Kremlin chimes photographs. The main secrets of the Kremlin chimes

Confirmation of the presence of the Kremlin clock can be found in documents from 1585. But, presumably, they appeared earlier: immediately after the completion of the construction of the Spasskaya Tower.

Probably, the countdown of time was different: then in Rus' the day was divided into “day” and “night” time periods. Consequently, the duration of the hourly intervals changed after two weeks. The watchmakers in the position reconfigured the mechanism according to specially issued tables on the length of day and night, and repaired it if it broke down.

The main tower clock was treated with special care. But fires that often occurred disabled the mechanism, and a strong fire that happened in 1624 turned the clock into scrap. Russian blacksmiths and watchmakers from the Zhdan family produced a new watch of impressive size. The work was supervised by a clock mechanic, the Englishman Christopher Galovey, and the Russian master Kirill Samoilov cast thirteen bells for this device. On the high tent top, erected under the direction of architect Bazhen Ogurtsov, bells for the chimes were hung, the chimes of which could be heard ten miles away. The accuracy of the mechanism invented by Galovey directly depended on the people serving it.

The clocks that appeared became the first Russian ones: according to the old Russian countdown of time intervals, they emitted a specially tuned melodic ringing. The Spasskys created by Galovey were restored several times after subsequent fires, but served for quite a long time.

Changing the timing

A unified 24-hour clock was established in Russia on the instructions of Peter I. Under this tsar, the English mechanism of the main clock was replaced by a Dutch one, which had a twelve-hour dial. The new tower chimes were installed under the direction of the Russian watchmaker Ekim Garnov. A clock device borrowed from the Dutch, operated by foreigners, which caused “assembly dances” and “alarm”, constantly broke down. A severe fire in 1737 destroyed the wooden structures of the tower and damaged the chimes installed under Peter. The bell music died down. There was little interest in the Spassky clock; they were serviced carelessly when the capital was moved from Moscow to St. Petersburg.

The chimes on the Kremlin tower aroused the interest of those who entered the Russian throne Empress Catherine II. On her orders, the tower clock, which had fallen into complete disrepair, was replaced with a large English one. For three years, Fatz and the Russian master Ivan Polyansky were engaged in installation. Due to the indifferent attitude of the authorities, from 1770, for a year, someone else’s melody about “dear Augustine” was played over Red Square, which was liked by the German watchmaker who serviced the watch.

Residents of Moscow were able to save the Spasskaya Tower from destruction during the Napoleonic War, but the chimes fell silent. Three years later, a group of watchmakers led by Yakov Lebedev restored the operation of the main clock, which then worked uninterruptedly for many years.

The Danish brothers Butenops, together with the architect Konstantin Ton, examined the chimes in the mid-nineteenth century. Their condition was close to critical. Correction of all problems was entrusted to Russian watchmakers. The old parts served as the basis for the manufacture of new Kremlin watches. But skilled watchmakers carried out a huge amount of labor-intensive work, including replacing many mechanisms with the selection of alloys that could withstand humidity and sudden temperature changes. Special attention the masters paid appearance new watch, the musical unit of the clock mechanism was completely changed. Bells were added (now there are 48 of them) - the chimes became more melodic and accurate.

Russian Tsar Nikolai Pavlovich ordered the chimes to play the melodies of D. Bortnyansky’s hymn “How Glorious is Our Lord in Zion” and the march of the Preobrazhensky Regiment that existed under Peter I. With a break of three hours, these melodies sounded over the main square of Moscow until 1917.

Artillery shelling during the storming of the Kremlin during October Revolution seriously damaged the Spassky watch. They stopped moving for almost a year. They began to rebuild in 1918 on Lenin’s orders. Mechanic N. Behrens and his sons were able to quickly repair the state mechanism, which had become important. And the musical device was set up by musician M. Cheremnykh; he set revolutionary melodies to play. The morning over the capital's Red Square began every day with the Internationale.

Under I. Stalin, the dial of the Spassky chimes changed, and the sound of the funeral march was canceled. But due to the wear and tear of the mechanism, the musical device was stopped in 1938 - the chimes only struck quarters and hours.

The chimes, which had been silent for more than half a century, sounded again in 1996, thanks to a huge research work, making new bells. From the heights of the main Kremlin tower, the melodies of “Glory” and the official anthem of Russia until 2000, “Patriotic Song” by M. Glinka, flowed.

It was restored in 1999 historical view the upper tented tiers of the Spasskaya Tower, many works and control over the movement of the clock mechanism were improved. And with the striking of the Kremlin chimes, the anthem of our state sounded.

