Church of St. John the Climacus above the Holy Gate. Church of St. John the Climacus above the Holy Gates Architectural ensemble of the building

In the very center of the capital, on the Cathedral Square of the Kremlin, there is the church-bell tower of St. John Lestvichkin, better known as the bell tower of Ivan the Great. It unites all the ancient churches of the Moscow Kremlin into a single architectural ensemble. In 2008, the temple celebrated its 500th anniversary.

From the history of the Bell Tower of Ivan the Great in Moscow

In 1329, on the site of the present building, a church “under the bell” of John Lestvichkin was built. In 1505, the old church was destroyed and in its place, in memory of the deceased Tsar Ivan III, the Italian master Bon Fryazin built a new church in 1508. In 1600, under Boris Godunov, another tier was added to it - a cylindrical one. The bell tower became the tallest building in the capital at that time. Its height reached 81 meters. The square located to the east of it was called Ivanovskaya in the old days. Here, loudly, “all over Ivanovskaya,” the royal decrees were announced and the guilty were punished.

In 1532, a belfry with the Church of the Ascension of the Lord was added to the north side by the architect Petrok Maly. A thousand-pound bell “Blagovestnik” is installed in it. The temple itself was on the third tier and a staircase was built to enter it. Since the 17th century, the church has been transformed into a belfry, called the Assumption. From 1624 to 1632, during the reign of Mikhail Romanov and the patriarchate of his father Filaret, Vazhen Ogurtsov added another structure to the north side - the Filaret extension with white stone pyramids and a tiled tent.

During the Patriotic War of 1812, the belfry and annex were destroyed. Only the Bell Tower survived. The cross was removed from her, but it has not yet been found. Now on its gilded dome there is an eight-pointed cross made of iron, covered with gilded copper sheets. The words "King of Glory" are carved on the top crossbar.

In 1819, according to the design of the architect D. Gilardi, the destroyed belfry and the Filaretovskaya extension were restored to their original form, but elements of 19th-century architecture appeared.

Bells on the Ivan the Great Bell Tower in Moscow

There are a total of 21 bells in the belfry, Filaretovskaya extension and bell tower. They used to hang on wooden beams. In the 19th – 20th centuries. were hung on iron ones. Three bells have been preserved on the Filaretovskaya extension and belfry. The largest bell is Uspensky (Festive) weighing 65 tons 320 kg. It was cast by masters Zavyalov and Rusinov in the 19th century. The Assumption Bell was the largest of the existing Russian bells and the best in tone and sound. The Reut (Howler) bell on the belfry weighs 32 tons 760 kg. Cast by Andrei Chekhov in 1622. The third bell, Everyday (Seven Hundred) on the Filaretovskaya extension, cast in the 18th century by I. Motorin, weighs 13 tons 71 kg. There are 18 bells in the bell tower. In the lower tier there are 6 bells: Bear (everyday) and Swan, Novgorod and Shirokiy, Slobodsky and Rostov. In the middle tier there are nine bells: New (formerly Uspensky) and Nemchin, Bezymyanny and Danilovsky, Glukhoy and Korsunsky, as well as Maryinsky. In addition to them, two small Korsun bells, whitish in color, hang here. In the upper tier of the bell tower there are three nameless bells.

Museums in the Ivan the Great Bell Tower in Moscow

On the ground floor of the Assumption Belfry there is an exhibition hall where works of art from the Kremlin itself and other museums in Russia and the world are exhibited. An unusual museum of the history of the Moscow Kremlin is opened in the bell tower. Here you can see elements of the first white stone structures that appeared in the Kremlin in the 14th century, a panorama of the capital and other interesting exhibits. Using multimedia technologies, historical monuments of the Kremlin are projected on its walls and vaults. Visitors to the museum, going out to the observation deck, will be able to view the Kremlin from a bird's eye view. Those interested can use an audio guide.

One of the main buildings of the Kremlin ensemble, the 1st multi-tiered pillar-shaped temple “under the bells” in the Russian architectural tradition. It forms a single complex with the Assumption Belfry (1814-1815, repeats the forms of the previous building of the 16th-17th centuries).

Temple 1329

The first information about the existence in the sacred topography of Moscow of a throne in the name of St. John Climacus dates back to 1329. Chronicles report the foundation of a stone church and its subsequent consecration: “In the summer of 6837 in the month of Maya at 21, in memory of the holy orthodox Tsar Kostyantin and his mother Elena, a stone church was founded in Moscow, in the name of St. Ivan Climacus. The same summer was celebrated and sacred in the month [September] at 1, in memory of the holy father Simeon the Stalpnik” (Rogozhsky chronicler // PSRL. T. 15. Issue 1. Stb. 45). The chronicle's report about the construction of the temple in 3 months allowed I.E. Zabelin to rightly assume that it was small in size (Zabelin. 1905. p. 74). As an example, we can compare with it the size of the chapel of the Assumption Cathedral in honor of the Adoration of the chains of St. Peter, which was built in 2 months (founded on August 13, on the day of memory of Maximus the Confessor, and consecrated on October 14).

It is assumed that this was the first temple consecrated in the name of St. John Climacus. From the beginning XIX century Attempts have been made to explain the choice of initiation. A.F. Malinovsky believed that the throne was built in the name of the patron saint of the middle son of John Kalita - John II Ioannovich (Malinovsky. 1992. pp. 42-43). I.M. Snegirev believed that he led. the prince established a temple in the name of his heavenly patron (Snegirev. 1842-1845. P. 6). G.I. Istomin tried to combine both opinions, suggesting that the temple was consecrated in the name of St. led the prince and his son (Istomin. 1893). On the princely seals of John Kalita, including with spiritual letters, his heavenly patron St. is depicted. John the Baptist. Defining the same name Saint John Ioannovich in a similar way is difficult. Thus, according to the observations of the sphragist A.V. Oreshnikov, St. is depicted on the argirovul with the prince’s spiritual diploma. John, Patriarch of Jerusalem (Oreshnikov A.V. Materials on Russian sphragistics // Tr. Moscow Numismatic Society. M., 1903. T. 3. Issue 1. pp. 123-124. Table. 1 .Figure 4). This definition is isolated (the veneration of St. John, Patriarch of Jerusalem, is not traced in Russian hagiographic monuments) and is not confirmed by finds of Novgorod princely seals (21 in total), among which there are 2 copies. with the imprint of St. John the Baptist (according to V.L. Yanin and P.G. Gaidukov, the imprint belongs to the early group of seals, when in Novgorod they did not know in the name of which saint the prince was baptized), in other cases the image of a warrior is presented, identified from fragments of the inscription as St. John the Warrior (see: Yanin V. L., Gaidukov P. G. Actual seals of Dr. Rus' X-XV centuries. M., 1998. T. 3. P. 69-71). According to Zabelin (Zabelin 1905, p. 75-76), political motivation was important in the choice of dedication and construction plan - the temple was built according to a vow after a successful bloodless campaign against Pskov, where the Tver prince was hiding. Alexander Mikhailovich. Despite the fact that Zabelin’s version remains relevant, its hypothetical nature should be emphasized (cf.: Buseva-Davydova I. L. Temples Moscow. Kremlin: Shrines and antiquities. M., 1997. pp. 171-172). The probability that Rev. John Climacus was the heavenly patron of John Ioannovich, as follows from a chronicle report of the 15th century: “In the summer of 6834... the Grand Duke Ivan’s son John was born in March 30 in memory of John Climacus” (Moscow chronicle code of the late 15th century // PSRL. T. 25. P. 167).

In 1346, under the leadership. book Simeone Proudly, the temple was painted. In the same year, “Master Borisko poured three great bells and two small ones” (Simeonovskaya Chronicle // PSRL. T. 18. P. 95); according to the Nikon Chronicle, the master had the nickname Roman, which may indicate his origin. In 1475, sarcophagi with the relics of saints from the dismantled 2nd Assumption Cathedral were transferred to the church (“On the same month 16, the relics of the wonderworker Peter were transferred from the Church of the Most Pure to Saint Ivan under the bells, and other metropolitans, Theognast, Cyprian, Photius and Jonah. And in the 17th year, Mr. Aristotle of Venice began to break down the Most Pure Church and the unfallen new walls" - PSRL. T. 12. P. 157).

The volumetric design of the temple of 1329 can only be judged by the results of excavations in 1913 under the direction of. P.P. Pokryshkin, during which a part of the structure was uncovered, which had a faceted outer outline. To the east parts inside were open exedra, the edges can be interpreted as an apse, and the masonry is north. and south walls The fragments do not provide grounds for reconstructing the building as “a medium-height tower-shaped prismatic octagon with zakomari, a drum and a dome” ( Kavelmacher, Panova. 1995. P. 77), made in the likeness of the later pillar-shaped churches “with bells” of the 16th century.

A small fragment of an archivolt, found in the backfill of the foundation of the temple from 1505-1508, allows us to make assumptions about its external decor. However, the fragment can only be conditionally attributed to the temple of 1329, since in the spring of 1505 2 churches of the century were dismantled. book John Kalita: Archangel Cathedral of the 1st third of the 14th century. and the temple “under the bells”. Thus, backfilling the foundation of the new I.L. c. blocks from both temples could have fallen (the question arises about the deliberate use of material from its predecessor in backfilling the foundation of each newly built temple).

Temple 1505-1508

According to the chronicle, “at the same time, St. John the Climacus, like the bells, demolished another church, created by the Grand Duke Ivan Danilovich in the summer of 6836, and founded a new church, St. John, not in the old place” (PSRL. T. 12. P. 258 -259). This news comes immediately after the message about the dismantling of the old and foundation of the new cathedral of the arch. Michael, which took place on May 21, 1505, from which we can conclude that the construction of the I.L. c. in the spring of that year. Its construction was completed 3 years later, in 1508, simultaneously with the Archangel Cathedral and the Church. Nativity of St. John the Baptist at the Borovitsky Gate (the exact date of the consecration of I.L. Church is unknown).

From the chronicle report on the completion of the construction of 3 temples in the Kremlin, the name of the bell tower builder is known. architect Bona Fryazina (“The same summer (7016) the church of St. Michael the Archangel on the square and St. John the Baptist, like the bells, and St. John the Baptist at the Borovitsky Gate, and the master of the churches Aleviz Novaya, and the bell tower Bon Fryazin" - PSRL. T. 13 . P. 10). There is no exact information about the origin of Bon Fryazin. V.N. Lazarev admitted that he, like Aleviz the New, was a native of Venice (Lazarev V.N. Byzantine and Old Russian Art. M., 1978. P. 291). S. S. Podyapolsky believed that Bon Fryazin could be one of the masters who came to Moscow with the embassy of Dmitry Ralev and Mitrofan Karacharov. The composition of this batch of masters is known thanks to the letter of Mengli-Girey Vel. book Vasily Ioannovich. Because of the Lithuanian-Russian war, the embassy tried to return to Rus' through Kafa (now Feodosiya), passing through the possessions of the Moscow ally. Prince - Khan Mengli-Girey. Khan detained the embassy and used one of the masters, Aleviz, to build a palace in Bakhchisarai (preserved portal of 1503). Podyapolsky believed that with this embassy came not only Aleviz, the only one named by Mengli-Girey, but also Bon Fryazin, Pyotr Frenchyushko (sent in 1508 to build the Kremlin in Nizhny Novgorod), Bartholomew (built Dorogobuzh in 1508/09 with a master Mastrobon) and, more hypothetically, master Ivan (worked in Pskov in 1516/17) (Podyapolsky. 2006. pp. 267-268). Podyapolsky also assumed that the master named in the chronicles as Bon Fryazin and the master named in the discharge books as Mastroban or Mastoban are one person (Ibid. pp. 268, 301). If this is so, then Bon Fryazin, like others, was Italian. architects, e.g. Aleviz Fryazin was also a military engineer (see the mention of Dorogobuzh).

The temple of 1329 was located between the Assumption and Archangel Cathedrals and could not match the scale of the new cathedrals being rebuilt by the Italians. Bon Fryazin staged a new I. L. c. approximately along the same axis with the previous temple, but carried it much further to the east, beyond the line of the apses of the Assumption and Archangel Cathedrals. As a result, a square with trapezoidal outlines was formed, the main axis of which ran through the center of the main throne room of the Faceted Chamber and I.L. The construction of a new church-bell tower introduced the principle of regularity and centricity into the organization of the square (Bondarenko I. A. Reconstruction of the Cathedral Square of the Moscow Kremlin in the late 15th - early 16th centuries and the creative method of Italian masters // Architectural Heritage. M., 1995. Issue 38. pp. 210-211) and became a stage in the formation of the appearance of the Kremlin in Italy. masters.

