Tsar Bell
— — the bell that was never rung.
Not only on a wall.
“A bronze giant on a stone pedestal inside the Moscow Kremlin, never struck. Cast in a foundry pit between 1733 and 1735, then cracked in a 1737 fire when water hit the hot metal. A slab broke off and stayed broken. The bell sat in the pit for almost a century before Auguste de Montferrand lifted it onto its base.
Tsar Bell, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
The Tsar Bell stands on a granite pedestal on the grounds of the Moscow Kremlin, a short walk from the Ivan the Great Bell Tower. It was commissioned by Empress Anna Ivanovna and cast in a foundry pit on Ivanovskaya Square by Ivan Motorin and his son Mikhail between 1733 and 1735. The bell weighs about 202 metric tons and stands 6.14 metres tall, making it the heaviest bell in the world. Auguste de Montferrand, the architect of Saint Isaac's Cathedral, raised it onto its pedestal in 1836.
The body is bronze, roughly 80 percent copper and 20 percent tin, with traces of silver and gold from offerings tossed into the foundry pit. The broken slab beside the bell weighs about 11.5 metric tons and shows clearly where the metal failed during the 1737 Trinity fire. Restorers chose not to repair the crack, and it became part of the object. Reliefs on the body show Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and Empress Anna Ivanovna, ringed by figures of saints and ornamental scrolls.
The bell sits inside the Kremlin walls and is reached through the Kutafiya Tower entrance. A general Kremlin grounds ticket covers it, separate from the cathedrals and the Armoury. The site is open most days except Thursday, the standard Kremlin closure. Visitors can walk around the pedestal but not touch the bronze. Cathedral Square, with the Assumption and Archangel cathedrals, is a few steps away, and the Ivan the Great Bell Tower rises directly above.