The Tsar Cannon is a nominal artillery gun (shotgun) of the Russian
Kingdom, a monument of Russian foundry art of the New Age.
A
masterpiece of heavy fortress artillery of its time, the most
significant work of Russian gunsmiths, one of the largest cannons in the
world. The cannon was cast in 1586, and the carriage and decorative
cannonballs were cast in 1859. Originally installed at the Execution
Ground, at the beginning of the 18th century it was moved to the
courtyard of the Arsenal. In the 30s of the 19th century, along with
other cannons, it was exhibited at the facade of the Armory as a museum
exhibit. Currently, it is an exhibit of the Museum of artillery pieces
of the 16th-19th centuries.
The era of firearms begins in the 14th century with the invention of
gunpowder and its use as a propellant. Cannons replaced the ancient
throwing weapons and at first were extremely imperfect due to the low
level of development of industry and technology of those years. The
first barrels were made from iron, and gunpowder was made from pasty,
earthy pulp. A cartridge with a charge was a vessel with a handle; for a
shot, it was attached to the barrel with special wedges. These
cartridges often exploded during a volley and hit people near the gun
with shrapnel. For this reason, gunners hid in shelters or pits before
firing. In the 15th century, they learned to make gunpowder in the form
of a free-flowing granular mass, which made it possible to pour it into
the bore through the muzzle hole and compact it tightly. An iron or
stone core was wrapped in rags or tow beforehand, after which it was
introduced into the cannon in the same way and hammered until it came
into contact with gunpowder. The caliber of the guns gradually
increased. This was due to an increase in the effectiveness of
artillery. Large-caliber guns were called bombards and were intended for
use during the siege of fortresses. The masters of the Moscow Cannon
Yard cast several heavy cannons.
Russian artillery originated in
the 16th century, and at the beginning of the 18th century there were
already 9,500 gunners in Russia. The molding of tools was improved: they
were cast using a collapsible mold from 12 parts, molds with a
longitudinal split were also used. The molding was done horizontally.
The gun model was cut out of wood and could be used in production many
times. Compact foundries for casting cannons were placed in specially
built buildings, and gunpowder huts were also erected.
By order of Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich in 1586, master Andrei Chokhov cast
the Tsar Cannon from bronze. The author of the idea was the
brother-in-law of the Tsar, Boris Godunov, who at that time actually
ruled the state. According to one version, the Tsar Cannon got its name
in honor of Fyodor Ivanovich, but most researchers believe that the name
is associated precisely with the size of the gun.
By order of the
tsar, the cannon was installed next to the Execution Ground on Red
Square in order to make it a more impressive podium for the sovereign's
speeches and reading his decrees. The cannon symbolized the military
power of the Russian state and symbolically guarded the Pokrovsky
Cathedral and the Spassky Gates, and also contributed to the popularity
of Boris Godunov himself.
Although the cannon was cast as a
full-fledged military weapon, in fact it never fired. The only time she
was put on alert in 1591, along with the rest of the capital's
artillery, when the troops of Kazy-Girey approached Moscow. It was
installed in Kitay-gorod to protect the main Kremlin gates and the
crossing over the Moscow River.
At the beginning of the 18th century, the Arsenal was built in the
Kremlin, and the Tsar Cannon was moved to the courtyard of the building.
In 1812, during the retreat from Moscow, the French army blew up most of
the Arsenal, while all the cannons in the yard burned down their wooden
carriages, new carriages were made by 1817. The Tsar Cannon was not
damaged in the explosion. In the same 1817, she was moved to the gates
of the Arsenal.
Two years later, the architect Henri Montferrand
took part in the restoration of the Kremlin buildings and learned about
the possible erection of a monument to Russian weapons in honor of the
victory in the Patriotic War of 1812. Henri Montferrand proposed to use
the Tsar Cannon and another large cannon "Unicorn" (named after the
decoration) as the central element of the composition, and to place the
monument itself at the entrance to the Arsenal. As conceived by the
architect, both guns were to be laid on green wooden carriages with
black iron fittings. The project of the monument was approved, but it
was never created.
