Tsar Bell, Bronze bell at Moscow Kremlin, Russia.
The Tsar Bell is a bronze bell at the Moscow Kremlin standing 6.24 meters tall with a diameter exceeding 6.5 meters. A large triangular section weighing about eleven tons is missing from the wall and rests beside the main body on the ground.
A fire in 1737 caused the bell still resting in its casting pit to crack when water struck the hot metal during attempts to extinguish the flames. The broken cylinder remained underground for over a century until workers raised it in 1836 and placed it on a stone pedestal.
The cast cylinder carries portraits of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and Empress Anna Ioannovna alongside several saint figures in deep relief. Plant ornaments and inscriptions in Church Slavonic script surround these depictions and show the skill of Russian craftsmen in the 18th century.
The bell stands outdoors on a platform between the Ivan the Great Bell Tower and the Dormition Cathedral within the Kremlin complex. Visitors can walk around the entire object and view both sides of the broken fragment.
The metal was cast in a pit directly on Kremlin grounds because no furnace was large enough to hold over 200 tons of bronze. The missing wedge weighs more than some complete historic bells in other European cities.
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