Bon Fryazin created a unique structure, characterized by a large margin of safety of the load-bearing structures, which ensured the safety of the building. Even the explosion of mines laid in 1812 by the French did not affect their strength. troops under the cathedral belfries. Apparently, it was the nature of the soil and the tasks of constructing a high-rise structure unprecedented for Moscow at that time that determined the features of the foundation, laid on a continuous pile field (on piles of different lengths, driven almost close to each other), above it - a stepped white stone stylobate. An octagon of the 1st tier, consisting of 2 floors, was erected on it from brick; a temple was located on the lower floor. The thickness of the walls reaches 5 m. We entered the church-bell tower from the west, through a small but high vestibule, covered with a cross vault (not preserved), which rested on white stone imposts (hewn, one has been restored to this day). From the narthex there was an entrance to the temple, as well as to 2 internal staircases: a straight northern one and a spiral southern one. In plan, the church was one of the types of centric temples with exedra known in Renaissance architecture. However, traditional The octaconch underwent modification here. Due to the need to build a vestibule, and also due to the presence of 2 staircases running through the thickness of the walls of the octagon, the architect abandoned 3 exedra, making 3 sides zap. parts of the octagon are straight, abolished the window to the north. exedre. The temple is illuminated by only 4 windows. The design of the window openings is very unusual and is determined, on the one hand, by the enormous thickness of the walls, and on the other, by the height of the conch above the exedra. The light opening cut into the wall of the exedra is significantly lower than the corresponding opening in the outer wall of the octagon. Because of this, a steep and long window sill slope was formed, and the arch of the window niche was significantly higher than the light opening cut into the wall of the exedra. The naos of the temple is covered with an 8-sided vault, at the base of which there is a white stone cornice, and at the top there is a white stone rosette.

Unlike the church of 1329, the new temple was not painted. There is no chronicle information about this, and fragments of possible paintings were not found during the restoration study of the walls in 1977.

The lower octagon was intended not only to house the temple, but also to equip the 1st tier of ringing with massive bells. With the size of the church limited by architectural expediency, and with the need to raise heavy bells to a considerable height, the task arose of reducing the mass of the masonry and its pressure on the church vaults. Therefore, Bon Fryazin created an intermediate floor between the temple and the bell ringing area. He built a centric 8-sided room located directly above the temple. 3 chambers communicate with it, designed to relieve the vaults of the vestibule and straight staircase from the weight of the masonry. All premises could also have economic purposes. You can enter the intermediate floor from the landing of a straight staircase, which was presumably intended for lifting chests with the treasury in the event of a fire in the Kremlin. Further along the same stairs you can get to the level of the 1st tier of the bell, where the 2nd, spiral staircase led directly from the 1st floor. To create the bell ringing area, the architect narrowed the walls of the 8-sided pillar almost in half (to 2.5 m). A covered gallery was built outside the pillar; the pylons were connected by arched lintels. Bells were hung between the pylons.

The second tier of the pillar, which can conventionally be called the middle octagon, is significantly narrower than the lower one, due to which a free walkway was formed above the arches of the gallery of the 1st tier of the bell. Most of the middle octagon, the highest part of the pillar, is the pedestal for the 2nd tier of the bell, located in its upper part, at a height of more than 40 m from the ground. To lighten the weight of the structure and increase stability, the architect created an empty space inside almost the entire height of the figure of eight. It has no independent purpose and performs only a constructive function. The ascent from the 1st tier of the bell to the 2nd is carried out via an internal spiral staircase. For the installation of the 2nd tier of bells, the walls of the octagon were cut through with arches, in which bells hung. In the center of the platform of the 2nd tier of the bell, surrounded by arches connecting the pylons, a stone pillar was erected, inside it there is a stone spiral staircase to the upper tier of the bell, where the smallest bells are located. At the level of the upper tier of the bell, to reduce weight, the thickness of the walls was reduced to 80 cm, due to which a walkway was formed above the 2nd tier of the bell, as well as above the 1st, this time decorative. Thus, by gradually reducing the thickness of the walls and making them lighter due to hollow chambers, the architect created a structure that, despite its height, is particularly durable and stable.

What was the completion of the pillar of 1505-1508 remains unknown. The reconstruction, which involves completing the 3rd tier with a dome reminiscent of the completion of the cathedral of the Moscow VysokoPetrovsky Monastery, has recently been disputed. The involvement of another circle of analogues and the analysis of images of the pillar on miniatures from the Front Chronicle (70s of the 16th century) suggest that the completion of the temple should have been in the form of a brick tent, similar to the completion of the Italian. campanilla (Petrov. 2008). A study of bell towers in various regions of Italy shows that, despite the lack of direct analogies, I. L. c. 1505-1508 fits organically into their series. Thus, in Italy, the tradition of building high bell tower structures was widespread, raising the tiers of bells to a considerable height. Over a long period (XII-XV centuries), 8-sided pillar-shaped structures were built in various regions of Italy. Also in plural. Italian Campanillas use the technique of reducing the diameter of the upper parts of the pillar compared to the lower ones, mainly at the level of the upper tier of the bell. The resulting platform often serves as a bypass arched gallery on pillars or columns surrounding the upper octagon or cylinder (for example, the 8-sided bell tower at the Church of San Nicola in Pisa, ca. 1170 and (or) between 1230 and 1250).

Composition by I. L. c. has a number of features that distinguish it from similar Italian ones. buildings: firstly, this is a rare combination for Italy of the bell and temple functions in one building; secondly, it is a system of internal staircases and rooms inside the pillar; thirdly, this is the accentuated gradation of the entire composition - rare, but found in the construction of towers above the cross in cathedrals, for example. in Lombardy. Nevertheless, the analogies of I. L. c. are found in the drawings of the Quattrocento's architectural treatises. An example is a pillar-shaped structure with a chapel in one of the lower tiers and a bell in the upper one in Philaret’s “Treatise on Architecture” (1460-1464; Ibid. p. 81). The architectural plan outlined by Filarete coincides with the principle of combining the temple and bell functions, which existed in Russian. traditions. However, it was Bon Fryazin who created a type of structure that had not existed before either in Russian or Italian. architecture. All known centric, round, 8- or 9-sided bell structures in Rus' were built after the construction of the Moscow pillar. Bon Fryazin, having implemented his project, went beyond the boundaries of local tradition, finding fundamentally different forms of combining a church building with a bell structure.

Decor I. L. c. is intended to emphasize the logic of constructing the volume, primarily the tiered nature of the overall composition. This approach to the decoration of pillar-shaped structures also finds analogies in Italian. campanilla (see, for example, at the Church of San Gottardo in Corte in Milan, 1330-1336). The archway on brackets, placed under the cornice, which marks the base of the lower tier of the bell, is a typical element of Romanesque architecture. At the same time, the cornice combines Gothic elements (3-lobed arches) and classic elements (crackers, droplets and ovoid details). More simplified cornices emphasize other horizontal divisions of the pillar (3-lobed arches and croutons). The decorative motifs used by Bon Fryazin reveal parallels in the buildings of Vicenza, Montagnana, Bologna and Ferrara, as well as cities in the region. Abruzzo: Teramo, Atri, Campli, Corropoli, Chieti. Restoration studies 1968 and 1978 made it possible to determine that initially, like other Italian buildings. masters beginning XVI century, I. L. c. was painted to look like brick.

Reconstruction of the bell tower during the reign of Boris Godunov

The text of the temple inscription on the drum of the pillar of I. L. Ts. (“...By the command of... the Tsar... Boris Fedorovich... and his son... Fyodor Borisovich... this temple was completed and gilded in the second summer of their State 108") for many. years of studying this monument misled researchers, who interpreted it as an indication of the construction of the entire bell tower in 1600. The pillar was dated to this year, starting with the first works in Russian church-archaeological and Moscow literature (Svinin. 1839. P. 31; Zabelin. 1905 . P. 155) and ending with the works of Soviet authors of the pre-war period (Rzyanin. 1946. P. 8). Only in the 40s. XX century attention was paid to texts published at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. sources containing information about the superstructure of the 3rd tier (“He decorated and covered with gold a large bell tower...” - Dmitrievsky. 1899. P. 96-97; “... In the summer of 7108, Tsar Boris in the city of Moscow on the square of the Church of St. John the Writer of the Ladder under with bells he commanded to forge the top above the first and gild it" - Vremennik, called the chronicler of the Russian princes. 1905. P. 46), as well as on the image of the church in miniature from the Front Chronicle. Subsequently, this opinion was supported not only by architectural research, but also by the discovery of new sources. The issue was finally resolved after the publication of the Piskarevsky chronicler (“... In the summer of 7108, the Tsar and the Grand Duke ordered the height of the Church of Ivan the Great to be added 12 fathoms and the top to be gilded, and he ordered to write his royal name” - Yakovleva. 1955. P. 202) and Vremennik clerk Ivan Timofeev (“...But the head of the very top of the church, who would sprout everyone in the city... create a lot of additions to the pristine heights and gild the top... nailing his name on it in gilded trinkets with words written in gold..." - Ivan Timofeev’s Temporary 1951. P. 72 ). M. A. Ilyin was the first to compare the construction time of the superstructure of the I. L. c. with the beginning of construction of the “Holy of Holies” and suggested that they were connected by a single plan (Ilyin. 1951. P. 83).

The superstructure is a brick cylinder, not covered with a vault. During its construction, “trompas” were built over the ribs of the lower octagon, formed by the overlap of bricks. The outside of the drum is divided into 3 tiers; their proportions are typical for buildings at the end of the century. The base is decorated with false kokoshniks with enlarged keels, between which tongs are placed: the entire composition imitates 2 rows of kokoshniks - an allusion to the type of temple covering common at that time. On this base there is a smooth drum fust, cut through by 8 slit-like rectangular windows, with profiled platbands, completed with pediments. On the cornice there is a temple inscription divided by stone ridges, consisting of 3 registers. According to restoration research, the white stone strands separating the rows of text were originally gilded.

The “Godunov” superstructure not only changed the general silhouette of the entire structure, but also introduced features that connect Italian into its architectural appearance. architectural type with local tradition. To a large extent, local features began to dominate the general perception of the monument thanks to the onion dome, one of the first such domes on a frame in Russian. architecture.

Ist.: Vremennynik, which is called the chronicler of the Russian princes, how the reign began in the Russian land and the cities established themselves: Briefly written // Tr. Vyatka UAK. 1905. Issue. 2. Dept. 2. P. 46; Dmitrievsky A. A. Archbishop Elassonsky Arseny and his memoirs from Russian. stories. K., 1899. P. 96-97; RIB. T. 13; Temporary book by Ivan Timofeev / Prepared by. to the printer, trans. and commentary: O. A. Derzhavina. M.; L., 1951. P. 72; Yakovleva O. A. Piskarevsky chronicler // Materials on the history of the USSR. M., 1955. T. 2: Documents on the history of the XV-XVII centuries. pp. 7-144.

Lit.: Maksimovich L. M. Guide to Moscow antiquities and monuments. M., 1792. Part 1. P. 274; Walk through the Kremlin: Ivan the Great // Otech. zap. 1822. Part 10. No. 25. P. 235-257; Notes on Ivan the Great // Ibid. Part 11. No. 27. P. 126-131; Svinin P.P. Pictures of Russia and the life of its diverse peoples: From travels. St. Petersburg, 1839. Part 1. pp. 31-35; Gorchakov N.D. Bell tower of Ivan the Great in Moscow // Moscow. GV. 1841. No. 12. P. 127; Snegirev I. M. Monuments of Moscow. antiquities. M., 1842-1845. P. 6; Richter F. F. Monuments of ancient Russian. architecture M., 1850. Table. L; Istomin G.I. Ivanovo Bell Tower in Moscow. M., 18932; Zabelin I. E. History of the city of Moscow. M., 19052; Krasovsky M.V. Essay on the history of Moscow. Old Russian period church architecture (from the founding of Moscow to the end of the 1st quarter of the 18th century). M., 1911. P. 233; Skvortsov N. A. Archeology and topography of Moscow. M., 1913. S. 337-346; Mordvinov A.G. Bell tower of Ivan the Great // Academy of Architecture. 1935. No. 5. P. 32-37; Rzyanin M.I. Ivan the Great // Monuments of Russian. architecture of the 9th-19th centuries: Cat. vyst. M., 1946. P. 7-8; Ilyin M.A. Project for the reconstruction of the center of Moscow. Kremlin under Boris Godunov // Communication. Institute of Art History. M.; L., 1951. Issue. 1. pp. 82-83; Mikhailov A.I. Bell tower of Ivan the Great in Moscow. Kremlin. M., 1963; Bondarenko I. A. The original appearance of Ivan the Great // Construction and architecture of Moscow. 1980. No. 8. P. 26-27; aka. On the question of the “ladder” construction of c. John Climacus in Moscow. Kremlin // Restoration and architecture. archeology: New materials and research. M., 1995. Issue. 2. P. 110; Ilyenkova N.V. Bell tower of Ivan the Great in Moscow. Kremlin: Research. // Protection and restoration of architectural monuments: Experience of workshop No. 13. M., 1981. P. 77; Karamzin N. M. Notes of an old Moscow resident. M., 1988. P. 313; Malinovsky A. F. Review of Moscow. M., 1992. S. 42-43; Kavelmacher V.V., Panova T.D. Remains of a white stone temple from the 14th century. on Cathedral Square Mosk. Kremlin // Culture of the Middle Ages. Moscow, XIV-XVII centuries. M., 1995. P. 66-81; Podyapolsky S. S. On the original appearance of the pillar of Ivan the Great // Restoration and Architects. archeology: New materials and research. M., 1995. Issue. 2. P. 100-101; aka. Historical-architect. research. M., 2006; Batalov A. L. Moscow stone architecture con. XVI century M., 1996; Balashova T.V. The Bell Tower of Ivan the Great as perceived by contemporaries at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries. // To the 500th anniversary of the Archangel Cathedral and the bell tower of Ivan the Great Moscow. Kremlin: Tez. report anniversary scientific conf. M., 2008. P. 59-61; Petrov D. A. On the origin of architecture. compositions of the pillar of Ivan the Great // Ibid. pp. 80-82.

