of bells in Rus' dates back to 988 In Kyiv there were bells at the Assumption (Tithe) and Irininskaya churches. In Novgorod, bells are mentioned at the church of St. Sofia at the very beginning XI V. IN 1106 g. prp. Anthony the Roman, arriving in Novgorod, heard a “great ringing” in it.
Also mentioned are the bells in the churches of Polotsk, Novgorod-Seversky and Vladimir on Klyazma at the end XII V. But along with bells, beaters and rivets were used here for a long time. Oddly enough, Russia borrowed bells not from Greece, from where it adopted Orthodoxy, but from Western Europe.
During the excavation of the foundations of the Church of the Tithes (1824) , which was headed by Metropolitan Evgeniy (Bolkhovitnikov) of Kiev, two bells were discovered. One of them is made of Corinthian copper, better preserved (weighing 2 pounds 10 pounds, height 9 vershoks), it is considered the oldest Russian bell.
Russian bell-making masters were first mentioned in the chronicle under 1194 In Suzdal “and that miracle is like the prayer and faith of Bishop John, not the plaintiff of the masters from the Germans, but the presence of the masters from the minions of the Holy Mother of God and their own, others pouring tin...” At the beginning XII V. Russian craftsmen had their own foundries in Kyiv. The oldest Russian bells sounded small, completely smooth and had no inscriptions.
After the invasion of the Tatar-Mongols (1240) bell making in Ancient Rus' faded away.
IN XIV V. Foundry is being resumed in North-Eastern Rus'. Moscow becomes the center of foundry business. “The Russian Boris” gained particular fame at this time, casting many bells for cathedral churches. The size of the bells at that time was small and their weight did not exceed several pounds.
A wonderful event in 1530 The bell was cast by order of the Novgorod Archbishop St. Macarius weighing 250 pounds. Bells of this size were very rare, and the chronicler notes this event of great importance: “this has never happened before.” At this time, inscriptions on bells were already found in Slavic, Latin, Dutch, and Old German. Sometimes the inscriptions could only be read using a special “key”. At the same time, a special rite of consecration of bells appeared.
The second half became an era in the history of bell making in Russia XV century, when the engineer and builder Aristotle Fiorovanti arrived in Moscow. He built a cannon yard where cannons and bells were fired. The Venetians Pavel Debosh and masters Peter and Jacob were also engaged in foundry at this time. At first XVI V. already Russian craftsmen successfully continued the work they had begun, surpassing their teachers in many ways in terms of bell casting. At this time, a special type of Russian bells, a system of fastenings, a special shape and composition of bell copper were formed.
And to XVI century the bells were already ringing throughout the country. Russian craftsmen invented a new method of ringing - tongue ringing (when the tongue of the bell swings, and not the bell itself, as was the case in Western Europe), this made it possible to cast bells of very large sizes..
Under Tsar Ivan the Terrible and his son Theodore, bell making in Moscow developed rapidly. Many bells were cast not only for Moscow, but also for other cities. Master Nemchinov cast the “Blagovestnik” bell, weighing 1000 pounds. Other famous craftsmen of this time, famous for the careful and artistic finishing of bells: Ignatius 1542 city, Bogdan 1565 g., Andrey Chokhov 1577 g. and others. At this time, there were up to 5,000 bells in churches in Moscow.
Troubled start time XVII V. foundry stopped for some time, but since the time of Patriarch Filaret (Romanov) this art has been revived again. The art of making bells developed and strengthened, gradually reaching dimensions that Western Europe had never known. From that time on, foreign craftsmen were no longer invited to cast bells.
Famous Russian masters of this time were: Pronya Feodorov 1606 g., Ignatiy Maksimov 1622 g., Andrey Danilov and Alexey Yakimov 1628 At this time, Russian craftsmen cast huge bells, which amazed even experienced foreign craftsmen with their size. So in 1622 In 1964, master Andrei Chokhov cast the “Reut” bell, weighing 2,000 pounds. IN 1654 The Tsar Bell was cast (later recast). IN 1667 A bell was cast for the Savino-Storozhevsky Monastery, weighing 2125 pounds.
In the first years of the reign of Peter I, bell making was not successful. This was facilitated by the cold attitude of the secular authorities towards the Church. By decree of the king from 1701 bells were removed from churches for the needs of the army. By May 1701 A huge number of church bells were brought to Moscow for melting (in total more than 90 thousand poods). 100 large and 143 small cannons, 12 mortars and 13 howitzers were cast from the bells. But bell copper turned out to be unsuitable, and the remaining bells remained unclaimed.
