THE FIRST TIER OF THE BELL TOWER

Today, there are six bells on the first tier of the bell tower, namely Medved (bear), Lebed (swan), Shirokiy (wide), Novgorodsky (Novgorod), Slobodsky (Sloboda) and Rostovsky (Rostov). Four of them are used in the chimes. Up to the 17th century the chiming was done by “ochepny” method (it means that a bell was swung from the ground by a lever).

The Novgorodsky bell was recast in 1730 by the master Ivan Motorin out of the church-going bell of 1555 from the Cathedral of St Sophia in Novgorod. It is reflected in the long inscription, which also included the text from the former bell. It is a rare case — usually, bells do not have any signs of their predecessors. It is remarkable that the ornamental band of the bell bears an image of SS Peter and Paul keeping the scroll with the views of Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg. The weight of the Novgorodsky bell is 430 poods (about 7 tons).

The bells Medved and Lebed were cast in 1775 by bell founder Semyon Mozhzhukhin. They are very similar and weigh about 450 poods (more than 7 tons) each. Both bells have their own history, started as early as the 16th century. In the past times, the Lebed was a church-going bell of Tsar Vassily III. It was cast in 1532 by German master Nicholas Oberaker. And the Medved bell appeared in 1571, during the reign of Ivan the Terrible. The bells were originally cast in Alexandrovskaya Sloboda (settlement) by bell founder Ivan Afanassiev for the city of Novgorod, but it was said that the Tsar got angry for something and the bell remained in Moscow. Recasting the bells Lebed and Medved, Semyon Mozhzhukhin kept the old inscriptions of them.

The Rostovsky bell was acquired from Belogostitskiy Monastery of Rostov eparchy. 

The bell Shirokiy was cast in 1679 by bell-founders and brothers Vassily and Yakov Leontievs. It weights 300 poods (almost 5 tons). The bell got its name because of its proportions. There is an unusually fine and flat ornament on the bell which reminds of the filigree technique. The inscription covers two upper rows of the bell and continues in the lower part. Relief letters are worked out very well, so the inscription is easily read. The only unusual thing is that words are separated one from another by two dots. The sound of the Shirokiy bell is very melodious, continues and for a long time after the end of chime it does not fade away.¹

¹ Yu.Moskvichyova, K.Mishurovsky