The clock on the Spasskaya Tower is now a huge complex device. Hammer blows acting on the bell mechanisms cause the clock to strike. The melodies of the Russian anthem and the choir from M. Glinka’s opera “Glory” are sung by the bells on the high Kremlin belfry under the influence of a drum, forcing other mechanisms to work.

Kremlin chimes (clock on the Spasskaya Tower), which is installed on the Moscow Kremlin, is probably the most famous tower clock in the Russian Federation (Russia).

History of the Kremlin chimes

History of the tower clock in the city of Moscow takes us back to the distant year 1404, when they were first installed on the territory of the estate of the son of Prince Dmitry Donskoy - Vasily. The Grand Duke's courtyard itself was located not far from.

These chimes were made by a Serbian clergyman - monk Lazar. A mechanical device in the shape of a human figure struck the bell every hour.

It is not known exactly when the clock with chimes appeared on the Spasskaya Tower. The tower itself was built by 1491 under the direction of the architect Piero Solari. This happened during the reign of Emperor Ivan III.

First documentary evidence the presence of a clock on the tower dates back to 1585: it mentioned certain watchmakers who, in addition to the Spassky clock, serviced the same mechanisms on the Tainitskaya and Trinity towers.

There are no descriptions of the chronometers, but the weight of the clock from the Spasskaya Tower was about 960 kilograms, as follows from the bill of sale, dated already 1624 (it indicates the sale of the clock to the Spassky Monastery from the Yaroslavl lands for 48 rubles).

A watchmaker, English mechanic Christopher Galovey, was invited to produce a new clock mechanism. Local blacksmiths were appointed as his assistants - master Zhdan with his son and grandson, whose names were Shumilo Zhdanov and Alexey Shumilov. 13 bells for the chimes were cast by Kirill Samoilov, a foundry master.

The new watch had no hands, the role of which was assigned to a rotating dial, which was divided into 17 parts.

The dial itself, weighing over 400 kilograms, was made of wooden boards and painted sky blue. There were hour divisions on it, which were marked Slavic letters. For decoration, light-colored tin stars were added around the field.

Above the dial are the moon and sun painted in gold. The motionless arrow seemed to emanate from the ray of the last luminary.

The actual ringing of the chimes on the Spasskaya Tower was located even higher - in the figure of eight.

How did the chimes show the time and chime?

Such a strange dial, it turns out, indicated the course of day and night time, i.e. in days summer solstice it was wound up for seventeen daytime and seven night hours. How did this happen?

The first sharp blow sounded at the moment when the first sunbeam fell on the walls of the Spasskaya Tower. Exactly the same blow announced the end of the day. Every hour a special bell sounded: the first hour - one strike, the second - two, and so on until the maximum possible number of 17. After that, the watchmaker climbed the tower and set the dial to 7 night hours. Thus, the timekeeper had to climb to the height twice.

Every 16 days, a correction was made to the number of day and night hours, which in total amounted to the figure we are used to - 24.

The clock on the Kremlin's Spasskaya Tower delighted not only Russians, but even foreigners arriving in Moscow. Contemporaries wrote about this diva:

... a wonderful city iron clock, famous throughout the world for its beauty and design and for the sound of its large bell, which was heard ... more than 10 miles away.

In 1626, the clock on the tower burned down, but two years later it was restored by the same Galovey to serve until the end of the seventeenth century.

New chronometer appeared under Peter the Great, who ordered the old-fashioned single-hand clocks to be destroyed and new ones with a 12-hour dial installed instead. The mechanism with a clock and music, which the sovereign himself bought for 42 thousand efimki in Dutch Amsterdam, was delivered to Moscow in thirty carts.

Yakim Gornel, a foreign watchmaker, was invited to install the chimes. He, together with nine Russian artisans, assembled and debugged the clock mechanism for 20 days. And finally, at 9 o’clock in the morning on December 9, 1706, people gathered at the tower heard the first ringing.

The chimes on the Spasskaya Tower chimed both the hours and the quarters. At a certain time, a melody was played, which was played by 33 musical bells. Unfortunately, the motive for that bell loss is not known.

Peter's watch served until 1737 until they burned in the fire. The capital was already in St. Petersburg at that time, and there was simply no hurry to repair the Moscow chimes.

In 1763, in one of the rooms of the Chamber of Facets, a large chiming clock made in England was found. They began to be mounted on the Spasskaya Tower only in 1767, for which master watchmaker Fatz (Fats) was sent from Germany. Together with the Russian artisan Ivan Polyansky, he launched them only three years later - in 1770. The music of the chimes was somewhat frivolous and was an excerpt from the German song “Ah, my dear Augustine.”

A fire in 1812 disabled the clock. The inspection of the mechanism was entrusted to Yakov Lebedev, who in February 1813 reported its significant damage and offered his services for restoration. Permission was obtained, but, first, a signature was taken from the watchmaker that he would not permanently damage the device.