The question of reinstalling the cannons to a
new place was returned in 1835: then they were rearranged on decorative
cast-iron carriages at the main gate of the Arsenal, after which the
carriages were covered with bronze paint. The guns still stand on these
carriages. At the same time, twenty more historical guns, previously
stored in the yard, were installed next to them. A new carriage with an
ornament for the Tsar Cannon was created according to a sketch by
architect Alexander Bryullov and engineer Pavel de Witte, the order was
completed in St. Petersburg at the Byrd plant. Also, four decorative
cannonballs weighing 1.97 tons each were made for the cannon.
In
1843, the Tsar Cannon and several other guns were moved to the old
building of the Armory, later converted into barracks. It stood at this
place for more than a hundred years, until the barracks were demolished
in 1960, and the construction of the Kremlin Palace of Congresses began
in their place. At this time, the Tsar Cannon was transported on a truck
to the northern facade of the belfry of the Ivan the Great Bell Tower,
where it is still located, and on the opposite side of it stands the
Tsar Bell.
The outer diameter of the barrel is 1200 mm, the diameter of the
patterned belt near the muzzle is 1340 mm, the caliber of the gun is 890
mm, and the weight is 39,312 kg. The unique dimensions do not allow the
cannon to be classified as a strictly defined class of artillery pieces:
the ratio of caliber to barrel length is 6, and according to the modern
classification, the cannon is a mortar, but in the 17th-18th centuries,
the length of the mortar barrel was no more than 3.5 calibers. Design
features make it possible to attribute it to the class of shotguns.
The chemical composition of the gun: copper - 91.6%, tin - 6.10%,
lead - 0.84%, antimony - 0.42%, arsenic - 0.34%, nickel - 0.12%, zinc -
0.053% , aluminum about 0.05%, manganese about 0.05%, bismuth - 0.035%,
iron - 0.010%, magnesium about 0.001%, cobalt about 0.005%, traces of
silver are present.
The barrel of a cannon of the canonical form,
on the front part is decorated with reliefs depicting Tsar Fyodor
Ivanovich, sitting on horseback, and the inscription: "By the grace of
God, Tsar and Grand Duke Fyodor Ivanovich, Sovereign and Autocrat of All
Great Russia." The inscription on the right side: "By the command of the
noble 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." The inscription on the left side: “This cannon was
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.
Four
brackets are placed on the barrel on each side for attaching ropes when
moving the gun, and instead of a carriage, a special machine with a
predetermined elevation angle was provided. The cannon was conceived as
a defensive weapon and was intended to fire shot at enemy soldiers who
penetrated the city through a hole in the wall made by artillery.
Because of this designation, the cannon was called the "Russian Shotgun"
for some time. According to experts, the gun could also fire stone
cannonballs weighing from 750 kg to 1 ton and use a charge of gunpowder
from 85 to 118 kg. Some researchers believed that at least one shot was
fired from the cannon. But in the 1980s, during the restoration of the
cannons, they came to the conclusion that the cannon was not fired
because it was not completed: the inside of the barrel was not cleaned
after casting, and there were sags of up to 20 mm, as well as bumps and
burnt earth . The priming hole was also not drilled, although an initial
depression of about 10 mm in diameter was made during casting.
The creation of the Tsar Cannon was preceded by other
large-caliber guns, which are mentioned in the description of the siege
of Polotsk by Tsar Ivan the Terrible in 1563. About 150 guns
participated in this battle, including guns of special power. In the
inventories of the 16th century, long-barreled mortars, leading mounted
fire, were called cannons, and wall-beating guns were called squeakers.
"Kashpir cannon" with a caliber of about 660 mm, a cannonball weighing
20 pounds (327 kg), master Kashpir Ganusov, 1555.
"Stepanova Cannon
Peacock" with a caliber of about 600 mm and a core of 15 pounds (245
kg), master Stepan Petrov, 1556.
cannon "Peacock" with a caliber of
about 550 mm with a core of 13 pounds (213 kg) from the Italian master
Paolo de Bosse ("Peacock Debosis"), 1488.
Echidna cannon, stone
cannonball weighing 9 pounds (147 kg), master Mikula Mikulaev, 1577.
cannons "Ushatye" and "Kolchatye" with cores "in the knee of a man and
in the belt" weighing 6-7 pounds (98-114 kg)
Pishchal "Eagle" fired a
core of 100 pounds (40 kg) - it was larger than Inrog with a core of 68
pounds (27 kg)
Pishchal "Onager" with a core 1 pood 7 hryvnias (19
kg), master of the First Kuzmin, 1581.
