But is the "Tsar Cannon" a sham or a real artillery gun? Yes and no.

Here, as they say, "on the third day" I visited India () and, along with all sorts of beauties, I observed the largest cannon in Asia there.

While staying near this weapon, a thought was spinning in my head ... but we have more, but it was interrupted by another - there is - that is, but there are only rumors that it (ours) is not real, but fake, and since certainties If it wasn’t, then there was some kind of ambiguity in my soul, and I don’t like this state ...

Even then I decided I'll come home and find out for sure!

Maybe everything would have been forgotten, but then the son with the whole class went on an excursion to Moscow and then, upon arrival, showed a photo, including this one:

and all sorts of doubts surged again, and since I’m still an artilleryman (oh, what an artilleryman you are, they will exclaim knowledgeable people, from you an artilleryman like from Savchenko - a pilot) decided to figure it out finally - what’s what, all the more, I’m going to ride to Moscow one of these days and take a walk around historical places, climb skyscrapers, visit Poklonnaya Gora.

Well, it’s understandable to visit the Kremlin, and even there you can’t pass by the Tsar Cannon.

As you know, the Tsar Cannon is a medieval artillery piece and a monument of Russian artillery, cast in bronze in 1586 by the Russian master Andrei Chokhov at the Cannon Yard.
Tsar - gun bronze.

But this is the barrel itself, everything else that is on display is, yes ... - props, namely: cast-iron cores (by the way, they are hollow inside), which in the 19th century became a source of talk about the decorative purpose of the gun.

In the 16th century, stone cannonballs were used, and they are 2.5 times lighter than cast-iron ones. It can be said for sure that the walls of the gun would not withstand the pressure of powder gases when fired with such a core. Of course, this was understood when they were cast at Byrd's factory.

The carriage, cast in the same place, is also fake. You can't shoot from it. When fired with a regular stone 800 kilogram cannonball from a 40 ton Tsar Cannon, even with a small initial speed of 100 meters per second, the following will happen: expanding powder gases, creating pressure, will, as it were, push the space between the core and the bottom of the cannon; the core will begin to move in one direction, and the gun in the opposite direction, while the speed of their movement will be inversely proportional to the mass (how many times lighter the body is, how many times faster it will fly).

The mass of the cannon is only 50 times the mass of the cannonball (in the Kalashnikov assault rifle, for example, this ratio is about 400), so when the cannonball flies forward at a speed of 100 meters per second, the cannon will roll back at a speed of about 2 meters per second. This colossus will not stop immediately, after all, 40 tons. The recoil energy will be approximately equal to the hard impact of KAMAZ into an obstacle at a speed of 30 km/h. The tsar cannon will be torn off the gun carriage. Especially since she just lies on top of him like a log. All this can only be held by a special sliding carriage with hydraulic dampers (recoil dampers) and a reliable mounting of the gun. Then it just didn't happen. . Therefore, that artillery complex, which is shown to us in the Kremlin under the name Tsar Cannon, is a giant props.

But that's only part of the picture. There is another.

What Andrei Chokhov cast in 1586, that is, the bronze barrel itself, could really shoot. It just doesn't look like what most people think. The fact is that, by its design, the Tsar Cannon is not a cannon, but a classic bombard. A cannon is a gun with a barrel length of 40 calibers or more. The Tsar Cannon has a barrel length of only 4 calibers. And for a bombard, this is just normal. They often had an impressive size and were used for the siege, as a battering ram. To destroy the fortress wall, you need a very heavy projectile. For this, and giant calibers.

There was no talk of any carriage then. The trunk was simply dug into the ground. The flat end rested against deeply driven piles.

Nearby they dug shelters for artillery crews, since such a gun could break. Loading sometimes took a day. Hence the rate of fire of such guns - from 1 to 6 shots per day. But all this was worth it, because it made it possible to crush impregnable walls, do without many months of sieges and reduce combat losses during the assault.

Only in this can there be a point in casting a 40-ton barrel with a caliber of 900 mm. The Tsar Cannon is a bombard - a battering ram designed to lay siege to enemy fortresses.

Now about that - did she shoot?

In 1980, experts from the Academy named after V.I. Dzerzhinsky concluded that the Tsar Cannon was fired at least once ...

However, as they say now, not everything is so obvious - the report of these very specialists, for unknown reasons, was not published. And since the report is not shown to anyone, it cannot be considered evidence. The phrase “they shot at least 1 time” was apparently dropped by one of them in a conversation or interview, otherwise we would not have known anything about it at all. If the gun had been used for its intended purpose, then inevitably there would have been not only particles of gunpowder in the barrel, which, according to rumors, were found, but also mechanical damage in the form of longitudinal scratches. In battle, the Tsar Cannon would be fired not with cotton, but with stone cannonballs weighing about 800 kg.