Two years passed and the chimes on the Spasskaya Tower sounded again, for which Lebedev was awarded an honorary and high rank"Master of the Spassky Clock."

The current Kremlin chimes were installed in the period from 1851 to 1852. The mechanism was made by the Dutch - the Butenop brothers, whose workshops were located on Myasnitskaya Street, 43. For the euphony of the ringing and more accurate reproduction of the melody, 24 bells were added to the existing belfry, which were dismantled from the Trinity and Borovitskaya Kremlin towers.

The first melody of the new clock should have been an anthem Russian Empire“God save the Tsar!”, but Emperor Nicholas I did not give his permission for this, saying that “the chimes can play any songs except the anthem.” I had to record two melodies on the playing shaft - “March of the Preobrazhensky Regiment” (sounded at 6 and 12 o’clock) and “How Glorious is Our Lord in Zion” (3 and 9 o’clock), which did not change until 1917.

The installation of the Butenop brothers' clock mechanism required some restoration and repair work, which was supervised by the architect Pyotr Aleksandrovich Gerasimov. The pedestal for the clock, ceilings and stairs were made according to the drawings of the architect Konstantin Ton.

Clock on the Spasskaya Tower after the October Revolution

November 2, 1917 During the shelling of the Moscow Kremlin from artillery guns, a shell hit the dial directly, breaking one of the hands and destroying their rotation mechanism. The clock has started!

Restoration work began only in August 1918 on the personal instructions of Lenin. At first we turned to the watch companies of Roginsky and Bure, but refused their services due to the unaffordable price. Nikolai Behrens, who worked as a mechanic in the Kremlin, decided to take on the job. He knew this mechanism, since his father worked as a master for the Butenop brothers and passed on his knowledge to his son.

Behrens began work together with the artist Mikhail Mikhailovich Cheremnykh, who began working on a new score for the chimes. With great difficulty, a one and a half meter pendulum weighing 32 kilograms was made to replace the damaged one, made of lead with gold plating.

In September 1918, the clock on the Spasskaya Tower relaunched. The chimes sounded “Internationale” (at noon) and “You fell a victim in the fatal struggle” (at midnight).

In 1932, another reconstruction was carried out: the clock was repaired; replaced the dial; The numbers, rim, and hands were covered with gold, using a total of 28 kilograms noble metal. Only a fragment of “The Internationale” was left as the ringing, which sounded both 12 and 24 hours.

Since 1938, the melody of the chimes stopped sounding, leaving only hourly and quarterly short chimes. This decision was made by a special commission, which recognized the sound as unsatisfactory due to the wear of the mechanism.

In 1941, “The Internationale” was again played on the Spasskaya Tower using a special electro-mechanical drive. True, it did not last long.

In 1944, Stalin ordered the chimes to be set and the music of the new anthem to be set as a chime. Soviet Union, the author of which was Alexander Vasilievich Alexandrov. The work did not go well, and the chimes of the Kremlin’s Spasskaya Tower fell silent for many years.

In 1974 they held major restoration with the clock stopped for 100 days. Then the entire clock mechanism was dismantled and restored, worn parts were replaced, an auto-lubrication system was installed, but the chimes never sounded - hands simply did not reach them.

In 1991, a decision was made at the Plenum of the CPSU Central Committee to restore the Kremlin chimes, but the issue arose due to the lack of 3 bells necessary to play the USSR anthem.

The issue was returned to in 1995, but the Union had already collapsed, and the anthem new Russia became “Patriotic Song” by Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka.

In 1996, on the day of the inauguration of Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin, after 58 years of silence, the chimes sounded again. The missing bells for tone were replaced by metal beaters. Now at midnight and noon the anthem was performed, and every quarter - a fragment of the opera “A Life for the Tsar” by the same composer Glinka.

The last restoration to date took place in 1999. In addition to the restoration work, the ringing of the previous anthem was changed to a new one, approved on December 8, 2000.

Interesting facts about the Kremlin chimes

And finally, a few words about the structure of the clock and chime mechanism on the Kremlin’s Spasskaya Tower.

Total weight - 25 tons.
The clock mechanism drive uses three weights weighing from 160 to 224 kilograms.
A 32-kilogram pendulum with a length of 1.5 meters ensures the accuracy of the watch.
The diameter of the four dials located on the four sides of the tower is 6.12 meters.
The length of the minute and hour hands is 3.27 and 2.97 meters, respectively.
The height of the numbers is 72 centimeters.

The movement, quarter strike and clock strike mechanisms are located on separate levels from the 7th to 9th floors. Above them, on an open area protected by a high tent, there are 9 bells for ringing the quarter and big bell for the clock to end. By the way, the clock was cast back in the mid-eighteenth century by master Semyon Mozhzhukhin.

