The Great Bell Tower of Ivan the Great

El Great Bell Tower of Ivan the Great It is the tallest of the bell towers of the Kremlin complex of Moscow, with a total height of 81 meters (266 feet). It was built for the Cathedral of the Annunciation, which lacks its own bell towers, and is said to mark the geographic center of Moscow.

Construction started in 1329. After the death of Ivan III (also called Ivan the Great) in 1505, his son Basil III ordered a new tower as a monument to honor his father. From 1505 to 1508, it was the new bell tower erected next to the church on the foundations of the old tower, which gave it its name.

At first, it had two bell towers on different levels, but in 1600 under Boris Godunov it was raised to the height of today. Until the construction of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, it was the tallest building in old Moscow, and it was forbidden to put up a building in Moscow that was taller than the Bell Tower.

There is a popular but debatable legend that when Napoleon conquered Moscow in 1812, he learned that the cross on the central dome of the Cathedral of the Annunciation had been cast in solid gold, and he immediately gave orders to remove it.

The Great Bell Tower of Ivan the Great stands next to the Bell Tower of the Assumption, which was built between 1523 and 1543 by Italian immigrant architect Petrok Maly Fryazino (who converted to Orthodox Christianity and settled in Russia).

It contains the Great Assumption Bell, which was launched in the mid-19th century by Zavyalov, and is the largest of all the Kremlin bells. This set consists of 24 large bells.


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