There should also be some wear on the surface of the bore. It cannot be otherwise, because bronze is enough soft material. The expression "at least" just indicates that, apart from particles of gunpowder, nothing significant could be found there. If so, then the gun was not used for its intended purpose. And particles of gunpowder could remain from test shots. The fact that the Tsar Cannon never left Moscow limits puts an end to this issue.

“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. To move the gun, ropes were tied to eight brackets on its trunk, 200 horses were harnessed to these ropes at the same time, and they rolled a cannon lying on huge logs-skating rinks. 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 it is now Historical Museum. In 1626, they were lifted from the ground and installed on log cabins, densely packed with earth. These scaffolds were called roskats…”

At home, using a battering ram for its intended purpose is somehow suicidal. Who were they going to shoot at with an 800-kilogram cannonball from the walls of the Kremlin? It is pointless to shoot at the enemy’s manpower once a day. There were no tanks then.

Of course, these huge battering rams were put on public display not for combat purposes, but as an element of the prestige of the state. And, of course, this was not their main purpose. Under Peter I, the Tsar Cannon was installed on the territory of the Kremlin itself. There she is to this day. Why has it never been used in combat, although it is quite combat-ready as a battering ram? Maybe the reason for this is its too huge weight? Was it realistic to move such a weapon over long distances?

Modern historians rarely ask themselves the question: “why?”. The question is extremely helpful. So let's ask, why was it necessary to cast a siege weapon weighing 40 tons if it could not be delivered to an enemy city? To scare the ambassadors? Hardly. We could make a cheap layout for this and show it from afar. Why spend so much work and bronze on a bluff? No, the Tsar Cannon was cast in order to use it practically. So they could move. How could they do it?

40 tons is very heavy. and the "Tsar Cannon" was dragged, but not carried.

Look at the picture of a heavy weapon being loaded - a transport platform is visible in the background. She has a bow bent to the top (protection from sticking in bumps). The platform was obviously used for sliding. That is, the load was dragged, not rolled. And it is right. It is also quite clear that the curved nose is bound in metal, because the load is very heavy. The weight of most wall-beating guns did not exceed 20 tons.

Let us assume that they traveled the main part of the way by water. Dragging these bombards over short distances of several kilometers with the help of many horses is also a doable task, although a very difficult one.

Is it possible to do the same with a 40 ton gun?

Let's say goodbye to the idea that our rulers were dumber than today's historians. Enough to blame everything on the inexperience of the masters and the tyranny of the kings. The tsar, who managed to take this high post, ordered a 40-ton gun, paid for its manufacture, was clearly not a fool, and had to think over his act very well. Such costly issues are not solved out of hand. He absolutely understood how he was going to deliver this "gift" to the walls of enemy cities.

The fact that the Tsar Cannon is not just a surge of enthusiasm among Moscow foundry workers is also proved by the existence of an even more enormous instrument, Malik-e-Maidan.

It was cast in Ahman - Dagar in India in 1548 and has a mass of as much as 57 tons.

This is a siege weapon of the same purpose as the Tsar Cannon, only 17 tons heavier.

And how many more such guns need to be discovered in order to understand that they were cast at that time, delivered to the besieged cities and practically used?

Here is the logical picture. In the 16th century, the Moscow principality waged numerous military operations both in the east (taking Kazan), in the south (Astrakhan), and in the west (wars with Poland, Lithuania and Sweden). The cannon was cast in 1586.

Although Kazan had already been taken by this time, and Western countries a shaky truce was established, however, more like a respite.

Could the Tsar Cannon be in demand under these conditions? Yes, definitely. The success of the military campaign depended on the presence of wall-to-wall artillery. The fortified cities of the western neighbors had to be taken somehow.

The Tsar Cannon is real.

The surroundings around her are props.

formed public opinion about her is false.

On the one hand, we have a sample of a gigantic props from the 19th century, on the other hand, one of the largest existing medieval guns and it turns out that a real miracle is on display in the Kremlin (it’s not for nothing that the Tsar Cannon got into the Guinness Book of Records), disguised as absurdity, but for some reason we don’t notice it.

Maybe because they are zombified by Russophobic propaganda, false hypotheses and the opinion of liberal "authorities" who claim that the Russians did not and do not know how to do anything other than "sip bast shoes".

And now a few interesting and informative facts, as well as tales related to this miracle cannon.