Pishal "Bear" with a core of
40 pounds (16 kg) - lost during the hostilities. In 1590 Semyon Dubinin
cast a new "Bear" of the same caliber.
In the 16th-17th
centuries, many heavy squeakers were made by Russian foundry workers,
but by the 18th century the gigantic bombards were completely outdated
and were poured to make other guns.
Master Andrei Chokhov cast
several large cannons. His authorship belongs to the squeaks:
"Skoropeya" weighing 3.6 tons,
"Troilus" ("Trojan King") weighing 7
tons. In 1685, another master, Yakov Dubina, cast a Troilus cannon
weighing 6438 kg. At present, this weapon stands at the entrance from
the south side of the Arsenal.
"Inrog" weighing 7434.6 kg.
"Lion"
weighing 5634 kg. The pishchal was located in Pskov, it was used in
battles with the Swedes near Narva in 1700, the Swedes captured the
cannon and returned it to the Russian Empire only in 1778.
"Aspid"
weighing 6 tons is currently located at the southwestern corner of the
Arsenal.
Two Wolf cannons, identical in shape and decorations,
weighing about 7 tons each, were captured by the Poles during the
capture of Smolensk and taken to Elbing. In turn, in 1703, the troops of
Charles XII captured Elbing and took the cannons to Sweden, and they are
currently in the museum of Gripsholm Castle. In addition to cannons,
Andrey Chokhov cast bells, the largest of which weighed 32 tons.
In 1869, under Emperor Alexander II, a 508-mm Perm Tsar Cannon was
created.
The Tsar Cannon is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as
the bombard with the largest caliber. The Tsar Cannon remained the
largest caliber gun (890 mm) in the history of artillery until the
middle of the 19th century, when the 914 mm (36 in) Mallet mortar was
made (and even fired). In 1941, long-range railway guns "Dora" and
"Gustav" of 800 mm caliber were created in Germany, surpassing the Tsar
Cannon in size and weight, they fired high-explosive and
concrete-piercing high-explosive shells. In 1945, an experimental mortar
"Little David" with a caliber of 914 mm was made in the USA.
The Belarusian-Lithuanian gentry Samuil Maskevich, who
was in the Moscow Kremlin in 1610 together with Hetman Gonsevsky,
describes this colossal weapon in his diary as follows:
“The whole
fortress is built up with boyar courtyards, churches, monasteries, so
that there is not a single wasteland ... There are four gates in it: one
leads to the Moscow River, the other to Ivangorod. Above the Frolovsky
gates, on the ball is an eagle, the sign of the coat of arms of Moscow.
A high, thick wall and a deep ditch lined with stone on both sides
separate the Kremlin from Kitai-Gorod... It is hard to imagine... what
countless siege and other firearms are on the towers, on the walls, at
the gates and on the ground. There, by the way, I saw one gun, which is
loaded with a hundred bullets and fires the same number of shots; it is
so high that it will be up to my shoulder; and his bullets are the size
of goose eggs. It stands against the gate leading to the living bridge.
In the middle of the market, I also saw a mortar, which seemed to have
been poured only for display: having sat in it, I did not reach the
upper side of the canal for a whole span. And our pakholiks usually
climbed into this tool of a person by three, and played cards there,
under the fuse, which served them instead of a window ... "
In 2001, JSC Izhstal made 2 copies of the gun. One
copy was presented to Donetsk and installed on Artyom Street as a
response to the gift of a copy of Mertsalov's palm, the other remained
at the manufacturing plant in Izhevsk and was installed in front of the
checkpoint. Copies are made of cast iron as close as possible to the
original, their weight is 42 tons, the weight of the core is 1.5 tons.
In 2007, a copy of the Tsar Cannon on a 1:2 scale with greatly
simplified relief drawings was installed on Obolensky-Nogotkov Square in
Yoshkar-Ola. A copy was made at the Zvenigovsky shipbuilding and ship
repair plant. It is cast from steel, weight together with four cores is
12 tons.