The Tsar Cannon
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This substantial square within the Kremlin is the Ivan Square, called “Ivanovsky” in Russian. On Ivanovsky your eye is immediate drawn to the unfeasibly large cannon. Reaching skywards behind the cannon is the Ivan The Great Bell Tower. In the further distance you see the multiple glittering onion-domes of the Kremlin Cathedrals. The four-storey building on the opposing side of the square is a Military Academy.
This monster cannon deserves its name of Tsar-Cannon. It’s impossible to pass-on by without stopping in amazement. It’s calculated to weigh forty metric tonnes, and it is more than five metres (16 feet) in length. The gargantuan weapon was the brainchild of infamous Russian Tsar, Boris Godunov. He intended a weapon whose existence would stupefy the common folk, and send a wave of terror through the ranks of his enemies – the Tatars.
Tsar Boris Godunov commissioned master weapon-smith Andrey Chokhov to cast the most terrifying instrument of war imaginable – a symbol of his awesome power. But in fact the Tsar Cannon’s power lay only in its appearance, for it never saw action. The enormous cannon balls lying nearby are purely decorative – they are slightly too wide for the calibre of the barrel, and in any case the cannon couldn’t fire such munitions in any case.
Photo Moscow July 2011-10a, by Alvesgaspar, is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0
This monster cannon deserves its name of Tsar-Cannon. It’s impossible to pass-on by without stopping in amazement. It’s calculated to weigh forty metric tonnes, and it is more than five metres (16 feet) in length. The gargantuan weapon was the brainchild of infamous Russian Tsar, Boris Godunov. He intended a weapon whose existence would stupefy the common folk, and send a wave of terror through the ranks of his enemies – the Tatars.
Tsar Boris Godunov commissioned master weapon-smith Andrey Chokhov to cast the most terrifying instrument of war imaginable – a symbol of his awesome power. But in fact the Tsar Cannon’s power lay only in its appearance, for it never saw action. The enormous cannon balls lying nearby are purely decorative – they are slightly too wide for the calibre of the barrel, and in any case the cannon couldn’t fire such munitions in any case.
Photo Moscow July 2011-10a, by Alvesgaspar, is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0
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