• Gumilyov claims that she shot False Dmitry I, the only Pole who returned to Poland from Russia, albeit in the form of a mixture of black powder and teeth.
• They also say that the second shot was fired in the 60s of the 20th century - the cannon was taken to the landfill before being moved. The core flew about 250 meters. The weight of the core is 40 pounds.
• The well-known mathematician - the troll Fomenko claims that the Tsar Cannon was cast under Nicholas II, and earlier it did not exist at all.
• The Tsar Cannon was moved back and forth for a long time. First, it was placed on Lobnoye Mesto, after which it was transferred inside the Kremlin to the Arsenal building. After that, they pulled it out and installed it next to a decorative carriage and placed two stacks of cores next to it. And only under Soviet rule in the 60s they brought it to Ivanovskaya Square, where it still stands today.
• In 2001, a duplicate was made by special order in Izhevsk and donated to Donetsk. The duplicate weighs 42 tons. Completely souvenir, can not be used for its intended purpose.

• In 2007, a duplicate was also cast in Yoshkar-Ola, half the original size. They claim that this is a working model, so they put the core into the barrel and brewed it there. Unlike the original, it is made entirely of steel (the original has a bronze barrel). Weight - 12 tons.

• Other guns made by Chokhov have also been preserved.

Siege arquebus "Skoropeya"

Siege arquebus "Lion"

Siege pischal "Lion", slightly redone, now looks like this.

All of them are located in St. Petersburg in the Artillery Museum on Kronverkskaya embankment.

The Tsar Cannon in Moscow is a famous monument of artillery and foundry, one of the main attractions of the Moscow Kremlin. The caliber of the legendary weapon is recognized as the largest in the world. Like the nearby Tsar Bell, for tourists and guests of the capital, this ancient instrument is of particular historical and tourist significance.

The weight of the Tsar Cannon is 39.31 tons, the length is 5.34 meters, the diameter of the patterned belt at the muzzle is 1.34 meters, while the outer diameter of its barrel is 1.2 meters. Caliber - 890 mm. A bronze gun was cast, a cast-iron gun carriage.

Despite the fact that this gun has a competitor in the face of the German cannon (caliber - 800 mm, weight - 1350 tons), the Kremlin Tsar Cannon is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest-caliber gun on the planet.

Short story

Many have heard of the Tsar Cannon in childhood. In the books, this weapon was called the Giant of the Moscow Kremlin. From the moment of her birth, she never ceases to amaze with her beauty, strength and power not only children, but also adults.

The Tsar Cannon in the Kremlin was cast at the Cannon Yard by the caster Andrei Chokhov. This event took place in 1586. Initially, the barrel of the cannon was placed on a wooden peal not far from the Execution Ground. Later, log peals were replaced with reliable stone ones.

The huge weight made its transportation extremely problematic. But they managed to cope with this task with the help of 200 horses, which dragged heavy weapons along the log flooring. For ease of transportation, four special brackets are mounted on the trunk on each side to secure the rope strips.

The gun was moved several times different places Kremlin. After the construction of the Kremlin Palace of Congresses was completed, the gun was moved to a new location - Ivanovskaya Square.

Today, the Tsar Cannon is located next to the Cathedral of the Twelve Apostles on a decorative special gun carriage made much later than the cannon itself in 1835 at the Byrd factory in St. Petersburg.

It is believed that the gun was created to defend the Kremlin, but modern researchers assure that the Tsar Cannon would not have coped with the mission assigned to it. Due to its size and design features, it is suitable only for the destruction of thick fortress walls.

According to the historian Alexei Lobin, in its design, the Tsar Cannon is not a cannon at all, but a bombard. What does the length of the barrel say - 3.4 calibers, which is the reference ratio for bombards of that time, while the barrel length of a classic gun usually exceeds 40 calibers.

Hollow cast-iron cannonballs, cast in 1835, are stacked in front of the cannon. Each projectile weighs almost two tons. True, the cannon is not able to shoot such cannonballs - due to their enormous weight, the cannon would most likely simply be torn apart. Therefore, they are purely decorative. According to the calculations of experts, the gun could fire stone cannonballs weighing no more than 1 ton or buckshot.

Has the Tsar Cannon fired at least once?

It is believed that the Tsar Cannon never fired, but was made in order to instill fear in foreigners. She was supposed to instill fear in all enemies, including the leaders of the Crimean Tatars.

In the 1980s, a group of restorers came to the conclusion that the cannon could not fire, as evidenced by the sags and bumps in the barrel, as well as the absence of traces of stripping after the cannon was cast. Also, no seed hole was made.

There is another version according to which particles of gunpowder were found in the channel of the gun, which means that the bombard was still fired at least once.

Registration

The bombard and carriage are decorated with cast patterns and ornaments. Mounts for transportation are installed on the sides of the barrel. FROM right side Prince Fyodor Ivanovich is depicted sitting astride a horse. He has a crown on his head, and on top there is an inscription describing the personality of the ruler. There is an opinion that thanks to the image of Fedor Ivanovich, the legendary Tsar Cannon got its name. Another version claims that the name of the gun is associated solely with its large size.

In order to perpetuate the name of the foundry worker, an inscription was made on the gun: “The cannon gunner Andrey Chokhov worked on the creation of the cannon.”