Bells, due to the difference in size, can produce sounds ranging from low bass to treble. Weight - from 320 to 2160 kilograms. The ensemble of chimes contains bells dating back to both 1702 and 1628, cast in Amsterdam.

Clock on the Spasskaya Tower (Kremlin chimes) start twice a day - at noon and midnight. For these purposes, three electric motors are used - separately for each of the mechanisms (the system was introduced back in 1937). Translation of arrows is done only manually.

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The striking of the Kremlin chimes is a melody that every resident of our country has known since childhood. It seems that the main clock of the country has always existed, and its sound comes from the depths of centuries. Alas, this is not true. The clock located on the Spasskaya Tower of the Kremlin, like its sound, has many predecessors.

Birth of a legend

Despite the fact that for centuries the main clock in Russia were various types of chimes installed on the Spasskaya Tower of the Moscow Kremlin, they were not the first chimes in the country. More than a hundred years before the appearance of the clock on the Spasskaya Tower, its predecessors had already measured time in the residence of Grand Duke Vasily Dmitrievich, the son of Dmitry Donskoy. The most amazing thing is that at that distant time it was not just a dial with arrows, but a complex mechanism externally made like the figure of a man striking a bell every hour with a special hammer. If we talk about the first chimes on the Frolovskaya (in our days Spasskaya) tower of the Moscow Kremlin, they appeared immediately after its construction in 1491.

However, the first description of the chimes appears in the chronicles only a hundred years later in 1585. The most interesting thing is that the tower clock was placed not on one, as it is today, but on three towers of the Moscow Kremlin: Frolovskaya (Spasskaya), Tainitskaya and Troitskaya. Unfortunately, it has not survived to this day appearance the first chimes of the Moscow Kremlin. Only data on the weight of the watch, which was 960 kilograms, was preserved. When the watch became unusable, it was sold to Yaroslavl for 48 rubles as scrap.

Second chimes: amazing

The second chimes that appeared on the Spasskaya Tower of the Moscow Kremlin during the reign of Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov. However, from the point of view modern man It was difficult to even call them hours. The famous watchmaker Christopher Golovey arrived from England to create the second chimes. His assistants were the blacksmith Zhdan, his son Shumilo and grandson Alexey. Externally, the new watch amazed the imagination. It was a giant dial that represented the sky. The clock had only one hand. But it was not she who was rotating, but the dial itself, made of boards and painted the color of the sky. Yellow tin stars were scattered in a chaotic manner on its surface. In addition to them, on the dial there was an image of the Sun, whose ray was simultaneously the only hand of the clock and the Moon. Instead of numbers, there were letters on the dial Old Church Slavonic alphabet. The bells rang every hour.

Moreover, the chimes rang differently during the day and at night, and the clocks themselves were able to distinguish daylight from night. For example, on the solstice day in summer, the clock bells struck the daytime melody seventeen times and the nighttime melody seven times. The ratio of daylight to night changed, and the number of night and daytime bell melodies also changed. Of course, for the clock to work accurately, the watchmakers had to know exactly the ratio of day and night on each specific day of the year. For this purpose they had special signs at their disposal. It is not surprising that foreigners visiting Moscow nicknamed the unusual chimes “Wonder of the World.” Unfortunately, they only served for about forty years, dying in a fire in 1626.

Third chimes: unsuccessful

The next clock for the Spasskaya Tower of the Moscow Kremlin was purchased under Peter I in Holland. This time there was an ordinary clock on the tower with a classic dial divided into twelve hours. The third chimes struck the hour, quarter hour, and also played a simple melody. It should be noted that the replacement of the chimes in the Moscow Kremlin was timed by Peter the Great to coincide with the country's transition to the new daily timekeeping system adopted in Europe. However, the Dutch clock mechanism turned out to be extremely unreliable and often broke down. A team of foreign watchmakers was constantly on duty in the Kremlin to repair it, but this helped little. When the third chimes were destroyed due to a fire in 1737, no one was very upset. Moreover, by this time the capital had moved to St. Petersburg, and the emperor had long ago lost interest both in Moscow and in the chimes that were once installed by his personal order.

Fourth chimes: German melody for Russian clocks

The next time, the clock on the Spasskaya Tower was replaced at the whim of Catherine II. Despite the fact that her imperial court was located in the northern capital, the empress did not leave Moscow with her attention. One day, after visiting the city, she ordered the installation of new chimes, which, as it turned out, had been purchased long ago and were collecting dust in the Faceted Chamber of the Moscow Kremlin. The new watch worked quite well, but an unpleasant incident occurred. After installing the clock in 1770, they suddenly began to play the cheerful Austrian song “Ah, my dear Augustine.” The scandal was terrible. However, the clock was not dismantled, but only the melody was removed.