A. L. Batalov

Ivan the Great belltower or Bell tower "Ivan the Great", common name Moscow Kremlin church-bell tower in the name of St. John Climacus Moscow diocese

It is located between the Cathedral and Ivanovskaya (Tsarskaya) squares of the Moscow Kremlin and is its compositional center. The church-bell tower is almost directly adjacent to the Assumption Belfry from the south with the Filaret extension, together forming a single architectural ensemble. The Church of St. Nicholas of Gostunsky, located in the Assumption Belfry, is now listed as the chapel of the bell church of St. John the Climacus.

First Temple

The first information about the existence of a throne in the name of St. John Climacus in the sacred topography of Moscow dates back to the year. Chronicles report the foundation of a stone church and its subsequent consecration:

In the summer of 6837, the month of Maya at 21, in memory of the holy orthodox Tsar Kostyantin and his mother Helen, a stone church was founded in Moscow, in the name of St. Ivan the Climacus. The same summer was celebrated and sacred in the month [September] at 1, in memory of the holy father Simeon the Stylite .

The chronicle's report about the construction of the temple in three months suggests that the church was small in size. Presumably this was the first Moscow church consecrated in the name of St. John Climacus. Among the numerous attempts to explain the choice of dedication, the versions that remain relevant are that the temple was built according to a vow after a successful bloodless campaign against Pskov, where the Tver prince Alexander Mikhailovich was hiding, and that the Monk John Climacus was the heavenly patron of the middle son of the Grand Duke John Kalita - the Grand Duke John Ioannovich, who was born on the day of memory of this saint.

The indication that the temple was "under the bells" makes it the oldest known bell church. The volumetric design of the temple can now be judged only by the results of the year’s excavations under the leadership of P. P. Pokryshkin, during which a part of the structure was uncovered that had a faceted outer outline. In the eastern part, the exedra, which can be interpreted as an apse, and the masonry of the northern and southern walls were exposed inside. These fragments do not provide grounds for reconstructing the building as a “medium-height tower-shaped prismatic octahedron with zakomars, a drum and a dome,” made in the likeness of the later pillar-shaped churches “with bells” of the 16th century. A small fragment of an archivolt, found in the backfill of the foundation of the successor temple, can only be conditionally attributed to the temple built in 1329, which does not allow us to draw conclusions about its external decoration.

Construction of the Bonovskaya bell tower

According to the chronicle,

At the same time, St. John the Climacus also demolished another church, similar to the bells, created by the Grand Duke Ivan Danilovich in the summer of 6836, and founded a new church, St. John, not in the old place .

This news comes immediately after the message about the dismantling of the old and the laying of the new Cathedral of the Archangel Michael, which took place on May 21 of the year, from which we can conclude that the construction of the new St. John the Climacus Church began in the spring of the same year. Its construction was completed 3 years later, in the year, simultaneously with the Archangel Cathedral and the Church of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist at the Borovitsky Gate.

From the chronicle report on the completion of the construction of three Kremlin churches, the name of the builder of the bell tower is known - the Italian architect Bon Fryazin. The old temple was located between the Assumption and Archangel Cathedrals and could not match the scale of the new cathedrals, which is why Bon Fryazin placed the new church approximately on the same axis with the previous temple, but moved it much further to the east, beyond the line of the apses of the Assumption and Archangel Cathedrals. As a result, a square with trapezoidal outlines was formed, the main axis of which ran through the center of the main throne room of the Faceted Chamber and the new Church of St. John Climacus. The construction of a new church-bell tower introduced the principle of regularity and centricity into the organization of the square.

The new temple, although it followed the patterns of Renaissance architecture and the Italian tradition of bell towers, was distinguished by a number of new solutions that formed the basis for the development of the characteristic Russian tradition of centric bell tower structures. The Bona Fryazino building is a pillar in the form of an “octagon on an octagon” about 60 meters high, with a temple on the first tier. What the completion of the pillar was is unknown: the reconstruction suggesting the completion of the third tier with a dome similar to the completion of the cathedral of the Moscow VysokoPetrovsky Monastery is disputed. Comparison with analogues and analysis of images of the pillar on miniatures from the Front Chronicle of the 1570s suggest that the completion of the temple should have been in the form of a brick tent, similar to the completion of the Italian campaniles. The temple was not painted inside. On the outside, like other buildings by Italian craftsmen of that time, the bell tower temple was painted “like brick” and decorated with white stone details.

The final element that completed the appearance of the bell tower of Ivan the Great was the reconstruction of the third tier and top, carried out under Tsar Boris Godunov in the year. According to the Piskarevsky chronicler:

In the summer of 7108, the Tsar and the Grand Duke ordered the height of the Church of Ivan the Great to be added 12 fathoms and the top to be gilded, and he ordered his royal name to be written .

The superstructure of the temple-bell tower is linked to the beginning of construction of the new main cathedral - the “Holy of Holies” - as part of a single plan to create a universal spiritual center in the Moscow Kremlin. The architect who built the bell tower is not known for sure - the names of F. Kon or Ivan Villiers are indicated. As a result, the height of the pillar together with the cross reached 81 meters, and the gilded onion dome brought the appearance of the bell tower closer to the Russian tradition.

The new temple - the first multi-tiered pillar-shaped temple "with bells" in the Russian architectural tradition - has become significant in the history of Russian architecture. All known centric, round, octagonal or nine-sided bell structures in Rus' were built after him and to one degree or another are under his influence. Thanks to the bell tower of Ivan the Great, the compositional principle of the dominant vertical was further developed in Russian architecture. For two centuries, the bell tower of Ivan the Great remained the tallest building in Rus'. The height also determined the stable name of the church-bell tower - “Ivan the Great”. The significance of the pillar as the main and highest bell tower of the Moscow kingdom also influenced the formation of the legend that there was supposedly a ban on the construction of churches and bell towers higher than “Ivan the Great”. In fact, the prohibition is not confirmed in documents, but one can find instructions on the order of ringing in Moscow, which began precisely with the striking of the bell on the Ivan the Great. On major holidays, crowds of people gathered in the square, waiting for the first strike of the large bell from the Ivanovo bell tower. The name of the bell tower became part of popular sayings: they began to say about a tall man: “The little boy grew up like Ivan the Great”; loud reading - just as the tsar's decrees were read on the square near Ivan the Great - began to be called reading "in full Ivan."

From the Romanovs to the present day

After the death of Godunov, the temple inscription on the drum of the bell tower was sealed up, but was reopened by order of Tsar Peter Alekseevich. The construction of the new Moscow St. Gabriel Church - the "Menshikov Tower" in the year, which for the first time in Russia exceeded the bell tower of Ivan the Great, marked a sharp turn in Russian history associated with the reforms of Peter I.

The bell tower served simultaneously the Assumption, Archangel and Annunciation Cathedrals of the Kremlin. It was also used to decorate Cathedral Square during special events. In the middle of the 19th century, vats of water for fountains were installed on its second tier, and during the coronation of the passion-bearing emperor Nicholas II, electric illumination was installed on the bell tower. Moreover, all this time the bell tower remained open to pilgrims visiting the Kremlin shrines. The bell tower temple was restored in the year with the diligence of Moscow banner bearers. In - years, the bell tower was restored, and excavations were carried out on the site of the ancient temple of 1329. In the premises of the bell tower, in addition to the temple, there was part of the Patriarchal sacristy (since the year); sextons and cathedral guards lived under the lower tier of the bell tower.

The bell tower suffered damage after the shelling of the Moscow Kremlin in 2010: the eastern and southeastern sides were damaged by shells, and there were many potholes and bullet wounds along the walls. Since then, the Kremlin has become a “closed city” for Orthodox Christians - services in its churches and the ringing of bells in its belfries stopped until the fall of Soviet power. Unlike cathedrals and palaces, the Ivan the Great Bell Tower did not become a museum, but an exhibit in the general museum space of the Kremlin. However, the building was closed to the public. The monument was restored in the mid-1950s and late 1970s.

The bell tower church was formally transferred to the Russian Orthodox Church in the early 1990s, but no services were held. This year, after a 90-year break, visitors were again allowed into the restored Kremlin bell tower. In December of the same year, the opening of a museum in the bell tower was announced, and soon a museum of the history of the architectural ensemble of the Moscow Kremlin was located here. At the same time, as of the year, the Ivanovo church-bell tower was listed as an active church as part of the Central Deanery of the Moscow (city) diocese.

Architecture

Analogies with the temple-bell tower of John Climacus are found in the drawings of architectural treatises of the Quattrocento. An example is a pillar-shaped structure with a chapel in one of the lower tiers and a bell in the upper one in Philaret's "Treatise on Architecture" (- years). The architectural plan outlined by Filarete coincides with the principle of combining the temple and bell functions that existed in the Russian tradition.

The decorative motifs used by Bon Fryazin reveal parallels in the buildings of Vicenza, Montagnana, Bologna and Ferrara, as well as the cities of the Abruzzi region: Teramo, Atri, Campli, Corropoli, Chieti. The general approach to decoration also finds analogies in Italian campaniles (cf. the bell tower at the church of San Gottardo in Corte in Milan -).

At the same time, the composition of the Ivanovo Bell Tower has a number of features that distinguish it from similar Italian buildings: firstly, it is a rare combination for Italy of the bell tower and temple functions in one building; secondly, it is a system of internal staircases and rooms inside the pillar; thirdly, this is the accentuated gradation of the entire composition - rare, but found in the construction of towers above the cross in cathedrals, for example in Lombardy. As a result, Bon Fryazin created a type of structure that had not existed before in either Russian or Italian architecture. Having implemented his project, the architect went beyond the boundaries of local tradition, finding fundamentally different forms of combining a church building with a bell structure.

