The Tsar Cannon has long been one of the symbols of Russia. Almost no foreign tourist leaves Moscow without seeing the miracle of our technology. She entered dozens of jokes, which featured the Tsar Cannon that never fired, the Tsar Bell that never rang, and some other non-working miracle Yudo like the N-3 lunar rocket.

Alexander Shirokorad

In line with the Tsar Cannon, the poet Alexander Roslavlev even put the famous monument Alexander III Trubetskoy's works:

Third wild toy

For Russian serf:

There was a tsar-bell, a tsar-cannon,

And now the king...

But, alas, our venerable historians and dissident jokers are wrong all around. Firstly, the Tsar Cannon fired, and secondly, this gun is not a cannon at all.

But I'll start in order. The Tsar Cannon was cast by the famous Russian master Andrei Chokhov (until 1917 he was listed as Chekhov) on the orders of Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich. A giant gun weighing 2,400 pounds (39,312 kg) was cast in 1586 at the Moscow Cannon Yard. The length of the Tsar Cannon is 5345 mm, the outer diameter of the barrel is 1210 mm, and the diameter of the thickening at the muzzle is 1350 mm.

Currently, the Tsar Cannon is on a decorative cast-iron carriage, and nearby are decorative cast-iron cannonballs, which were cast in 1834 in St. Petersburg at Byrd's iron foundry. It is clear that it is physically impossible to shoot from this cast-iron carriage or use cast-iron cannonballs - the Tsar Cannon will be blown to smithereens! Documents about the testing of the Tsar Cannon or its use in combat conditions have not been preserved, which gave rise to lengthy disputes about its purpose. Most historians and military men in the 19th and early 20th centuries believed that the Tsar Cannon was a shotgun, that is, a weapon designed to shoot shot, which in the 16th-17th centuries. /bm9icg===>ekah consisted of small stones. A minority of experts generally rule out the possibility of combat use of the gun, believing that it was made specifically to frighten foreigners, especially the ambassadors of the Crimean Tatars. Recall that in 1571 Khan Devlet Giray burned down Moscow.

In the XVIII - early XX centuries, the Tsar Cannon was called a shotgun in all official documents. And only the Bolsheviks in the 1930s decided to raise her rank for propaganda purposes and began to call her a cannon.

The secret of the Tsar Cannon was revealed only in 1980, when a large automobile crane removed it from the carriage and placed it on a huge trailer. Then the powerful KrAZ took the Tsar Cannon to Serpukhov, where the cannon was repaired at military unit No. 42708. At the same time, a number of specialists from the Artillery Academy. Dzerzhinsky made her inspection and measurement. For some reason, the report was not published, but from the surviving draft materials it becomes clear that the Tsar Cannon ... was not a cannon!

The highlight of the gun is its channel. At a distance of 3190 mm, it has the form of a cone, the initial diameter of which is 900 mm, and the final diameter is 825 mm. Then comes the charging chamber with a reverse taper - with an initial diameter of 447 mm and a final (at the breech) 467 mm. The length of the chamber is 1730 mm, and the bottom is flat.

So this is a classic bombard!

Bombards first appeared at the end of the 14th century. The name "bombard" comes from Latin words bombus (thunder sound) and arder (burn). The first bombards were made of iron and had screw-on chambers. So, for example, in 1382 in the city of Ghent (Belgium) the bombard "Mad Margaret" was made, named so in memory of the Countess of Flanders Margaret the Cruel. Bombard caliber - 559 mm, barrel length - 7.75 caliber (klb), and channel length - 5 klb. The weight of the gun is 11 tons. The Mad Margarita fired stone cannonballs weighing 320 kg. The bombarda consists of two layers: the inner layer consisting of longitudinal strips welded together, and the outer one consisting of 41 iron hoops welded together and with the inner layer. A separate screw chamber consists of a single layer of discs welded together and is equipped with sockets where the lever was inserted when it was screwed in and out.

It took about a day to load and aim large bombards. Therefore, during the siege of the city of Pisa in 1370, whenever the besiegers prepared to fire, the besieged went to the opposite end of the city. The besiegers, taking advantage of this, rushed to the attack.

The charge of the bombard was no more than 10% of the weight of the core. There were no trunnions and carriages. The guns were stacked on wooden decks and log cabins, and piles were driven in behind or brick walls were erected to stop. Initially, the elevation angle did not change. In the 15th century, primitive lifting mechanisms began to be used and bombards were cast from copper.