Even after a shell hit the chimes in 1812, they were restored by watchmaker Yakov Lebedev. Only in 1815, after the clock gears were recognized as faulty, were the chimes significantly modernized. In fact, the entire clock mechanism was replaced, the floors in the mechanical room were repaired, a new pendulum was installed, and the dial was replaced. From that moment on he became black with Arabic numerals. The melody was set to the melody of the anthem “How Glorious is Our Lord in Zion” at 3 and 9 o’clock and the march of the Life Guards Regiment of the Peter the Great at 12 and 6 o’clock. This continued until the 1917 revolution.

Fifth chimes: modern

The first time after establishment Soviet power, the country’s leadership had no time for the chimes, which rose after they were hit by a shell during the revolutionary unrest. However, after the government moved to Moscow, V.I. Lenin ordered the chimes to be restored. Alas, the watch company that previously serviced the watch charged an astronomical amount in gold, and its services had to be abandoned. Unexpectedly, an ordinary mechanic, Nikolai Behrens, who, together with his father, serviced the chime mechanism before the revolution, offered his help. Thanks to his efforts, the clock was repaired and started running again. Only the melody played by the chimes has changed. Now at 12 o’clock they performed “The Internationale”, and at 24 o’clock - “You fell a victim...”. In 1932, by order of I.V. Stalin's watch was on once again modernized. In 1974, the clock was stopped for 100 days to clean up and install electronic controls. Today, since 1999, the chimes have played the Russian anthem.

On the Spasskaya Tower of the Moscow Kremlin there was a strange clock of an absolutely incredible design. These are ancient Slavic watches, Tartar watches, which were used everywhere and apparently for many centuries.

Clock of Tartary

If you look for information about the first Russian clock, you will come across an article on Wikipedia about the clock on the Spasskaya Tower.

It is possible that some will be surprised to learn about unusual Russian watches that are not similar to modern ones and will even start Googling further and find many surprises for themselves.

The first Russian watches. Official version.

It is believed that clocks first appeared in Moscow in 1404. They were located not on the Kremlin tower, but in the courtyard of Grand Duke Vasily Dmitrievich, not far from the Annunciation Cathedral.

The first documentary mention of these first hours is found in the Litsevoy Chronicle Code (Trinity Chronicle). The chronicle itself is given by Karamzin in volume 5 of the History of the Russian State. The chronicle is named after the Trinity-Sergius Monastery, where it was kept. Written in semi-charter of the 15th century. on parchment. Discovered in the monastery library in the 1760s. Academician of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences G. F. Miller. Burnt down during the Moscow fire of 1812. Possibly a copy of the code of Metropolitan Cyprian 1408.

“In the summer of 6912, Grand Duke Vasilei Dmitrievich conceived a clock and set it up in his yard behind the church for the Holy Annunciation. This clock-keeper will be called the clock-watch; for every hour he strikes the bell with a hammer, measuring and calculating the hours of the night and day. It is not man who strikes, but humanoid, spontaneously And self-propelled, weird Somehow it was created by human cunning, it was dreamed up and contrived. The master and artist of this were some monks who came from the Holy Mountain, born Serbin, named Lazar. The price for this is more than half a hundred rubles."

In total, they took over watchmaking immediately and as is, and after the Kremlin they began to build the same ones everywhere.

But, we read “History of Science and Technology” part 2, U/P Author A. A. Sheipak:

“The first Moscow watch was made by the monk Lazar Serbin in 1404 by order of Prince Vladimir Dmitrievich, son of Dmitry Donskoy. This monk arrived in Moscow from Athos, where there were several Orthodox monasteries that spread Byzantine culture among the Slavs. They were installed in one of the towers of the white stone Kremlin, not far from the place where the Annunciation Cathedral is now located. These watches were designed in a special way. Typically, the hand on a watch rotates, but the dial remains motionless. Here it was the other way around: the dial rotated, but the hand remained motionless. And the hand was outlandish: in the form of a small sun with rays, which was mounted on the wall above the dial. To top it off, the dial did not indicate 12 o'clock as usual. and as many as seventeen."

Stop! Maybe the author A. A. Sheypak was mistaken? Or does he not go to the “History of Russia” website? Maybe he has doubts creeping in about the “Facebook Chronicle” itself, which was found by the “luminary” Russian history"with an "unblemished" reputation by G. F. Miller?

Sheypak Anatoly Alexandrovich- organized the department of “Electrical engineering, heating engineering, hydraulics and power machines.”