Documents, literature

• Time-book, which is called the chronicler of the Russian princes, how the reign began in the Russian land and the cities were established: Briefly written, Tr. Vyatka UAK, 1905, issue. 2, dept. 2, p. 46.
• Dmitrievsky A. A., Archbishop Elassonsky Arseny and his memoirs from Russian. stories, K., 1899, p. 96-97.
• RIB, vol. 13.
• Temporary of Ivan Timofeev(prepared for printing, translation and commentary: O. A. Derzhavina), M.; L., 1951, p. 72.
• Yakovleva O. A., Piskarevsky chronicler, Materials on the history of the USSR, M., 1955, vol. 2: Documents on the history of the XV-XVII centuries, p. 7-144.
• Maksimovich L. M., Guide to Moscow antiquities and monuments, M., 1792, part 1, p. 274.
• Domestic notes, 1821, № 18.
• "Walk through the Kremlin: Ivan the Great", Domestic notes, 1822, part 10, no. 25, p. 235-257.
• "Notes on Ivan the Great" Domestic notes, 1822, part 11, no. 27, p. 126-131.
• Svinin P. P., Pictures of Russia and the life of its diverse peoples: From travels, St. Petersburg, 1839, part 1, p. 31-35.
• Gorchakov N. D., "The Bell Tower of Ivan the Great in Moscow", Moscow GW, 1841, No. 12, p. 127.
• Snegirev I. M., Monuments of Moscow antiquities, M., 1842-1845, p. 6.
• Richter F. F., Monuments of ancient Russian architecture, M., 1850, tab. L.
• Rozanov N., History of the Moscow diocesan administration, M., 1871, part 3, book. 2.
• Istomin G. I., Ivanovo Bell Tower in Moscow, M., 1893.
• Platonov, Guide: Moscow and surroundings, M., 1896.
• Zabelin I. E., History of the city of Moscow, M., 1905.
• Kondratyev I.K., Moscow Kremlin, shrines and monuments, M., 1910, p. 102-105, 61.
• Krasovsky M. V., Essay on the history of Moscow. Old Russian period church architecture (from the founding of Moscow to the end of the 1st quarter of the 18th century), M., 1911, p. 233.
• Skvortsov N. A., Archeology and topography of Moscow, M., 1913, p. 337-346.
• Nestor (Anisimov), bishop. Kamchatsky, Shooting of the Moscow Kremlin, M., 1917, p. 19.
• Around Moscow[ed. N. A. Geinike and others], M., 1917, p. 176.
• Mordvinov A. G., "The Bell Tower of Ivan the Great", Academy of Architecture, 1935, No. 5, p. 32-37.
• Alexandrovsky M. I., Ivan the Great(manuscript), 1936, OPI GIM, f. 465, units hr. 12.
• Rzyanin M. I., "Ivan the Great", Russian monuments architecture of the 9th-19th centuries: Cat. vyst., M., 1946, p. 7-8.
• Ilyin M. A., "Project for the restructuring of the center of the Moscow Kremlin under Boris Godunov", Message Institute of Art History, M.; L., 1951, issue. 1, p. 82-83.
• Mikhailov A. I., Bell tower of Ivan the Great in the Moscow Kremlin, M., 1963.
• Ivanov V., Moscow Kremlin, M., 1971.
• Moscow. Architectural monuments of the XIV-XVII centuries., M., 1973.
• Tsvetaeva A., "The Tale of the Moscow Bell Ringer", Moscow, 1977, No. 7, p. 143.
• Ilyin M., Moiseeva T., Moscow and Moscow region, M., 1979, p. 428-429.
• Bondarenko I. A., "The original appearance of Ivan the Great", Construction and architecture of Moscow, 1980, No. 8, p. 26-27.
• Bondarenko I. A., “On the issue of the “ladder” construction of Church John Climacus in the Moscow Kremlin,” , M., 1995, issue. 2, p. 110.
• Ilyenkova N.V., "The Bell Tower of Ivan the Great in the Moscow Kremlin: Research.", Protection and restoration of architectural monuments: Experience of workshop No. 13, M., 1981, p. 77.
• Karamzin N. M., Notes of an old Moscow resident, M., 1988, p. 313.
• Malinovsky A. F., Moscow Review, M., 1992, p. 42-43.
• Kavelmaher V.V., Panova T.D., "Remains of a white stone temple of the 14th century on the Cathedral Square of the Moscow Kremlin", Medieval culture. Moscow, XIV-XVII centuries., M., 1995, p. 66-81.
• Podyapolsky S. S., "On the original appearance of the pillar of Ivan the Great", Restoration and architecture. archeology: New materials and research., M., 1995, issue. 2, p. 100-101.
• Podyapolsky S. S., Historical-architect. research, M., 2006.
• Batalov A. L., Moscow stone architecture con. XVI century, M., 1996.
• Balashova T.V., “The Bell Tower of Ivan the Great as perceived by contemporaries at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries,” , M., 2008, p. 59-61.
• To the 500th anniversary of the Archangel Cathedral and the bell tower of Ivan the Great Moscow. Kremlin: Tez. report anniversary scientific conf., M., 2008, p. 80-82.

Used materials

• Batalov A. L., "John the Climacus CHURCH IN THE MOSCOW KREMLIN (IVAN THE GREAT)", Orthodox Encyclopedia, vol. 25, p. 20-24:
• Site pages Bell tower "Ivan the Great" network of sites of the Moscow Kremlin Museum-Reserve:
• http://ivan-the-great-bell-tower.kreml.ru/history/view/tserk...iy/ - "IVAN THE GREAT CHURCH-BELL TOWER" History of the city of Moscow with reference to PSRL, vol. 12, p. 157.

  Petrov D. A., "On the origin of the architectural composition of the pillar of Ivan the Great", To the 500th anniversary of the Archangel Cathedral and the bell tower of Ivan the Great Moscow. Kremlin: Tez. report anniversary scientific conf., M., 2008, p. 81.

Photo: Church of St. John the Climacus with the bell tower of Ivan the Great in the Kremlin

Photo and description

The Church of St. John the Climacus, located on the territory of the Moscow Kremlin, is one of the oldest churches in the capital. The temple stands on Cathedral Square, and next to it rises a bell tower nicknamed “Ivan the Great”.

The church became one of the first three white stone churches, which were founded in the first half of the 14th century by Prince Ivan Kalita. The Church of the Nativity of John the Baptist on Bor was the first to be founded, then the Assumption Cathedral and the third - John the Climacus in 1329. The saint in whose honor this temple was consecrated lived in the 6th-7th centuries and became the author of the work “The Ladder” about man’s path to God. After construction was completed, the church and bell tower were assigned to the Assumption Cathedral as a side church.

The bell tower of the Church of St. John the Climacus was the first such structure in Moscow and for a long time was considered the tallest.

The church was originally built “for bells”: the temple was located in the lower tier, and the belfry was in the upper. This ensemble of religious architecture acquired its current appearance in the 16th-17th centuries, when the entire Kremlin was reconstructed. The previous building was dismantled in 1505, and in its place the Italian architect Aleviz Novy built a new two-tier bell tower, and at its base a new church. About 25 years later, the Assumption Belfry was also built nearby.

At the beginning of the 17th century, by order of Boris Godunov, the bell tower was built one more tier, for which it was called “Godunov’s Pillar”. A little later, by order of Patriarch Filaret, another belfry was added, named after him.

During Soviet times, the Church of St. John Climacus was closed, and the building was used for other purposes. After the death of Joseph Stalin in 1953, the Kremlin was opened to visitors, and exhibitions began to be held in the church building.

Date of creation: 1505-1508 Author: Bon Fryazin. Material, technique: brick, white stone. It was built of brick and white stone instead of the dismantled Church of St. John the Climacus of 1329 of the “bell-like” type. It was originally a three-tiered pillar with a height of approx. 60 m with the Church of St. John Climacus in the lower tier. The two lower tiers had the shape of elongated octagonal pillars and ended with open galleries of bells; the low third tier consisted of one open belfry gallery for small bells and was crowned with a small dome. In 1600, by order of Tsar Boris Godunov, the bell tower was built on and completed with a gilded dome, which was immortalized by an inscription in gold letters on a blue background at the base of the chapter. The belt of keel-shaped kokoshniks at the base of the dome drum also dates back to this time, which connected together the octahedron of the third tier and the cylinder of the drum, emphasizing the upward direction of the bell tower. The height of the pillar of Ivan the Great became 81 m (the white stone foundation of the bell tower, resting on an octagonal pile foundation with a diameter of 25 m, was buried only 4.3 m from the surface level of Cathedral Square). Initially, the walls of Ivan the Great were painted “like brick”; Against this background, the white stone details acquired special expressiveness, revealing the frame of the structure and giving the building greater harmony.

It was believed that in 1532-1543. a belfry for large bells was built next to the pillar (at first, the construction was led by the Italian Petroc). According to S.S. Podyapolsky, first expressed in 1978, Petrok built next to Ivan the Great not a belfry, but the Church of the Resurrection. The construction of the church was completed after the departure of Petrok the Small from Moscow, in 1552 (the existence of the church until the middle of the 17th century is confirmed by the notes of foreigners who visited Moscow at that time, starting with Heinrich Staden, who served as guardsman for Ivan the Terrible in the 1560s ., and ending with Adam Olearius, who visited Moscow in 1624 on his way to Persia). Between the church and the bell tower of Ivan the Great hung a large bell. Here also stood a wooden belfry carrying a huge bell, cast, according to legend, during the reign of Boris Godunov.

In the second half of the 17th century. The church was converted into a stone belfry of the Pskov type. In 1624, Patriarch Filaret ordered the construction of another bell tower, behind which the name Filaret's extension was established (B. Ogurtsov). In 1812, both structures were blown up by order of Napoleon, but in 1814-1815. were restored (with the introduction of a number of classic details) by Gilardi according to the design of I.V. Egotova and L. Ruska. The high porch on the western façade of the belfry was added in 1849-1852. according to the project by K.A. Tones. The pillar of Ivan the Great stood. There are eighteen bells on the Ivan the Great Bell Tower. The largest Uspensky weighs 4,000 pounds (it was cast in the 19th century by masters Zavyalov and Rusinov). Adjacent to the Ivan the Great Bell Tower is the Assumption Belfry, built in 1532-1543 by the Italian architect Petrok the Small. On it is the Great Assumption Bell, cast in the mid-19th century by master A. Zavyalov, the largest of all the Kremlin bells.

The ensemble of the bell tower of Ivan the Great took shape over two centuries. The bell tower was erected in 1505-1508 by the Italian architect Bon Fryazin. A century later, it received another tier of bells, and its height reached 81 meters. This is recalled by the inscription under the dome, containing the date - 1600, as well as the names of Tsar Boris Godunov and his son Fedor.

In 1532-1552, next to the bell tower, according to the design of the Italian architect Petrok Maly, a church was built, which at the end of the 17th century was converted into a belfry called the Assumption. In 1624, Bazhen Ogurtsov erected a belfry with a hipped top close to it - Filaret's extension. In 1812, Napoleon's troops retreating from Moscow blew up the bell tower ensemble, but the pillar of Ivan the Great survived. The belfry and Filaret's extension were destroyed to the ground, but in 1814-1815 they were restored to their previous volumes. Today, the bell tower and belfry contain 24 bells from the 16th-17th centuries. On the ground floor of the Assumption Belfry there is an exhibition hall of the Moscow Kremlin Museums, where works of art are exhibited both from the Kremlin collection and from other Russian and foreign museums.

Based on materials from the website www.kremlin.ru

The Ivan the Great Bell Tower was built in 1505-1508 by Bon Fryazin. Its pillar visually united the multi-domed churches of the Moscow Kremlin into one whole. The bell tower was built on the site of the ancient church of St. Ioann Climacus, which belonged to the type “similar to bells” and was built in 1329 under Ivan Danilovich Kalita (1283-1340/41). This was the second oldest stone church built in Moscow. After the construction of the bell tower, the throne of St. John Climacus was moved to its lower tier.

In 1532, Petrok Maloy added a belfry to the bell tower, intended for a huge bell of 1000 pounds. This belfry was finished by Russian craftsmen in 1543 after Petrok left for Livonia. In 1552, an external staircase was added to the third tier of the belfry, and the belfry itself was crowned with a drum with a dome.

The year 1600 turned out to be a lean year for the country, and Boris Fedorovich Godunov (1552-1605), in order to give income to the hungry people coming from all sides to Moscow, started a major reconstruction of the bell tower, increasing it by two tiers - “create a lot of addition to the original height and the top "golden." In the lower floor of the bell tower the church of St. John the Larch, which is why the entire bell tower received the name Ivan the Great.

The height of Ivan the Great is 82 meters. From it you can see the outskirts of Moscow for 30 miles around. The architecture of the bell tower is simple, and the effect of majesty is achieved due to successfully found proportions, which betrays the hand of an experienced craftsman. Under the gilded head there is a gilded inscription running around. Thanks to the superstructure, Ivan the Great became the high-rise tower of Moscow.

There were 33 bells in the bell tower. The largest of them, “Uspensky,” weighing 4,000 pounds, was cast in 1819 from an old bell made by K.M. Slizov in 1760 and crashed in 1812 when the bell tower was blown up by the French occupiers. The second largest bell is the 2000 pound “Revun”, or “Reut”, cast by Andrei Chokhov (c. 1545-1629) in 1622. The third, “Sunday”, also known as “Seven Hundred”, weighing 700 pounds, was cast in 1704.

At the beginning of the 17th century, under Patriarch Filaret (Fyodor Nikitich Romanov) (1554-1633), the architect Bazhen Ogurtsov added a five-tent tower to the belfry - the so-called “Filaret extension”.

The entire ensemble of Ivan the Great was badly damaged in 1812, during the invasion of the European hordes of Bonaparte. That same year, the French removed the cross from the bell tower, believing that it was made entirely of gold. When it turned out that it was only gilded, the looters tore off the gilding and threw the cross itself against the wall of the bell tower. Filaret's annex and belfry were half destroyed in an explosion caused by the French fleeing Moscow on the orders of Bonaparte. After the expulsion of the French, both extensions were restored according to the design of the architect Ivan Vasilyevich Egotov (1756-1815) with some distortions of the original appearance.