Let's pay attention - the Tsar Cannon does not have trunnions, with the help of which the gun is given an elevation angle. In addition, she has an absolutely smooth rear section of the breech, with which she, like other bombards, rested against a stone wall or log cabin.

Protector of the Dardanelles

By the middle of the 15th century, the Turkish Sultan had the most powerful siege artillery. So, during the siege of Constantinople in 1453, the Hungarian foundry worker Urban cast for the Turks a copper bombard with a caliber of 24 inches (610 mm), which fired stone balls weighing about 20 pounds (328 kg). It took 60 bulls and 100 men to transport it to the position. To eliminate the rollback, the Turks built a stone wall behind the gun. The rate of fire of this bombard was 4 shots per day. By the way, the rate of fire of large-caliber Western European bombards was about the same order. Just before the capture of Constantinople, a 24-inch bombard exploded. At the same time, its designer Urban himself died. The Turks appreciated the large-caliber bombards. Already in 1480, during the fighting on the island of Rhodes, they used bombards of 24-35-inch caliber (610-890 mm). The casting of such giant bombards required, as indicated in ancient documents, 18 days.

It is curious that the bombards of the XV-XVI centuries. ekov in Turkey were in service until mid-nineteenth century. So, on March 1, 1807, when the English squadron of Admiral Duckworth crossed the Dardanelles, a 25-inch (635 mm) marble ball weighing 800 pounds (244 kg) hit the lower deck of the Windsor Castle ship and ignited several caps with gunpowder, as a result of which there was a terrible explosion. 46 people were killed and wounded. In addition, many sailors, frightened, threw themselves overboard and drowned. The same core hit the ship "Active" and punched a huge hole in the side above the waterline. In this hole, several people could stick their heads out.

In 1868, over 20 huge bombards were still on the forts defending the Dardanelles. There is evidence that during the Dardanelles operation in 1915, a 400-kilogram stone ball hit the English battleship Agamemnon. Of course, it could not penetrate the armor and only amused the team.

Let's compare a Turkish 25-inch (630 mm) copper bombard, cast in 1464, which currently stored in the museum at Woolwich (London), with our Tsar Cannon. The weight of the Turkish bombard is 19 tons, and the total length is 5232 mm. The outer diameter of the barrel is 894 mm. The length of the cylindrical part of the channel is 2819 mm. The length of the chamber is 2006 mm. The bottom of the chamber is rounded. The bombard fired stone cannonballs weighing 309 kg, and a charge of gunpowder weighed 22 kg.

The bombard once defended the Dardanelles. As you can see, outwardly and in terms of the channel structure, it is very similar to the Tsar Cannon. The main and fundamental difference is that the Turkish bombard has a screw breech. Apparently, the Tsar Cannon was made according to the model of such bombards.

Tsar Shotgun

So, the Tsar Cannon is a bombard designed to fire stone cannonballs. The weight of the stone core of the Tsar Cannon was about 50 pounds (819 kg), and the iron core of this caliber weighs 120 pounds (1.97 tons). As a shotgun, the Tsar Cannon was extremely ineffective. At the cost of costs, instead of it, it was possible to make 20 small shotguns, which take much less time to load - not a day, but only 1-2 minutes. I note that in the official inventory "At the Moscow arsenal of artillery" # for 1730 there were 40 copper and 15 cast-iron shotguns. Let's pay attention to their calibers: 1500 pounds - 1 (this is the Tsar Cannon), and then calibers follow: 25 pounds - 2, 22 pounds - 1, 21 pounds - 3, etc. The largest number of shotguns, 11, falls on the 2-pounder.

And yet she shot

Who wrote the Tsar Cannon into shotguns and why? The fact is that in Russia all the old guns that were in the fortresses, with the exception of mortars, were automatically transferred over time to shotguns, that is, in the event of a siege of the fortress, they had to shoot shots (stone), and later - cast-iron buckshot at the infantry marching to assault. It was not advisable to use old guns for firing cannonballs or bombs: what if the barrel would blow apart, and the new guns had much better ballistic data. So the Tsar Cannon was recorded in shotguns, in late XIX- at the beginning of the 20th century, the military forgot about the order in smooth-bore fortress artillery, and civilian historians did not know at all and decided by the name “shotgun” that the Tsar Cannon should have been used exclusively as an anti-assault weapon for firing “stone shot”.