Doctor of Technical Sciences, Honored Worker high school Russian Federation, academician Russian Academy Transport, professor and full member of the International Academy of Sciences of San Marino, member of the International Academy of Sciences and Arts, member of the scientific and methodological council on mechanics and chairman of the scientific and methodological commission on hydraulics Federal agency by education.

Author of over 200 published works: 3 monographs, 11 teaching aids(1 with the stamp of the Ministry of Education, 2 with the stamp of NMS), one textbook (with the stamp of UMO), 8 standard and exemplary curricula), forty inventions (20 of them are used in industry). 35 articles and reports on scientific conferences published abroad.

“In the first years of the 17th century, the blacksmith Shumilo Zhdanov Vyrachev was called to the capital from the Komaritsa volost of the Ustyug district. He was instructed to manufacture and install it on the Frolovskaya tower new “fighting clock” - chimes. Shumila was helped by his father and son. Vyrachenykh's watch had 24 divisions, they showed daytime - every hour from sunrise to sunset. Then rotating dial returned to its initial position and the countdown of the night hours began. On the summer solstice day lasted 17 hours, the rest occurred at night. The rotating circle of the dial depicted the vault of heaven, with numbers running around the circumference. A ray of gilded sun, fixed above the circle, served as an arrow and indicated the hour. The Vyrachevo clock ran smoothly for about twenty years, but when the tower was rebuilt in 1624, it was sold by weight to the Spassky Monastery in Yaroslavl for 48 rubles: this was the cost 60 pounds of iron."

The Austrian ambassador A. wrote about the clock restored after the fire of 1654 as one of the attractions of Moscow at that time:

"The main clock to the east on the Frolovskaya Tower, above the Spassky Gate, near a large shopping area or market, near the palace bridge. They show the hours of the day from sunrise to sunset. On the summer solstice, when the most long days, this clock shows and strikes until 17, and then the night lasts 7 hours. Attached to the top of the wall, a still image of the sun forms a hand indicating the hours indicated on the rotating hour circle. These are the richest watches in Moscow."

Augustin Meyerberg; 1622-1688) - Austrian baron, traveler and diplomat. In fact, the drawing of the clock was preserved in his album "Meyerberg's Album of Views and Everyday Pictures of Russia in the 17th Century. Drawings from the Dresden Album, reproduced from the original in life-size with the appendix of a map of the route of the Tsar's embassy of 1661-62."

Is it possible that Mr. Sheypak confused the 17th century Clock with the one installed in the 15th century? It's strange, but this error occurs often.

There was also a historian Ivan Yegorovich Zabelin who wrote a book " Home life Russian Tsars".

Ivan Egorovich Zabelin (September 17, 1820, Tver - December 31, 1908, Moscow) - Russian archaeologist and historian, specialist in the history of the city of Moscow.
Corresponding member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences in the category of historical and political sciences (1884), honorary member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences (1907), initiator of the creation and fellow chairman of the Imperial Russian Historical Museum named after the Emperor Alexandra III, Privy Councillor.

In his book we read the following:

“We do not know what design the mechanics of these watches were. The indicated, or recognizable, circles or wheels, i.e. dials, were arranged only on two sides, one for the Kremlin, the other for the city, and consisted of oak ties, dismountable on checks , reinforced with iron hoops. Each wheel weighed about 25 pounds. The middle of the wheel was covered with blue paint, and gold and silver stars with two images of the Sun and the Moon were scattered across it. Obviously, this decoration depicted the sky. i.e. Slavic numerals, copper, heavily gilded, total 24 , between them were placed half-hour stars, silvered. The indicated words on the Spassky clock were measured in arshins, and on the Trinity clock - in 10 vershoks. Because in these hours instead of a hand, the dial itself turned around, or an indicating wheel, then a fixed ray, or a star with a ray like an arrow, and with the image of the Sun was established at the top."

It's funny, isn't it, that the description of the watch is completely identical except for the detail that the book says there are 24 numbers, but in the picture with the text there are 16 of them!!!

This picture is so similar to Meyerberg's drawing that at first I thought it was it, but count the letters!

Was the number 13 suddenly missing? It was missed because further on the Slavic counting goes 14, 15, 16, 17.

All this is very strange and it seems that all this dance with the number of hours in the day of the old Russian clock is not out of ignorance, but a deliberate distortion of the truth.

Old Believers, more accurately calling themselves " Old Russian Inglistic Church of Orthodox Old Believers-Inglings" They say that a day is considered to have 16 hours in a day.