From the book A.Yu. Nizovsky "The most famous millionaires and temples of Russia." 2000. Veche.

The first church-bell tower in the Moscow Kremlin was built in 1329 by the Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan Danilovich Kalita in honor of his patron saint John Climacus. Even then it had the shape of an octagonal pillar, which it retained during numerous reconstructions and additions in later times. In 1505-1508. The church-bell tower was rebuilt by the Italian architect Bon Fryazin. Under Tsar Boris Fedorovich Godunov, the bell tower was built with another tier and acquired a height of 81 meters. In memory of this, at the very top of the bell tower, under the chapter, an inscription in gilded letters was created, mentioning the name of the creator and the date of construction (1599). The bell tower was the tallest building in Moscow and therefore received the name “Ivan the Great” from Muscovites. The priority of the bell tower in height remained until the 19th century, not counting the brief existence of the high spire of the Church of the Archangel Gabriel on Chistye Prudy (Menshikov Tower).

In 1532-1543 a four-tiered belfry was attached to the bell tower, in the second tier of which there was a patriarchal sacristy. It was built by the Italian architect Petrok Maly. In turn, in it in 1543-1552. They added the Church of the Ascension of Christ (since 1555 - the Nativity of Christ). In 1624, another bell tower with a hipped roof was added to the northern side of the belfry, which received the name Filaret Belfry after Patriarch Filaret. The author of this building is Vazhen Ogurtsov. By the end of the 17th century. The Nativity Church took on the appearance of an open belfry and received the name Assumption. The temple itself was located in the lower tier of the bell tower, and in the Filaret annex there was a chapel for the Church of St. John - St. Nicholas. The church was assigned to the Assumption Cathedral, and services were held there daily until 1917.

The largest bells in Moscow hung on the Ivan the Great bell tower. Currently, there are bells cast here by Andrei Mokhov and the Motorin dynasty of bell makers - “Reut” (1200 poods or 19 tons), Uspensky (4000 poods or 64 tons), Seven Hundred (800 poods or almost 13 tons). There are other, smaller bells, the oldest of which was cast in 1550. There are a total of 24 bells in the bell tower, placed here on three tiers. Since 1992, they have been used during services in the Moscow Kremlin.

In 1812, Napoleonic soldiers planted explosives under the bell tower, but not all the charges exploded. However, the Filaret and Assumption belfries were destroyed. According to the memoirs of contemporaries, the lonely pillar of the Ivan the Great bell tower, without the usual extensions, looked “like an orphan.” In 1814-1816. according to the project by I.V. Egotova, L. Ruska and D.I. Gilardi's destroyed extensions were restored to their previous forms.

Divine services in the Church of St. John the Climacus have not been resumed. The lower tier of the Filaret Belfry is the exhibition hall of the Moscow Kremlin Museums.

Mikhail Vostryshev "Orthodox Moscow. All churches and chapels." https://rutlib.com/book/21735/p/10

None of the written sources reports the origin of the mysterious Italian named Bon Fryazin, who built the so-called “Bonovskaya Bell Tower” in 1505-1508. Its grandiose pillar visually united the multi-domed churches of the Moscow Kremlin into one whole. The bell tower was built on the site of the ancient church of St. John Climacus, which belonged to the type “like the bells” and was built in 1329 under Ivan Kalita. After the construction of the bell tower, the throne of St. John Climacus was moved to its lower tier.

In 1532, another Italian architect Petrok Maly added a belfry to the bell tower, intended for a huge bell weighing 1000 pounds. This belfry was already completed by Russian craftsmen in 1543. In 1552, an external staircase was added to the third tier of the belfry, and the belfry itself was crowned with a drum with a dome.

Boris Godunov increased the bell tower by two tiers - “create a lot of additions to the original height and gild the top.” In the lower floor of the bell tower the church of St. John Climacus, which is why the entire bell tower received the name Ivan the Great.

The height of Ivan the Great is 82 meters. From it you can see the outskirts of Moscow for 30 miles around. The architecture of the bell tower is extremely simple, and the effect of majesty is achieved due to successfully found proportions, which betrays the hand of an experienced craftsman. Under the gilded head there is a gilded inscription running in a circle. Thanks to the superstructure, Ivan the Great became the high-rise dominant of Moscow.

There were 33 bells in the bell tower. The largest of them, “Uspensky,” weighing 4,000 pounds, was poured in 1819 from an old bell that was broken in 1812 when the bell tower was blown up by the French. The second largest bell is the 2000-pound “Revun”, or “Reut”. The third, “Sunday”, also known as “Seven Hundred”, weighing 700 pounds, was cast in 1704.

At the beginning of the 17th century, under Patriarch Filaret, the architect Bazhen Ogurtsov added a five-tent tower to the belfry - the so-called “Filaret extension”.

The entire ensemble of Ivan the Great was badly damaged in 1812, during Napoleon's invasion. The Filaret annex and the belfry were half destroyed in an explosion caused by French sappers, whom Napoleon ordered to destroy the Kremlin. After the expulsion of the French, both buildings were restored.

http://www.zvon.ru/zvon7.view2.page35.html

The architectural ensemble of the Ivan the Great Bell Tower, the Assumption Belfry and the Filaret Extension, which closes the Cathedral Square of the Moscow Kremlin on the eastern side, has remained for many centuries the architectural dominant not only of the Kremlin, but also of the entire center of the capital. The history of this magnificent monument is inextricably linked with the most important milestones in the history of the Russian state, with the names of outstanding figures from different eras.

The first stone church in the name of St. John the Writer of the Ladder was founded on the site of the current bell tower in 1329 by order of Prince Ivan Danilovich Kalita (1325-1340). John Climacus, the author of the work “Ladders”, known in Rus' since the 12th century, was the namesake saint of John Kalita, his image with a book in his hands was on the seals of the Grand Duke. The work of John, abbot of the Sinai Monastery of St. Catherine, was written at the end of the 6th century and was a guide for monks in the practice of monastic life. It was widely circulated as spiritual reading. The thirty chapters ("degrees") of the book were perceived as the steps of a ladder that frees a person from sinful troubles and leads to spiritual improvement and salvation.

Built under Ivan Kalita, the temple stood for more than a century and a half. Apparently, already at that time it combined a church with a bell tower. The chronicle of 1505 reports the beginning of construction on the same site of a new church of St. John the Climacus “under the bells”, which later received the name of the bell tower of Ivan the Great.

By 1505, during the reign of the Grand Duke of All Rus' Ivan III (1462-1505), the Kremlin had already received its current size and outline. The end of the 15th and 16th centuries is an era of brilliant flowering of ancient Russian architecture, associated with significant historical events in the life of the Russian state: the overthrow of the Mongol-Tatar yoke and the transformation of Rus' into a single centralized state. These events were reflected in architecture, in the creation of majestic and monumental buildings made in the national style.

The construction of the bell tower, led by the Italian architect Bon Fryazin, lasted three years and was completed in 1508. It was probably built entirely of brick and decorated with white stone details. In images from the mid-16th century, the bell tower appears in the form of a pillar consisting of octahedrons placed one on top of the other.

Already at this time, the pillar of Ivan the Great, reaching 60 meters, was the tallest building in Moscow. If necessary, it served as a watchtower, from which a wide panorama of Moscow and its environs opened up. The bells, both made by Russian craftsmen and those brought from abroad, were located on all three tiers of the bell tower: the heaviest, with a low and thick sound - on the gallery of the first tier, and the lighter and melodic ones - at the top.

On the first floor of the lower tier of the bell tower there was a small church in the name of St. John Climacus. The walls of the lower tier are very thick - up to five meters, so the space in the center of the pillar is relatively small. The church has an unusual, octagonal shape in plan, repeating the external contours of the walls; a staircase located in the thickness of the wall led to the second and third, open floors of this tier. The second tier of the bell tower seems to repeat the first: the lower part is a solid massif with several narrow windows, and above them is an open gallery where the bells are located. The walls of the second tier are twice as thin as the walls of the lower one, their thickness reaches 2.5 meters. This repeatability of the shapes of both octahedrons with a more massive lower part and a lighter upper part visually emphasizes the upward direction of the entire structure.

The pillar of Ivan the Great stood in its original form for a whole century, until in 1600, by order of Tsar Boris Godunov (1598-1605), it was built on with a new, third tier in the form of a narrow octahedron, repeating the outlines of the lower two. The octahedron turns into a drum with a dome, above which a seven-meter cross rises. The transition from the octagon to the drum is decorated with a wreath of decorative kokoshniks, painted with gold stars on a blue background. Two rows of pointed kokoshniks further emphasize the upward direction of the entire structure, its lightness and plasticity. The third tier and sixteen false, black-painted, slit-like windows with small pediments make it visually easier.

Under the dome of the bell tower, by order of the Tsar, an inscription was made in gold letters in three lines: “By the will of the Holy Trinity, by the command of the Great Sovereign Tsar and Grand Duke Boris Fedorovich / of All Rus', the autocrat and the son of his faithful great Sovereign Tsarevich Prince / Feodor Borisovich of All Rus', this temple was completed and gilded in the second summer of the state there are 108 of them" (that is, in 7108 according to the old calendar or 1600 according to the new calendar).

The height of the entire bell tower was 81 meters, which was an outstanding achievement of its time. The Ivanovo Bell Tower combines the features of Russian architecture of two eras: strict structural forms of the 15th century and decor of the 16th century. This organic fusion of styles reflects the evolution of Russian architecture over two centuries.

In 1532, a year before the death of Grand Duke Vasily III (1505-1533), who completed the unification of Rus' around Moscow, construction began on Cathedral Square of a belfry adjacent to the Ivanovsky Pillar, which was intended mainly for a huge thousand-pound bell called “Blagovestnik”. The belfry took 11 years to build and was completed in 1543, already during the reign of Ivan IV (1533-1584). The construction was supervised by the Italian architect Petrok Maly.

At the top, on the gallery of the three-story, rectangular bell tower, there were other bells, the weight of which the bell tower could no longer support. On the third floor of the belfry, a church was built in the name of the Nativity of Christ, and in the lower floors, according to some sources, the treasures of the Patriarchal sacristy were kept. A staircase built by Moscow craftsmen in 1552 led to the entrance to the church. The belfry was named Uspenskaya.

The architecture of the belfry differs from the architecture of the Kremlin churches of the 16th century. Its upper tier is designed as an open gallery of the Pskov-Novgorod type. At the same time, great dissection of forms, an abundance of decorations, especially a belt of rusticated pillars arranged in two rows around the dome drum, are characteristic of Moscow architecture of the 17th century. Researchers suggest that in the 17th century the belfry was rebuilt and it was at this time that it received its architectural decoration.

In 1624, by order of Patriarch Filaret, who was the de facto ruler of Russia during the reign of his ill-health son Mikhail Fedorovich (1613-1645), another building was erected on the northern side of the Assumption Belfry, called the Filaret Annex. Its builders were journeyman mason Bazhen Ogurtsov and an unknown foreign master. Probably thanks to the participation of this foreign architect Filaretov, the extension received a pseudo-Gothic completion in the form of a large tent topped with a cross and four small elegant turrets in the corners. The architecture of the extension itself is so similar to the architecture of the belfry that now these two buildings are perceived as a single whole. Over its centuries-old history, the bell tower and belfry have witnessed many events. More than once they burned, during the fires the bells fell and broke, the buildings themselves suffered from the fire and then were repaired. The worst damage was inflicted on them by Napoleon's troops. During his retreat from Moscow in 1812, Napoleon ordered the Kremlin to be blown up. Many Kremlin buildings were damaged by the explosions. The Assumption Belfry and Filaret's extension lay in ruins, but the ancient bell tower stood. The blast wave tore the cross from its dome, and a harmless crack formed in the third tier.

The damage to the Ivanovsky pillar was corrected very quickly, and already on December 12, 1813, the bells began to sound on it again. In 1814, restoration of the belfry began, which was restored from ruins by the end of 1815. Basically, during construction, bricks from destroyed buildings were used, because, as one of the architects wrote, “more brick is needed, because there are all the old ones, which are better than the new ones, and now it is impossible to find one.”

Thanks to the painstaking work of architects I. Egorov, A. Balakirev, L. Ruska, D. Gilardi and others, the new buildings exactly repeated the ancient structures in shape and volume. However, the details of the decoration of the facades, for example in the design of windows, were influenced by classicism of the 19th century. Probably at the same time, completions in the form of shells appeared above the windows of the third floor of the belfry, repeating similar design elements of the Archangel Cathedral.