3. "Tsar Bell"
The Tsar Bell occupies a special place among all the bells in the world. Beginning with XVI V. this bell rang several times.Each time, additional metal was added to its original weight.
Work on the construction of the bell began in 1733 in Moscow, at the bell tower of Ivan the Great. TO 1734 all necessary preparatory work was completed. 1,214,000 units were used for the construction of furnaces. bricks But this year it was not possible to cast the bell; the furnaces burst and the copper spilled out. Soon Ivan Matorin dies and his son Mikhail continues his work. TO 1735 All work was carried out with great care. On November 23, the furnaces were flooded, and on November 25, the casting of the bell was completed successfully. Bell height 6 m 14 cm, diameter 6 m 60 cm, total weight 201 t 924 kg(12327 pounds).
Until spring 1735 The bell was in the foundry pit. On May 29, a large fire occurred in Moscow, known as the Troitsky fire. The Kremlin buildings were also engulfed in fire. The wooden buildings above the foundry pit caught fire. When extinguishing the fire due to a strong temperature difference, the bell developed 11 cracks, and a piece weighing 11.5 tons broke off. The bell became unusable. For almost 100 years the bell was in the ground. They wanted to transfuse it more than once. Only in 1834 The bell was lifted from the ground and installed on a granite pedestal under the bell tower on August 4.
From an artistic point of view, the Tsar Bell has magnificent external proportions. The bell is decorated with images of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and Empress Anna Ioanovna. Between them, in two cartouches supported by Angels, there are inscriptions (damaged). The bell is crowned with images of the Savior, the Virgin Mary and the evangelists. The upper and lower friezes are decorated with palm branches. Decorations, portraits and inscriptions were made by: V. Kobelev, P. Galkin, P. Kokhtev and P. Serebyakov. Although some of the relief images were damaged during casting, the surviving parts speak of the great talent of Russian craftsmen.
At the break, the color of bell copper is whitish, which other bells do not have. There is a strong consensus that this is due to the high content of gold and silver. After the bell was raised, the question of its repair was repeatedly raised. There were bold decisions to solder the broken part, but all attempts remained only bold proposals.
During the reign of Nicholas I, the bell tower of Ivan the Great was cast in 1817 g. bell "Big Assumption" ("Tsar Bell") weighing 4000 pounds (cast by master Yakov Zavyalov), now the largest operating bell in Russia. The best in tone and sound. The largest bell in operation in the world, cast in 1632 weighing 4685 pounds, located in Japan in the city of Kyoto. the bell "St. John" weighing 3500 pounds and the bell, called the "New Bell", weighing 3600 pounds. In St. Petersburg, master Ivan Stukalkin cast 11 bells for St. Isaac's Cathedral at this time. An interesting fact is that all the bells for this cathedral were cast from old Siberian nickels. For this purpose, 65.5 tons of them were released from the royal treasury. The largest bell, weighing 1860 pounds, had images in 5 medallions of Russian emperors.
Alexander II donated a bell called “Blagovestnik” to the Solovetsky Monastery. This bell was imprinted with the whole historical event- The Crimean War - in prose and pictures. Monastery in 1854 The city was subjected to severe shelling by the English fleet; in 9 hours, 1,800 shells and bombs were fired at the monastery. The monastery withstood the siege. All these events were recorded on the bell. Several medallions contained images: a panorama of the Solovetsky Monastery, the disgraced English fleet, pictures of the battle. The bell was crowned with images of the Mother of God and the Solovetsky miracle workers.
Rostov ringings occupy a special place among all Russian bells. The largest "Sysoy" (received the name in memory of the Rostov Metropolitan Jonah (Sysoevich)) weighing 2000 pounds was cast in 1689 g., "Polieleyny" 1000 poods per 1683 g., "Swan" weighing 500 pounds was cast in 1682 The total number of bells on the belfry of the Rostov Kremlin is 13. They ring in Rostov according to notes specially composed for three tunes: Ionian, Akimov and Dashkovsky, or Egoryevsky. For many years in XIX V. The harmonic tuning of the Rostov bells was carried out by Archpriest Aristarkh Izrailev.
Mostly all bells were made of special bell copper. But there were bells made of other metals. There were cast iron bells in the Dositheeva Hermitage on the banks of the Sheksna. The Solovetsky Monastery had two stone bells. In the Obnorsky monastery there were 8 bells made of sheet iron. There was a glass bell in Totma. In Kharkov, in the Assumption Cathedral there was a bell weighing 17 pounds made of pure silver. The bell was cast under Nicholas II in 1890 at the P. Ryzhov plant. in memory of the deliverance from the death of the royal family in a train crash. disappeared without a trace civil war. There were six gilded bells in Siberia in the city of Tara, at the Kazan Church. They are all small, from 1 to 45 poods.