Copies of the Tsar Cannon

The Tsar Cannon has made many casters fall in love with it throughout the years of its existence. In 2001, an exact copy of the gun was made in Udmurtia. Its weight was 42 tons, and the weight of the core was 1.2 tons. This copy was solemnly presented to Donetsk (Ukraine).

There is also a copy of the Tsar Cannon in Perm. This weapon belongs to the combat category. He was actively tested. Therefore, more than 300 shots were fired with nuclei, as well as bombs, the flight range of which was 1.5 km. The Perm Tsar Cannon was made for Kronstadt in order to reliably protect the northern capital of our country from the side of the sea.

Copies of the Tsar Cannon and monuments named after it are also in Yoshkar-Ola and Izhevsk.

Opening hours and ticket prices in 2019

Tourists can come and look at the artillery monument on all days of the week except Thursday. From May 15 to September 30, the attraction accepts tourists from 9:30 am to 6 pm. From October 1 to May 14, Tsar Cannon receives guests from 10 am to 5 pm.

To get to the territory of the Kremlin, you need to buy a single ticket to visit architectural ensemble Cathedral Square. It will allow not only to see the Tsar Cannon, but also to watch the Ceremonial Mounted and Foot Guards of the Presidential Regiment. The ceremony takes place at noon on Saturdays.

The ticket costs 500 rubles. Tickets for pensioners and full-time students are sold at a discount - for 250 rubles.

How to get to Tsar Cannon in Moscow

The best and fastest way to go Metro. The Tsar Cannon is located near the station. "Alexandrovsky Garden", "Library. Lenin", "Borovitskaya". To get off the metro at the right place, you need to find the exit to the Alexander Garden on the sign. If you did everything right, a long pedestrian crossing will await you, at the end of which there will be cash desks for paying for a visit to the Kremlin. Ticket offices are located near the Kutafya Tower within the Alexander Garden.

After that, through the Trinity Tower, you should enter the Kremlin itself. Then you need to go along the Palace of Congresses and reach the legendary Tsar Cannon.

Can be reached and by bus. The nearest stops at the entrance to the Kremlin through the Kutafya tower are st. m. Library them. Lenin. Suitable routes are M1, M2, M3, M6, H1, H2, K, 144.

For those who don't like public transport, eat taxi call apps and: Uber, Yandex.Taxi, Gett and carsharing: Delimobil, Belkacar, Lifcar.

Panorama of Ivanovskaya Square near the Tsar Cannon

Video "Tsar Cannon in 1908"

Perhaps only our Russian history, with all its propensity for contradictions and extremes, could give rise to two such paradox 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 find out later). However, the Tsar Bell is a topic for a separate discussion, and now we will talk about the Tsar Cannon.

This miracle of weapons production was made in late XVI century, during the reign of Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich - the son of Ivan the Terrible and the last tsar from the Rurik dynasty. Most historians believe that this happened in 1586, but some researchers give 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, it was cast not as a “museum exhibit”, but as a 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 caster Andrey 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 work. Its dimensions are amazing: the weight of the gun is 39,312 kilograms, the length is 5.345 meters, and the barrel diameter is 1.210 meters!

Now, few people remember that, until later times, this weapon was called a “gun” only in colloquial speech and in poetry, and in official documents it was up to the 30s. XX century was listed as ... a shotgun! It is possible that decorative cannon balls, 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, added fuel to the fire, and this is impossible: the cannon will immediately be smashed! The cast-iron carriage, cast at the same time, is also unsuitable for use in combat conditions, and initially the gun was installed on a wooden deck made of logs (the so-called cannon rumble).

The i was dotted by the restoration of the cannon in 1980, the results of which, for some reason, were not presented to the general public. The studies carried out at the same time showed that its channel has the form 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-bottom charging chamber has a reverse taper. Such a structure suggests that this is not a cannon or even a shotgun, but a bombard, which was supposed to be fired with stone cannonballs weighing about 100 kg, while a cast-iron cannonball of this caliber (and cannons fired precisely with iron cannonballs) should have weighed about two tons. True, it was risky to use old guns for such shooting, they could be blown apart when fired, so after a certain time they were included in the category of shotguns firing “stone shot”, but in the 19th century such details were no longer obvious, so confusion arose with the types weapons.

Then, during the restoration in 1980, the 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 stone cores on the walls of the channel, but they must have remained. This suggests that the shot was a test one, but in combat conditions the Tsar Cannon was still not used. 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 once this monument was under threat. When Peter I set about intensive casting of cannons, not only church bells were used, but also ancient cannons of historical value. The Tsar Cannon was saved by its colossal size: the irresponsible Tsar did not dare to encroach on such a miracle. At that time, two more works by the master A. Chokhov survived, which can still be seen today in the St. Petersburg Artillery Museum.