Today, the bell tower and belfry house more than twenty unique bells, which are monuments of the foundry art of the 16th-19th centuries. Thus, on the lower tier of the bell tower there are bells created by outstanding Russian foundry workers Ivan Motorin, Semyon Mozzhukhin, Vasily and Yakov Leontyev. On the second tier hang ten bells of the 16th-17th centuries, on the third - three small bells of the 17th century.

The largest bell, located in the central opening of the belfry, is the “Uspensky” bell, weighing sixty-four tons. It was cast by Moscow foundry worker Yakov Zavyalov and his assistant Rusinov in 1817 from a bell that was broken in the explosion of 1812. The bell is decorated with portraits of Emperor Alexander I and the royal family, medallions depicting Christ, the Mother of God, John the Baptist, Metropolitans Peter and Alexei, and the composition “The Dormition of the Mother of God.”

In the lower tier of the Ivan the Great Bell Tower it is planned to open an exhibition dedicated to the history and architecture of existing and lost monuments of the Moscow Kremlin. Architectural details of the first white-stone churches of the time of Ivan Kalita, a stone slab of the 15th century with a Latin inscription about the foundation of the Spasskaya Tower, sculptural images of lions and chimeras that adorned the ancient Spasskaya Tower and the Red Porch, miniatures, watercolors and engravings will introduce visitors to the architectural appearance of the Kremlin of the 14th-19th centuries .

On the ground floor of the Assumption Belfry there is an exhibition hall. Various exhibitions from the collections of the Moscow Kremlin Museum and many other Russian and foreign collections are constantly organized here.

http://www.zvon.ru/zvon7.view2.page9.html

The dedication of the first temple of the “like the bells” type to John Climacus is quite natural, because this saint was the namesake of Prince Ivan Danilovich himself (1325-1340). In the spring of 1329, the dominant position of Moscow among the Russian lands was secured by the foundation of the pillar-shaped Church of the Scribe of the Ladder of John “like the bells.” From the first third of the 14th century, a new stage began in the casting of bells in Rus'. It is characterized by the orientation of Rus' to the west, where bells and ringing were then more widespread than in the Orthodox east. Small bells come to Rus' from Western Europe, and foundry masters also arrive to fulfill Russian orders for “heavy bells,” with the original Italians being replaced by German craftsmen.

The tradition of casting bells on site became widespread in Rus'. There are known cases of large bells being poured near churches and monasteries until the end of the 19th century. With this method, the master with apprentices and assistants determine the size of the casting pit, according to the diameter of the future bell and furnace, if the bell is small, or several casting furnaces, placing them around the casting pit. Thus, the casting of bells for the Church of St. John the Climacus took place next to the cathedral square. It is possible that during subsequent archaeological work in the Kremlin, a foundry pit will be discovered in which master Boris the Roman cast the first bells for the church.

The Temple of St. John the Climacus is of great interest to the researcher because it was the first stone church with bells known to us, the first pillar-shaped church-belltower known to us and the first location of the temple between two cathedrals, which for a long time determined the place of construction of bell towers and belfries in other architectural ensembles. Examining famous bell towers and belfries, we find consecrated altars at their base and, accordingly, we can interpret them as churches of the same type “with bells” as the first Climacus of Kalita. The throne was located in the St. George Church “under the bells” in the village of Kolomenskoye near Moscow, in the nine-sided pillar of the Spaso-Evfimiev Monastery in Suzdal and the bell tower of the Novodevichy Convent in Moscow there were two thrones one above the other. During the reconstruction of the Cathedral Square of the Moscow Kremlin in 1913, the white stone foundation and lower parts of the masonry walls of the Church of St. John Climacus from 1329 were discovered.

The temple was a relatively regular octagon with semi-columns at the corners. The diameter along the external walls along the north-south axis was 8.5 m. Obviously, the length of the temple along the east-west axis was slightly larger, but did not exceed 9 m. The length of the wall gap between the semi-columns ranged from 310 to 360 cm. The interior space of the church without accounting for the altar room was small and represented a space of approximately 5 by 5 meters. The thickness of the church walls varied depending on the specific location and could reach a maximum of 150 cm. As for the height of the building, there is no specific data. However, if we take into account the fact of partial preservation of similar pillar-shaped “bell-shaped” churches in the Intercession (1516) and Spaso-Evfimiev monasteries in Suzdal, then some assumptions can be made with sufficient accuracy, because These churches are replica buildings from the first pillar of Ivan the Climacus of Moscow.

The eight bells of the Moscow pillar were located in niches under the zakomari, laid out accordingly to the size of each bell. There was no climb up to the bells. The bells were hung in a strictly defined way: in the western arch, the largest bell was located, to the right and left of it hung bells of smaller weight, and so on until the farthest eastern arch, where the smallest bell was located. This principle of hanging was applied on the pillar of Ivan III and Vasily III. The Swan bell is suspended above the entrance to the Church of St. John the Climacus; its weight is 450 pounds. To the right of it hangs the Novgorod bell, weighing 420 pounds, and to the left is the Bear bell, weighing 440 pounds (these bells were originally cast in the first third of the 16th century, the now preserved ones were recast with the reproduction of old inscriptions in the 1730s - 1770s) .

There is no bell in the northern arch, since after the addition of the temple in the 16th century, which was later built on with a belfry, the northern and northeastern arches of the bell tower were blocked. In the southern arch, following the Novgorod one, comes the Shirokiy bell, weighing more than 300 pounds, next to it is the Slobodskaya bell, lighter in weight and higher in sound, and the Rostov bell, weighing about 200 pounds, closes the row. The same order of hanging the bells continues to this day on the second tier of the Ivanovsky Pillar ringing, with the exception of the lost bell in the western arch of the bell tower.

Thus, in the first Moscow bell pillar, the basic principles of the formation of bell selections, the appropriate adaptation of architecture for increasing bells and the location of the bell-bearing structure relative to the temples were laid down, which subsequently became widespread in urban and monastic architectural ensembles, and the basic principles of constructing a bell-bearing structure between two main temples. The bell ringings from the time of the construction of the bell tower by Ivan Danilovich were simple and consisted of bells, chimes and ringings. The bell ringers, after rhythmically ringing the bell, rang all the other bells one after another.

The pillar of the church-belltower, erected by the Italian architect Bon Fryazin in 1505-1508, is a three-tiered tower, all of the arches of which, except for the two northern and northeastern ones on the first tier, which were later joined by the church-belfry in the name of the Nativity of Christ, include bells of different times of casting, weights and sounding. The bell ringers climbed to the first tier along a wide staircase inside the wall, starting to the left of the entrance to the Church of St. John the Climacus. On the right there is another spiral staircase, along which you can also climb to the first tier of the bell tower. Above the temple there are rooms, the purpose of which is unknown, since historically these rooms were not heated, it is unlikely that they were intended for bell ringers, although in the warm season they are very convenient for waiting for the signal to start ringing. On the first tier of the bell, before the belfry-temple was added to the north, there were eight bells. In the arches, where there are no bells now, there remain frames for their bell suspension, made of wrought iron.

The bells of the first tier were rung from the ground at the base of the pillar, where the rods coming from the hoops hung. To ring the Bear, Lebed and Novgorod bells, which weigh more than 400 pounds, at least two bell ringers were required. It is possible that the next two three-hundred-pound bells, Shiroky and Slobodskoy, were rocked by two. The Rostov bell, weighing more than two hundred pounds, could be rung by one person. Thus, only for the festive ringing of the bells of the first tier, at least 13-14 bell ringers were required. To ring the bells of the second tier, at the rate of one bell ringer for each bell, 8 bell ringers were required, although some ringing devices could reduce the number of ringers. The bells of the second tier, whose weight ranged from 200 to 40 pounds, were rung from the platform above the bells of the first tier. To ring the bells of the third tier, the bell ringers had to climb the tier to the bells. On the third tier there were medium and small ringing bells. The weight of the largest bell reached 40 pounds. The total number of these bells has varied over time. One of the proofs of the main method of ringing is the remote grid-pockets installed in the arches under the bells and serving to ensure that the tongue that comes off during ringing lingers right there on the ringing tier without falling down.

Pavel Aleppsky in his notes describes in detail the structure of the bell tower of the Moscow Kremlin: “The number of steps in the Ivanovo bell tower, in which a huge bell hangs, is 144. Inside the tower, along its circumference, there are numerous cells. From this tower you can get to where two bells hang, designated for ringing on weekdays and on the eve of holidays. This tower was built and supplied with bells in Bose by the late King John, donating at one time 120 houses with sufficient maintenance for the people assigned to the bell towers, who come in turn weekly and inseparably stay in the mentioned cells at night and during the day to ring the bells. On major holidays and on the days of religious processions, when all the bells are ringing, the bell ringers all appear and make the ringing."

In 1532-1544, the Church of the Nativity of Christ was added to the Ivanovo bell tower. Three rooms were built above the church, reminiscent of the structure of the belfry of the Savvino-Storozhevsky Monastery in Zvenigorod. In the 1620s, next to it, on the orders of Patriarch Filaret, another building was erected, later called the Filaret extension, where the Godunov bell weighing 2,200 pounds was placed. The ringing into it happened in a very clear way, and exactly as Adam Olearius described. In all likelihood, the ringing of the Tsar Bell by Alexander Grigoriev, cast in 1655, was already done using the tongue method.

One of the wonders of the Kremlin, which was marveled at before and which many tourists now consider it their duty to visit, is the so-called Ivan’s Pillar in the old days, and now simply Ivan the Great. It is not wonderful for its architecture, extremely uncomplicated and simple, nor is it remarkable for the design of the structure, since now the art of construction has gone far, but it was known as a miracle in the 17th century, and this glory has remained with it among the people to this day.

Erected in 1600 under Boris Godunov, the Ivanovsky Pillar, both in its position at the top of the Kremlin hill and in its height, more than 46 fathoms, caught the attention of not only Muscovites, but everyone approaching the city. No matter from which side of Moscow you approach it, the golden head of the Great Ivan is visible from afar, surrounded by the golden domes of cathedrals, churches, spiers of palaces and high pointed towers. Looking at it, the Orthodox Christian, approaching the city, makes the sign of the cross, and the tourist, seeing the shiny dot, no longer leaves the window of the car, admiring the increasingly picturesque city emerging from a distance.

The bell tower's past is not particularly remarkable. Erected on the site of the ancient Church of St. John the Climacus, from which it is believed to have received its name, Ivan the Great already in 1611 surprised the famous Maskevich and stood separately from other buildings. Under Mikhail Fedorovich, two extensions were made to it, but frequent fires, and especially the famous fire of 1737, meant that the building was restored several times, and the bells that fell during this terrible fire were re-cast and hung in place already under Anna Ioannovna. The year 1812 left even more significant traces. Two extensions to it, Uspenskaya and Filaretovskaya (from the time of Mikhail Fedorovich) were blown up during the famous explosions in the Kremlin, the Ivanovo pillar itself cracked, and the brightly shining cross was removed, but it turned out to be not gold, and therefore left broken. Soon, however, the extensions were erected again, adhering to the antiquity, the cracks were repaired, some of the fallen bells were recast and hung again, and the cross found among the ruins was renewed and again shone on top of the golden head of the bell tower.

In the past, in addition to its purpose of being a common bell tower for all cathedrals, the upper floor of Ivan the Great also served as an observation point, since, according to Snegirev, there were watchmen on it, looking out for enemies approaching Moscow. In addition, until the beginning of the 19th century there was a fire station here.

The area near the bell tower of Ivan the Great is also remarkable because here in the Kremlin, under Boris Godunov, the first velvet and brocade factory in Russia was located, and in another extension under Alexei Mikhailovich, a huge globe was placed. The building itself served as premises for some offices, and Ivanovskaya Square was a gathering place for clerks who wrote petitions, bills of sale, etc. to the people for a fee. Here, too, various royal decrees were announced publicly, as Snegirev says, “in all of Ivanovo,” and public executions were carried out before they were moved to Red Square. This is the past of Ivan the Great, but the churches placed in it: 1) John Climacus and in particular, 2) St. Nicholas of Gostunsky in the annex, are also remarkable for other historical memories.

The Church of St. John Climacus, located on the 1st floor of the bell tower, was first built in wood, built in 1320. Then, during the construction of the bell tower, it was broken and subsequently moved into the building itself, which was erected in its place, the St. Ivanovsky Pillar. Now it contains several wonderful ancient icons; the very interior of the church, which has been redone more than once, bears the character of an ordinary new church, enclosed in a very cramped space.

The Church of St. Nicholas of Gostunsky is memorable because it was erected on the square in front of the bell tower on the site where the Khan's courtyard stood until the end of the 15th century; with its construction, the Kremlin completely got rid of the presence of the Tatars. The deacon of this church, Ivan Fedorov, was the first in Russia to initiate book printing in 1567 with the publication of the Book of Hours. In 1816, the cathedral was demolished, the place was cleared, and the altar was moved to an extension to the bell tower, where it is now located.