TO 1917 In Russia there were 20 large bell factories, which cast 100-120 thousand pounds of church bells per year.
4. Bell device
A distinctive feature of Russian bells is their sonority and melodiousness, which is achieved by various means, such as:- The exact proportion of copper and tin, often with the addition of silver, i.e. the correct alloy.
- The height of the bell and its width, i.e. the correct proportion of the bell itself.
- The thickness of the bell walls.
- Proper hanging of the bell.
- The correct alloy of the tongue and the method of attaching it to the bell; and many others.
The bell, like many instruments, is anthropomorphic. Its parts correspond to human organs. Its upper part is called the head or crown, the holes in it are the ears, then the neck, shoulders, mother, belt, skirt or shirt (body). Each bell had its own voice, received consecration like baptism and had its own fate, often tragic.
A tongue was suspended inside the bell - a metal rod with a thickening at the end (an apple), which was used to beat along the edge of the bell; it was called a lip.
The most common spelling in bell inscriptions is XVII And XIX centuries or modern traditions. The inscription on the bell is done in capital Church Slavonic letters without using punctuation marks.
Bell decorations can be divided into several types:
Horizontal bands and grooves
Ornamental friezes (floral and geometric)
Convex molded or engraved inscriptions, a combination of both is possible
Relief execution of icons of the Lord, the Blessed Virgin Mary, images of Saints and Heavenly Powers.
The figure shows the diagram of the bell:
The decoration of the bell bears the imprint of the era and corresponds to its tastes. Typically includes the following elements: relief icons, ornamental friezes, inscriptions and ornaments.
The internal inscription usually contains information about the time the bell was cast, the names of the customer, craftsman and investors. Sometimes the inscription contained words of prayer, defining the meaning of the bell as the voice of God.
5. Times of Silence
After the October Revolution 1917 g., church bells became especially hated by the new government.The ringing of bells was considered harmful, and by the beginning 30's years all the church bells fell silent. According to Soviet law, all church buildings, as well as bells, were placed at the disposal of Local Councils, which “based on state and public needs, used them at their discretion.”
Most of the church bells were destroyed. A small part of the bells of artistic value was registered with the People's Commissariat for Education, which disposed of them independently "based on state needs."
To liquidate the most valuable bells, a decision was made to sell them abroad. “The most expedient way out for eliminating our unique bells is to export them abroad and sell them there along with other luxury items...” wrote the ideologist of atheism Gidulyanov.
So in the USA, at Harvard University, the unique bells of the Danilov Monastery turned out to be. The unique bells of the Sretensky Monastery were sold to England. A huge number of bells went into private collections. Another part of the confiscated bells was sent to large construction sites in Volkhovstroy and Dneprostroy for technical needs (making boilers for canteens!).
Russia was losing its bell wealth catastrophically quickly. The seizure of bells from ancient monasteries and cities was especially noticeable. IN 1929 The 1200-pound bell was removed from the Kostroma Assumption Cathedral. IN 1931 Many bells of the Spas-Evfimiev, Rizopolozhensky, and Pokrovsky monasteries in Suzdal were sent for remelting.
Even more tragic was the story of the death of the famous bells of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. The death of the pride of Russia - the bells of the first monastery in Rus' - was followed by many. Illustrated official publications such as “Atheist” and others printed photographs of the overthrown bells. As a result, 19 bells with a total weight of 8165 pounds were handed over to Rudmetalltorg from the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. In his diary about the events in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, the writer M. Prishvin wrote: “I witnessed the death ... the most majestic bells in the world of the Godunov era were thrown down - it was like the spectacle of a public execution.”
A peculiar application, parts of Moscow bells, was found in 1932 city authorities. Bronze high reliefs were cast from 100 tons of church bells for the new building of the Lenin Library.
IN 1933 At a secret meeting of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, a plan was established for the procurement of bell bronze. Each republic and region received a quarterly allocation for the procurement of bell bronze. Over the course of several years, in a planned manner, almost everything that Orthodox Rus' had carefully collected for several centuries was destroyed.
Currently, the art of casting church bells is gradually being revived. With the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Alexei II of Moscow and All Rus', the Bells of Russia Foundation was established, which revives the ancient traditions of bell art. In their workshops, bells from 5 kg to 5 tons are cast. The biggest for last years became a bell for the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow.
Bells, having traveled a long historical path, have become an integral part of the life of the Russian people for Russia. Without them, not a single Orthodox church was unthinkable; all events in the life of the state and the Church were sanctified by the ringing of bells.