Northern Lands; Or, Young America in Russia and PrussiaOptic, Oliver
General
Northern Lands; Or, Young America in Russia and Prussia
Optic, Oliver
Prussia (Germany) -- Description and travel -- Juvenile fiction; Russia -- Description and travel -- Juvenile fiction
This tower is a very singular structure. It was built in 1600, by Boris
Godunoff. It is three hundred and twenty-five feet from the ground to
the top of the cross, and contains five stories, the first four of
which are square, and the last circular, with a dome. In the lower
story is a chapel, and the next three contain thirty-four bells of
all sizes, the largest of which weighs sixty-four tons. Though it is
a pygmy compared with the great bell at the foot of the tower, it is
a monster beside those in ordinary use, for our church bells rarely
exceed one sixth of its weight. There are forty or fifty bells in the
entire tower, all of which are rung at Easter, to proclaim anew that
"Christ is risen." The great bell thunders forth the glad tidings,
which are also gently chanted in the sweet tones of the small silver
bells.
From each story of the tower a view of the city is obtained, but in the
highest beneath the dome, the most sublime panorama is presented. There
is no such city as Moscow in the world, and the sight is therefore as
unique as it is beautiful. For half an hour the students gazed with
wonder and admiration upon the beautiful picture.
The party descended, and hastened to the Great Bell, called the _Czar
Kolokol_, or Czar of Bells. Some say that it was never hung, though
a Polish traveller, in 1611, speaks of a bell he saw that required
twenty-four men to swing the clapper in ringing it. The present bell
was recast by order of the Empress Anne, in 1733, its predecessors
having fallen in the several fires, and been broken. This one also had
a fall in a fire in 1737, which knocked a piece out of the side. It
lay buried in the ground where it fell till Nicholas caused it to be
placed on a stone platform in 1836. The bell weighs about two hundred
and twenty tons. The piece broken out weighs eleven tons. The interior
is twenty feet high, with a diameter of twenty-one feet. It is two feet
thick, and has figures in relief of Alexis and Anne, and of some sacred
subjects, with an inscription relating to its origin and size. On the
summit is a cross, and the interior has been consecrated as a chapel.
The bell is regarded as holy by the people. At five cents a pound, the
material would be worth over twenty thousand dollars. As the thing is
utterly useless either for service or as a work of art, and perpetuates
no historical event, this dead capital would be better employed in
planting school-houses in the villages, the influence of which would
soon transform the shanties into houses, and add wealth to the nation
by the more intelligent and rapid development of its vast resources.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account