The appearance of the structure does not have a monotonous character: the main building and the Assumption annex bear traces, like Byzantine-style cathedrals, and the other extension, with a pointed roof and turrets, shows the influence of Gothic. The hexagonal shape in the plan of the bell tower is preserved almost to the top, where it becomes cylindrical with Gothic ornaments and ends with the famous Byzantine golden onion with a cross, at the top of which is the inscription: “King of Glory.” Under the head, three black belts are dotted with the inscription in gold letters: “By the will of the Holy Trinity, by the command of the Great Sovereign, Tsar and Grand Duke Boris Feodorovich of All Russia, the autocrat, and his son, the Blessed Great Sovereign, Tsarevich, Prince Feodor Borisovich of All Russia, the temple was built and gilded in the second summer Their states are 108 years old (1600).”

Ivan the Great still serves as the bell tower for all three large Kremlin cathedrals. There are only 34 bells on it, of which 4 of the largest are in the Assumption Annex. Among them are remarkable:

1. Assumption, or festive (4000 pounds), the largest, cast by Bogdanov from the old one, which was broken during the explosion of the extension in 1812. This is the bell that is rung on major holidays and struck three times on the death of sovereigns. Its sound is remarkable for its fullness of tone, harmony and strength. During the ringing, he seems to sing in a powerful, majestic voice; many music lovers listen to him; From the illuminated bell tower they are given the beginning of that solemn ringing of all Moscow churches on the great night before Easter, which calls crowds of people to the Kremlin Square...

2. Reut (2000 pounds), cast in 1689 by master Chekhov. In 1812, he fell, but did not break, and therefore was hanged again in place.

3. Everyday (1017 pounds), cast from an old one in 1782.

4. Seven hundred, cast in 1704.

All these bells are the work of Russian masters - Bogdanov, Chokhov, Zavyalov and Matorin. Among other bells, there are several that attract attention due to their foreign origin or antiquity.

The bells are usually rung by bell-ringers who live in the outbuilding, but on holidays the ringing usually attracts amateurs to the bell tower, who play the role of bell-ringers. But it is not the bells that attract tourists to the bell tower, but the enchanting view that opens from the upper ledge of the bell tower to the city, suburbs and surrounding areas for more than 30 miles around. And indeed, the hard work of climbing the steep stairs to the bell tower is fully rewarded by contemplating the marvelous picture of the huge city, which spreads out at the feet of the observer. No wonder the Roman Emperor Joseph II in 1780 and Napoleon I with all the marshals in 1812 climbed the bell tower to admire the wonderful panorama of Moscow.

And now many who visit Moscow and see its sights rarely pass the small door located near the Tsar Bell and leading to the bell tower of Ivan the Great. Here tourists are usually greeted by the bell ringers, who have the privilege of leading them to the bell tower, and invite those who wish to climb to the height of its balcony to admire from a bird's eye view the seven-hundred-year old city scattered over the hills. On a sunny, warm day, this view is capable of holding any amateur tourist at the height of the bell tower for a long time, and the memory of it will remain in his memory for a long time. During holidays, and especially during coronation celebrations, the bell tower is usually luxuriously illuminated, and the lighting of the illumination serves as a signal for the beginning of the illumination of the entire city.

Fabricius M.P. The Kremlin in Moscow, essays and pictures of the past and present. Moscow, publication T.I. Hagen, 1883. http://www.zvon.ru/zvon7.view2.page85.html

“The bell tower belongs together to the Assumption, Archangel and Annunciation Cathedrals, which do not have their own separate belfries.”

“The entire complex building of this bell tower consists of three parts. The Ivanovo part has a round pillar at the top and an octagonal pillar at the bottom.” This is the southern and highest part of the complex.

“In 1329, on the site of the modern pillar of Ivan the Great, Kalita built the second Kremlin white-stone church of John Climacus, “consecrated on October 1, 1329.”

“In 1329, the stone church of Climacus was built, “that under the bells is the first bell tower in Moscow, and maybe in Rus'.”

“The church was made of stone, there was a bell tower above it, which had previously served for the Assumption Cathedral, which never had a special bell tower, and therefore the church was known under the name “St. Ivan under the Bells” to distinguish it from the Ivanovo Church on Bor and was considered a chapel Assumption Cathedral until the end of the 18th century.

After 176 years, the dilapidated church was dismantled and a new one was founded in its place at the same time as the Archangel Cathedral.” "The church of 1329 was dismantled in 1505."

“The new church was built in 1505-1508. Bon Fryazin; originally it was a two-tier pillar with the Church of St. John the Climacus in the lower tier. In 1600, by order of Boris Godunov, the bell tower was built on and completed with a gilded dome, which was immortalized by an inscription in gold letters on a black background at the base of the bell tower.”

“This inscription reads: “By the will of the Holy Trinity, by the command of the Great Sovereign, Tsar and Grand Duke Boris Feodorovich, the autocrat of All Rus' and the son of his rightful Great Sovereign Tsarevich and Grand Duke Feodor Borisovich of All Rus', the temple was completed and gilded in the second summer of their State in the year 108.” - i.e. 7108 from the creation of the world, 1600 after the Nativity of Christ.

After Godunov’s death, this inscription was sealed up, but was reopened by order of Peter I.” The last time the inscription was restored was in the late 1970s.

“The lower octagon is divided inside into two floors. Below there was a church, above - ceremonial rooms, the purpose of which is unknown. The interior of the church is distinguished by the presence of semicircular niches for placing the altar, deacon and altar, as well as similar niches on the southern and northern sides. The restoration has revealed the original (“herringbone”) floor.”

“The bell tower was built to give work to the people who flocked to Moscow during the famine.”

“There is an assumption that the Godunov superstructure was carried out by the architect F. Kon. The height of the pillar of Ivan the Great became 81 m.” “The architect who built the top of the pillar is unknown; however, they point to a certain architect Ivan Villiers.”

“For three and a half centuries, until the mid-20th century, Ivan the Great was the largest building in Moscow. It was also used to monitor the approach of enemy troops to Moscow and the fires that broke out. On major holidays, crowds of people gathered in the square, waiting for the first strike of the large bell from the Ivanovo bell tower. At his signal, the bells began to ring in all Moscow churches, the number of which reached 260. This large bell did not emit a ringing, but a kind of powerful, dull hum. One of the poets wrote about him: “... Ivan the Great is buzzing, buzzing, as if a ringing is coming from the depths of centuries!”

“Next to Ivan the Great there are two of his belfries. Directly adjacent to it from the north, it was erected in 1532-1543. by the Russified Italian architect Petrok Maly, which is why it is called Petrokovskaya. Its other name is Uspenskaya. The second, ending with a small octagonal tent with turrets at the corners, was added in the 20s of the 18th century. by order of Patriarch Filaret. Hence its name Filaretovskaya.” “The Filaret part was built in 1624 by B. Ogurtsov.”

In ancient times, in the Assumption (Petrokovskaya) part, they began to build the Church of the Resurrection, which, after completion, however, was consecrated under Ivan the Terrible in the name of the Nativity of Christ. It was later abolished. But since 1817, the Church of St. Nicholas of Gostunsky, which operated until 1918, was moved to the second tier of the Assumption part of Ivan the Great. The following No. 7 is dedicated to its description.

“In the old days, near Ivan the Great there was a square where the royal decrees were read loudly, “in full Ivanovo,” as they said then.”

“Between the lower and second tiers of Ivan the Great - and there are five tiers in it - there is a high cylindrical void more than 4 fathoms wide, near which there is a spiral staircase above. Here, according to legend, the first impostor, having become king, wanted to build a Roman Catholic church.”

There was a royal decree that for a long time prohibited the construction in Russia of buildings exceeding the height of Ivan the Great. The first to break it was the Church of the Archangel Gabriel - the “Menshikov Tower”, erected in 1707 - but already in 1723 its top was burned by a lightning strike. And even in 1913, during the construction of the bell tower at the Rogozhsky Old Believer cemetery in Moscow, a special order was made that its height should be one meter less than the Kremlin belfry.

During the French invasion, the bell tower was badly damaged.

“On September 2, 1812, when the bell of the Ivanovo bell tower signaled Vespers, enemy troops were entering Moscow. When leaving Moscow, the French made tunnels for an explosion in different places of the Kremlin. On the night of October 11, explosions followed: the Arsenal, the Nikolskaya Tower and the Ivanovo Bell Tower (Filaret Tower). The Kremlin and Kazan squares and their surroundings were filled with piles of stones. The rest of the diggings were unsuccessful; the fire did not reach the gunpowder. 60 barrels of gunpowder were removed from the failed mines. One part of the Ivanovo bell tower (Filaretovskaya with the Nativity Church next to it) was blown up and fell into ruins; the other part (Godunovskaya) was cracked from top to bottom.

In 1813, on May 3, the architects Egorov, Sokolov and Bakarev inspected the bell tower and decided that there would be no great danger if the remaining bell tower was not destroyed, but corrected. An estimate of 391.8 thousand rubles was drawn up for the restoration of the bell tower. The Emperor sent the architect Louis Rusco from St. Petersburg to inspect the bell tower. 7 Dec. 1813 Rusko gathered all the architects of Moscow to inspect the bell tower, and they also decided not to dismantle the remaining part. The estimate was drawn up for 253.8 thousand rubles. Rusko explained:

1. The biggest damage is in the bell tower (Godunovskaya) under the third tier of bells; the upper part, round, was not damaged in any way except the dome, from which part of the copper sheets and the cross were torn off. From this damage there are small cracks down to the bottom that don’t mean anything. If you tear down the bell tower up to the third tier or the whole one, and then build it, even then it will not be stronger than the existing one after repair.

2. Little gunpowder was placed under the destroyed extension (Filaretovskaya), which is why the tower collapsed and the material remained in place, far from being scattered.

Rusco, a Frenchman, could not stay in Moscow. He appointed the architects Gilardi and Beauvais, also French, to restore the bell tower.”

“We cannot ignore the fact that, according to popular legend, the four-pointed cross located on the middle head of the Annunciation Cathedral, elevated above the others, is all gold. They say that Napoleon, who heard about this, removed from Ivan the Great an iron cross covered with gilded copper sheets, believing that it was a golden cross. There is a legend that neither Napoleonic technicians nor engineers could remove this cross. But there was a Russian peasant who, having climbed to the top of the bell tower, removed the cross using a rope. Napoleon immediately ordered the traitor to be shot.”

“In 1812, the structure was blown up by order of Napoleon. But in 1814-1815. Two of the three parts of Ivan the Great - Filaretovskaya and Uspenskaya - were restored, with the introduction of a number of classicist details. The restoration was carried out by I. Gilardi according to the design of I.V. Egotova and L. Ruska. The pillar of Ivan the Great stood."

“The Filaretovskaya extension suffered the most from the French explosions in 1812, which was therefore rebuilt almost anew. In the Assumption part, the top where the large bells hang was damaged; During the renovation, some deviations from antiquity were allowed, for example in the form of windows. The Ivanovo part was almost undamaged.”

“Now (in 1910 - P.P.) in the lower part of the Ivanovo bell tower there is still the Church of St. John Climacus, renewed by prof. Mudrov and consecrated in 1822. It was also restored in 1874 by Moscow banner bearers.

The head of the bell tower is gilded. The cross is made up of several iron strips and covered with gilded copper sheets. It was made again after 1812, and the old one was removed by Napoleon.

It is worth noting that from the entrance to the bell tower to the lower circle there are 151 steps on a steep spiral staircase, from the lower to the middle there are 157, and from the middle to the upper there are 121, for a total of 429 steps.

Sextons and cathedral guards currently live under the lower tier of the bell tower.

The view from the Ivan the Great Bell Tower of Moscow and its surroundings, especially in clear weather, is incredibly charming: even villages and buildings located 30 and 40 versts from Moscow are visible.”

“In 1917, the eastern and southeastern sides of Ivan the Great were damaged by shells; there were many potholes and bullet wounds on the walls.”

In the premises of the bell tower there was part of the Patriarchal sacristy.

In the mid-1950s. The bell tower was restored. New exterior renovations took place in the late 1970s. There is no access for visitors inside, much less upstairs. The premises of the former Church of St. John the Climacus are occupied for economic needs. From time to time, exhibitions are held on the lower floor of the Filaretovskaya part.

An interesting panoramic album was released for the 1980 Olympics. On one side, photographs of the Moscow panorama from the Cathedral of Christ the Savior from the middle of the last century, released by N.A., were deliberately blurred. Naydenov. On the other hand, there are color photographs in approximately the same sequence, taken in our time - in the absence of the destroyed Cathedral of Christ - from the Ivanovo Bell Tower.