The point in the dispute whether the Tsar Cannon fired was put in 1980 by specialists from the Academy. Dzerzhinsky. They examined the channel of the gun and, based on a number of signs, including the presence of particles of burnt gunpowder, concluded that the Tsar Cannon was fired at least once. After the Tsar Cannon was cast and finished at the Cannon Yard, it was dragged to the Spassky Bridge and laid on the ground next to the Peacock cannon. horses, and they rolled a cannon lying on huge logs - rollers.

Initially, the Tsar and Peacock guns lay on the ground near the bridge leading to the Spasskaya Tower, and the Kashpirova cannon was located near the Zemsky order, located where the Historical Museum is now located. In 1626, they were lifted from the ground and installed on log cabins, densely packed with earth. These platforms were called roskats. One of them, with the Tsar Cannon and the Peacock, was placed at the Execution Ground, the other, with the Kashpir Cannon, at the Nikolsky Gate. In 1636, wooden roskats were replaced with stone ones, inside which warehouses and shops selling wine were arranged.

After the “Narva embarrassment”, when the tsarist army lost all siege and regimental artillery, Peter I ordered new guns to be poured urgently. The king decided to get the copper necessary for this by melting down bells and ancient cannons. According to the “nominal decree” it was “ordered to pour the Peacock cannon into cannon and mortar casting, which is in China near the Execution Ground on a roll; a cannon to Kashpirov, near the new Money Yard, where the Zemsky order was; cannon "Echidna", which is near the village of Voskresensky; the Krechet cannon with a ten-pound cannonball; cannon "Nightingale" with a core of 6 pounds, which is in China on the square.

Peter, due to his lack of education, did not spare the most ancient Moscow casting tools and made an exception only for the largest tools. Among them, of course, was the Tsar Cannon, as well as two mortars cast by Andrei Chokhov, which are currently in storage. Artillery Museum In Petersburg.

Photo Tsar Cannon (Moscow). Tsar Cannon address: Moscow, Ivanovskaya Square

The Tsar Cannon in Moscow was used in the Middle Ages as an artillery gun, it was called a bombard, in our time it is a monument to Russian artillery, as well as a monument to foundry art. The total length of the tsar cannon is 5.34 meters, the diameter of the gun barrel from the outside is 120 centimeters, the diameter of the patterned belt around the muzzle is 134 centimeters, the caliber of the gun is 890 millimeters (this is 35 inches), the total weight of the gun is 39.31 tons or 2400 pounds.

Master who cast the tsar cannon

The Tsar Cannon was cast in bronze in Moscow by the outstanding Russian cannon maker Andrei Chokhov in 1586 at the Cannon Yard (the center of cannon production in Moscow, almost everyone was cast in it). It was not easy to cast such dimensions, but the master who cast it had more than 60 years of experience and, according to the documents, cast about 20 heavy guns. The documentation says that the first work was done by master A. Chekhov in 1568, and the last in 1629.

cast painting

There are poured inscriptions on it above the front right bracket:

By the grace of God, Tsar and Grand Duke Fyodor Ivanovich Sovereign and Autocrat of All Great Russia

And also 2 more phrases are written on the top of the trunk:

By command of the pious and Christ-loving Tsar and Grand Duke Fyodor Ivanovich, Sovereign Autocrat of All Great Russia, under his pious and Christ-loving Empress Grand Duchess Irina of the Right Side

This cannon was quickly merged in the most famous city of Moscow in the summer of 7094, in the third summer of his state. Andrey Chokhov made the cannon from the left side

There is a version that the name of the gun comes from the image of Tsar Fedor the first on it, but most likely it was named because of its solid size.

How many cores does the tsar cannon have

The Tsar Cannon in Moscow stands on a concrete platform and has four cannonballs cast to match its caliber. The cores are cast from cast iron and each weighs 120 pounds if counted in kilograms, then a stone core would weigh 819 kg, and a cast iron one 1970 kg, and the weight of gunpowder for one charge is 30 pounds.

The Tsar Bell and the king of the cannon are interesting monuments Moscow has been attracting the attention of tourists for many centuries.

Location of the attraction Tsar Cannon on Yandex map

Created using the Yandex People's Map service. Looking at the map, you can easily determine where the Tsar Cannon is located in the city of Moscow, as well as how to get to it, since all routes, streets and house numbers are indicated on the map.

On this page you can see some of the sights