“An hour is divided into 144 parts, a part is divided into 1296 shares, a share is divided into 72 moments, a moment is divided into 760 moments, a moment is divided into 160 centigrades, a whitefish is divided into 14,000 centigrams.
A day is a day, originally divided into 16 hours.
Week - 9 days. The days are called: Monday, Tuesday, three-day, four-day, Friday, six, seven, eight and week. Ynglings consider these names to be reconstructions, citing quotes from P. Ershov’s fairy tales as arguments.
A month is 40 days (even) or 41 days (odd). Only 9 months: Ramhat, Aylet, Beylet, Geylet, Daylet, Elet, Veylet, Heylet, Taylet."

You can even find on the forums how to make old Russian ones based on ordinary watches. But here 16 o’clock and 13 are in their place and not like in Zabelin’s book and not 17 like in Meyerberg.

They claim that their watches are real antique and have nothing to do with the “Russian clocks” of the Spasskaya Tower.

Regarding 17 and 24 hours there is this explanation:

“On this “old” clock there is no division by 17. There are also 24 hours in a day. These clocks showed alternately daytime and nighttime. Depending on the date and month, the number of “daytime” and “nighttime” ranged from 7 to 17. T. That is, for example, in winter there were 7 “daytime” and 17 “nighttime” hours. In March there were 12 “daytime” and 12 “nighttime” hours, and in May there were 17 “daytime” and 7 “nighttime” hours. days. In general, these are the same clocks as now, only showing daylight hours. night duration days))".
...That is, if, for example, in the spring at some time there are 14 dark night hours, and the remaining 10 are daytime, such a dial should have rotated (the hand is stationary) to the number 14, and then scrolled back to the number 1 and from it again count the hours of the day."

It would seem this description explains everything and there are no questions here. But aren’t there too many inconsistencies here and there to close the topic?

Another strange thing, in my opinion, is that there is a claim that Russian clocks counted counterclockwise as they do now, but all the existing pictures do not confirm this in any way. The letters should in this case go from right to left in a circle and not from left to right, both in the case of a rotating dial and in the version with arrows.

But, be that as it may, how many hours there are in the day is important! The clock on the Spasskaya Tower (for now we will continue to talk only about them, for simplicity) is not a toy, not a fashionable device! Of course, again, all Russians are wild and stupid, and the first clock, you see, was built for us by a foreigner and, of course, a monk.

But why did he suddenly decide to install a system that no one had ever used anywhere before?

Exactly the same story as with Cyril and Methodius! Didn’t it seem strange to you that for some reason two monks invented the alphabet for the Slavs and didn’t just take it and give it to them? greek letters"savages"? And why does Lazarus not set his watch like everyone else, but does everything exactly the opposite?

It is not the hand that turns, but the dial.
The dial rotates in the opposite direction (that is, counterclockwise, as is customary now).
Apparently there are still 17 hours in a day and not 24.
The clock is astronomical, the hour depending on the time of year and location.

You have to understand that people used these watches, they lived by them, and this is how they perceived the world and time. This is no joke!

Allow me a little more from the book “The Home Life of the Russian Tsars”:

"By the way, let's give a few details about the tower clock that was absolutely necessary in the palace due to the large number of people who lived and worked there officials, large and small, obliged to either appear or prepare something on time, at the appointed hour. The use of pocket, or pocket, watches at that time was very insignificant, partly due to their rarity and high cost, because Russian watch production almost did not exist and Russian pocket watch makers were as rare as Russian-made watches themselves; and besides, German watches, which were still easier to get, although expensive, did not correspond to Russian ones in their division of time and, therefore, were inconvenient for use. Russian clocks divided the day into daytime hours and nighttime hours, depending on sunrise and sunset, so that at the minute of sunrise the Russian clock struck the first hour of the day, and at sunset the first hour of the night, so almost every two weeks the number of daytime hours, and also the night ones gradually changed as follows, as recorded in the calendar of that time."

The watch was not some kind of curiosity. They were necessary and they were used. I just want to ask, why were watches not so necessary outside the palace? And in other cities?

All authors note that the watches were inaccurate; some even say that they were not mechanical at all, but that the watchmakers turned the circle with their hands.
The rudeness of the work is derived from the very idea that the Russians are so stupid that they measured the day by daylight hours and the hour was not fixed.

What if it was a worldview, and not a simple whim? How difficult it is to get used to the daylight saving change winter time Now everyone knows how low labor productivity is in the dark, even when it’s just cloudy the work is no longer the same. Man is a part of nature and not a machine, why do we think that machine counting of time in hours, minutes and seconds, artificially created time zones and legislative transitions to winter-summer time is suitable for us?

Were the supposedly first Russian watches primitive if the mechanism was able to measure time depending on the day and was not manually tightened by watchmakers? Although many people assume that watchmakers wound their watches this way and that by hand every day, is this not nonsense? Why hang a clock at all then?