Special mention should be made about the bells of Ivan the Great.

“All the bells on Ivan the Great, with extensions, are now (in 1910 - P.P.) 34, their total weight is 16,000 pounds. Some hanging on the St. Ivanovsky pillar itself have interesting inscriptions, but the oldest bells are few. Between them is the Novgorod 15th century, which is believed to have been poured from the famous Vechevoy.

Here are the bells located in the Filaretov extension:

1. Uspensky, called in the old days the Tsar Bell. It was cast in the first half of the 16th century, probably by a foreigner, weighing 1000 pounds and hung on a timber frame between the Ivanovo bell tower and the cathedrals. It was called only in emergency cases, such as the death of a tsar, or someone from the royal family, or a metropolitan, and subsequently a patriarch. Then the bell was placed on the Filaretovskaya bell tower itself and, having been cast in 1760 by master Elizov, weighed 3551 pounds. During the explosion in 1812, it was completely destroyed, and was made new in 1819, by master Bogdanov, with more than 4,000 pounds.

2. Reut. Cast in 1689 by order of Patriarch Joachim by cannon master Andrei Chekhov. It is called Polyeleum and weighs up to 2000 pounds. This bell is remarkable in that during the explosion in 1812 its ears were knocked off, which, however, were skillfully attached, and the bell did not change its tone.

3. Seven hundred, or Sunday, weighing 798 pounds. The inscription on the bell indicates that it was cast in 1704 by master Ivan Materin.

4. Everyday. It was originally cast in 1652 by master Emelyan Danilov and weighed 998 pounds 30 pounds. Then, under Catherine II, in 1782 it was poured by master Yakov Zavyalov with a weight of 1017 pounds and 14 pounds. All this is explained by the inscription on the bell. He is called daily by Patriarch Joachim.

The ringing of all these bells together, which happens only on the biggest holidays and especially solemn days, produces a charming impression.”

“On the Ivanovo Bell Tower there are 34 bells. The largest is the Assumption, weighing 4000 pounds; Reut, or Revun, or Polyeleony 2000 poods. The oldest bell Bear, 1501, 450 poods; Tatar - 40 poods. Other bells: Swan, Ram(?), Polyeleiny, or Golodar(?), Korsunsky, Yasachny, etc.”

In the early 1920s. virtuoso bell ringer K.K. Saradzhev, who distinguished the finest shades of bell ringing, said: “The ringing of Ivan the Great is nothing, absolutely nothing, just dark, deafening, completely meaningless thunder, but the bells themselves are excellent; There are 36 of them in total, and in terms of selection, the situation is excellent.”

Currently, the number of bells on Ivan the Great has decreased by almost half: “There are 18 bells on the bell tower of Ivan the Great. The largest bell is the Uspensky bell, weighing 4,000 pounds (it was cast in the 19th century by masters Zavyalov and Rusinov).”

To the east of Ivan the Great, the famous Tsar Bell, which was broken, was also installed, the voice of which, recently artificially synthesized and reproduced, should have been even lower and “silent” than the sound of Uspensky.

“Then, next to the church of Ivan Climacus, Grand Duke Vasily III Ioannovich ordered the Fryazin Petrok the Small to build another church in the name of the Resurrection of Christ. It began in 1532 and ended during the reign of John IV, but with the name already the Cathedral of the Nativity of Christ. A staircase was made from it in 1552 to the Assumption Cathedral, dismantled under Emperor Pavel Petrovich. The Nativity Cathedral was renewed back in 1635: Patriarch Filaret Nikitich made an extension from this church to house bells. The extension had four piers, above which rose a yar-painted dome with a gilded cross and next to it a spire also with a cross, surrounded by small turrets with spiers. In 1812, this extension was blown up and in its place was built the one that still exists today, but, as architecture experts say, it was made higher than the previous one and therefore takes away a lot of grandeur from Ivan the Great himself.

The extreme part of this building, to the north, called Filaretovskaya, ends with a pyramidal top and Gothic ornaments, and the middle, near the Ivanovo pillar itself, called Uspenskaya, has a smoother appearance and at the top a large dome with a gilded dome, under which the very first of bells by weight, called Uspensky. Inside the building is the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker of Gostun, renamed in 1816 from the former Cathedral of the Nativity of Christ, into which, at the same time, after the abolition of the Gostun Cathedral, part of the relics of the saint and his miraculous icons were transferred.”

“The Assumption part - a wide quadrangle, also with a gilded dome - was built in 1532 by the architect Petrok Maly; The Church of the Nativity of Christ was previously located here, since 1817 it was replaced by the Church of St. Nicholas Gostunsky.

From the French explosions of 1812, the most damaged was the Filaret extension - the third part of the bell tower, with a hipped top, covered with green tiles, built by Patriarch Filaret from the north of the Assumption part - and therefore it was rebuilt almost anew. In the Assumption part, the top where the large bells hang was damaged; during the renovation, some deviations from the antiquity were allowed, for example in the form of windows.”

“Adjacent to the bell tower, on the site where the Cathedral of the Nativity was previously located, there is the Filaretovsky extension, blown up by the French in 1812 and built again.”

Nowadays, for some reason, the history of the temple is presented as a “discovery” of modern restorers - although all three of the above pre-revolutionary sources speak about this quite clearly: “Previously it was believed that in 1532-1543. a belfry for large bells was built next to the pillar of Ivan the Great (at first the construction was led by the Italian Petrok). According to S.S. Podyapolsky, expressed in 1978, Petrok built next to Ivan the Great not a belfry, but the Church of the Resurrection. The construction of the church was completed after the departure of Petrok the Small from Moscow, in 1552 (the existence of the church until the middle of the 17th century is confirmed by the notes of foreigners who visited Moscow at that time, starting with Heinrich Staden, who served as guardsman for Ivan the Terrible in 1560- s, and ending with Adam Olearius, who visited Moscow in 1643 on his way to Persia). Between the church and the bell tower of Ivan the Great hung a large bell. Here also stood a wooden belfry carrying a huge bell, cast, according to legend, during the reign of Boris Godunov. In the second half of the 17th century. The church was converted into a stone belfry of the Pskov type.

In 1624, Patriarch Filaret ordered the construction of another bell tower to the north, behind which the name Filaret’s extension was established (B. Ogurtsov). In 1812, both structures were blown up by order of Napoleon, but in 1814-1815. restored (with the introduction of a number of classical details) by I. Gilardi according to the design of I.V. Egorova and L. Ruska.”

“Near the Ivanovo Bell Tower, the St. Nicholas Cathedral has long stood, named after the image of St. Nicholas, sent from the Gostuni River, built in 1506 by order of the leader. book Vasily Ivanovich.

In 1812, the cathedral was devastated by the enemy, but remained intact. In 1814 they decided to repair the cathedral and make minor changes. After the Sovereign’s visit to Moscow, the Right Reverend wrote to the Synod in 1816: according to the Highest permission (probably at the request of the Right Reverend), the St. Nicholas-Gostunsky Cathedral, as dilapidated and, due to its location and the poverty of its architecture, making a disgrace to the Kremlin, must be dismantled, the miraculous image of Nikolai Gostunsky and the whole move the utensils to the newly built church in the Ivanovo bell tower, where the Nativity Church used to be. Consecrate it in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker and call it St. Nicholas Cathedral.

The Synod agreed to this. In 1817, the building of the Gostun Cathedral was dismantled; in 1818, the bishop consecrated the new Gostun Cathedral in the bell tower of Ivan the Great. Thus the ancient cathedral ended its existence. Many regretted the loss of this antiquity.” “The cathedral was dismantled overnight.”

“The Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker of Gostunsky existed since the end of the 15th century. in the Kremlin opposite the current Small Nicholas Palace. In 1817 it was dismantled, but in the then restored Assumption part of the Ivanovo bell tower, a new church was built with the name of “Nikola Gostunsky”.

“The high open porch with a walkway, located on the western facade and leading to the church, is covered with flies. It was erected in 1849-1852. K.A. In tone. Located on the third tier, the church, externally distinguished only by the rich design of windows and portals, is increased in height inside due to the fourth (attic) tier, illuminated by dormer windows. The corner parts of the temple are two-height. Empire monumentality was evident in the design of the church interior. Its main part is covered with a low domed vault and is higher than other divisions. The dome is separated from the walls by a strongly extended cornice. The space under the dome is opened to almost its entire height into the adjacent side and altar parts by arched openings with a wide profiled archivolt.”

“In the middle section of the bell tower there is a chapel of St. Nicholas of Gostunsky, it contains a temple icon in front of which Peter I prayed when going on campaigns. At the bottom of the extension there was formerly a guardhouse, and now a room for the sale of spiritual and moral books.”

"Church of St. Nicholas Gostunsky, renamed from the former Church of the Nativity. It contains part of the relics and an ancient icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, carved from wood” - now it is on “exhibition” in the Church of the Deposition of the Robe.

“The stone church of St. Nicholas Gostunsky has stood since 1506. Later, the famous pioneer printer Ivan Fedorov served as a deacon there. The church was dismantled in 1816.”

In 1917, during artillery shelling of the Kremlin, the church suffered significant destruction. “A shell flew into the altar window of the St. Nicholas Cathedral and destroyed the eastern wall inside the altar, exploding in the altar itself. A large ancient Gospel that stood against the destroyed wall was thrown onto the floor near the altar. The top cover of the Gospel is broken off and the icons of the Resurrection of Christ and the Evangelists that were on it are knocked out and scattered in different directions. Many leaves from this Gospel are torn and crumpled. The altar is broken, the liturgical books are torn. Bricks, shell fragments, church objects are scattered throughout the altar, and all this is piled up between the altar and the Royal Doors. The throne, despite its proximity to the hole, remained unharmed. In the Church of St. Nicholas of Gostunsky there is a great shrine - part of the relics of St. Nicholas, that saint whom all Christians and even pagans revere. Alas, the Russian people showed such desecration of this shrine that it’s scary to even talk about! The walls at the entrance to the temple are covered with the most vulgar, dirty and blasphemous inscriptions and curses in Russian and German, and at the entrance to the temple where the shrine is located, a latrine was built. Please note that this is not on the street, but at the top of the Ivan the Great Bell Tower.”

Currently, the premises of the cathedral are occupied by the storage of the Kremlin museums; visitors have no access there.

http://www.zvon.ru/article7.view2.page86.part1.html

The famous philosopher and publicist, Prince Evgeny Nikolaevich Trubetskoy, wrote in his works about the Kremlin bell tower: “When looking at our Moscow Ivan the Great, it seems that we have in front of us, as it were, a giant candle burning towards the sky above Moscow; and the multi-domed Kremlin cathedrals and multi-domed churches they are, as it were, huge, multi-branched trees.”

The Bell Tower of Ivan the Great is known under different names - from the main temple of St. John the Climacus, to its masculine proper name. “Ivan the Great” sounded truly royal, and there were good reasons for this, and above all, the record size of the bell tower. When in 1600 the architect Fyodor Kon laid out its third tier with a thickness of only three bricks, this building reached 81 meters, becoming the tallest building in all of Moscow. It was built from 1501 to 1508 to replace the white stone Church of St. John the Climacus “like the bells”, and at first, thanks to the Italian architect Bon Fryazin, it was a system of “octagons on octagons” - more than fifty meters high, with a church altar inside the first tier. Boris Godunov ordered the building to be expanded at the end of the 16th century, intending to erect a truly Ecumenical Temple in Moscow. Due to the drum under the cross, the upward length of this stone colossus increased, which became the tallest Russian building for two centuries. The monarch did not forget himself, ordering that the very top of the bell drum be decorated with a gilded inscription announcing the accession of Godunov.

Very soon the bell tower became a reference point not only in academic textbooks, but also in folklore. It was to her that from now on high-ranking people in Rus' owed the nickname “child from Ivan the Great,” and festive chimes in honor of august births, weddings and military victories for the people from now on meant “ringing all over Ivanovo.” During the stay of Napoleonic army in Moscow in 1812, according to legend, even Moscow crows bravely attacked the French, who intended to deprive “Ivan the Great” of the cross. During Napoleon’s retreat from the Mother See, the bell tower resisted attempts to blow it up by “enlightened and cultured” Europeans. In Rus', it was strictly forbidden to build temples and bell towers higher than the Moscow Ivan the Great Bell Tower. The desire to build the 84.3-meter Menshikov Tower was also unsuccessful: in 1723, lightning struck the spire and knocked down the top of this building. Only the Cathedral of Christ the Savior took away the palm of the high-altitude championship from “Ivan the Great”.

From the magazine "Orthodox Temples. Travel to Holy Places." Issue No. 317, 2018