THE greate;st belIv that man has ever made 



This huge bell was built by Boris Goudonov to hang in the bell tower, but when com- 

 pleted was found too heavy for the building to support. It was therefore hung on a plat- 

 form outside the tower (travelers to Moscow in 1611 reported that twenty-four men were 

 needed to swing the tongue), but a few years later a fire in the Kremlin destroyed the plat- 

 form and the bell was broken. It was recast some years later, only to be again broken. A 

 third time it was recast, this time even larger than before, but the water poured on it when 

 it was red-hot, in another fire, caused it to crack. It fell again and remained buried for 

 100 years at the foot of the tower, until Emperor Nicholas I, in 1835, had it excavated and 

 mounted, as shown in this picture. It is believed to weigh about 200 tons. 



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