TSAR CANNON

Description

Essentials about the Tsar Cannon in brief

The Tsar Cannon is a case for the Guinness Book of Records. It is still listed there as the largest howitzer in world history and, with its 890 millimeters, is probably the largest caliber of any firearm ever known after the American Little David mortar. Piquantly, the Tsar Cannon was probably never used. Just like the Tsar Bell, which is only a few meters away, the Tsar Cannon stands today on the grounds of the Kremlin as a monument to the casting technology of early modern Russia.

The history of the Tsar Cannon

The Tsar Cannon was made in Moscow in 1586 by the Russian master foundryman Andrei Chokhov, who created a large number of artillery pieces in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, some of which have survived to the present day. Today, the Tsar Cannon – which in terms of its technical characteristics is not really a cannon, but rather resembles a mortar – stands on a stylized mount near the Square of the Three Cathedrals (the Cathedral of the Dormition, the Cathedral of the Annunciation and the Cathedral of the Archangel). The spherical cast iron bullets that can be seen next to the cannon – each of them weighing almost two tons – were made only in 1834 as a mere decoration for the cannon and would not be usable as bullets either.

The Technique of the Tsar Cannon

The cannon is 5.34 meters long and weighs about 39 tons. The outer diameter of its barrel, made of high quality bronze, is 120 centimeters. On both sides of it there are four cast rectangular clamps, to which the ropes were attached when transporting the weapon. Parts of the barrel are decorated with reliefs, including an equestrian portrait of Tsar Fyodor I, during whose reign the gun was made.

The decorative gun mount made of cast iron was cast in Saint Petersburg in 1835. In accordance with the shape of the cannon barrel, the mount was painted in the color of bronze and is extensively decorated with ornaments of stylized depictions of animals and plants.