They themselves repeatedly state that European watches, even pocket watches, were not such a curiosity, but even in the 17th century they continued to set clocks in the Russian style even in the main square of the country.

They are also very reluctant to talk about the fact that there were a lot of hours around Russia. They talk more about Moscow watches and not Russian ones - Horologium Moscoviticum as some kind of curiosity like a watch in the Soviet toy store "Children's World".

“Indeed, at the end of the 16th century in 1585, tower clocks already stood on three gates of the Kremlin, on three of its sides: on the Frolovsky, or Spassky, on the Rizpolozhensky, now Trinity, and on the Vodyany, which is opposite the Cache, or Tainitsky.
The clocks stood in wooden tents or towers, specially built for this purpose on the gates. Each clock had a special watchmaker, and even two of the Rizpolozhenskys, who monitored the serviceability and repairs of the mechanics. At the beginning of the XVII century. The clock on the Nikolsky Gate is also mentioned. In 1624, the old fighting clock of the Spassky Gate was sold by weight to the Spassky Yaroslavl Monastery, and instead of them new ones were built in 1625 by the Englishman Christopher Galovey, who then built a high stone tent in the Gothic style over the gate instead of a wooden one for this clock, decorating the gate to this day. At the same time, the Russian bell maker Kirilo Samoilov connected 13 bells to the clock. The clock, therefore, had a clock, or music."

There were a lot of Russian watches

The clock on the Spasskaya Tower was not the only one. And the rest of the hours were probably made according to the same principle. European watches were not in demand not because of the price, but because they were different, they were not used in Rus', people, people measured life and understood time differently.

According to the testimony of the Dutch traveler N. Whitson (60s of the 17th century), Russians “have few watches, and where there are such, the dial rotates, and the arrow stands motionless: it is directed upward, pointing to the number of the rotating dial ...».

The fact that the Personal Chronicle says about 12 hours can say a lot about its very reliability as a whole. Here the story with the monks Lazarus can and should be doubted. I can’t imagine how in the 15th century one system was put in place and in the 17th another completely supposedly unprecedented one was invented! And then this other one, as if inconvenient and inaccurate, is replaced again by the old one. This is not just a story about watches, this is serious business!

Every now and then they talk about the clock on the Spasskaya tower so that they get the impression that they were unique and one of a kind. Not with the aim of showing that in Rus' the count of time was different, but that supposedly it turns out the other way around, they were set one day out of stupidity, if only not like everyone else. The clocks themselves are confused, either in the 15th century or in the 17th, or on the Spasskaya Tower, or in the courtyard of the prince, or even on one of the towers of the white stone Kremlin. All this chatter diverts attention from the main thing, makes the very fact of the presence of such a watch seem curious, like an isolated case that says nothing about the real history, about how our ancestors lived.

Since the watches themselves have not been preserved and there is no reliable information, the authors make their assumptions based on documents that have preserved instructions on the prices of watches, the number of watchmakers, payments to craftsmen, etc. Based on them, they draw conclusions about the poor quality and inconvenience of the system itself.

Only in 1705, by decree of Peter, the Spassky clock was remade, “against the German custom, at 12 o’clock,” for which, back in 1704, he ordered a combat clock with chimes from Holland for 42,474 rubles. But this is in Moscow, and how many Russian watches were left in Russia?

Peter the Great and the chimes

The story of the replacement of ancient Russian watches sheds some light on all this leapfrog of guesses and contradictory facts.

In 1705, by decree of Peter the Spassky clock remade, “contrary to German custom, at 12 o’clock,” for which purpose back in 1704 he ordered a combat watch with chimes from Holland for 42,474 rubles.

Let's see again what it looked like before. So it was:

What I want to draw your attention to is the statement that the watch has been “remade” or, as they also say, “replaced”.

Sorry, I either don’t have eyes, or it’s just blatant lie. Not altered or replaced, but torn out, destroyed, erased from memory, and the installation site was blocked with bricks. And the chimes we know today were added to the top. Which, by the way, don’t even fit in size, should be a little smaller, and not in style with the tower itself if you look even a little closer. The dial does not fit into the arch, but closes it, hiding its parts underneath. They got the hang of it quickly and that was it.

Even the columns on the sides of the arch had to be broken, only the stumps remained. All this clearly suggests that the watches were not specially ordered, but the first ones that came across in a hurry were bought. What kind of rush could there be? The clock stood on the tower for several centuries and suddenly!?

True, now these are not even the same Dutch clocks, but in 1770 they were replaced by English chimes, which, by the way, says a lot about their quality; they lasted less than 70 years, unlike the old system. By the way, in the 17th century, a bull (4 years old) or 40 three-planted logs and 1 large surf nail cost 1 ruble (From the book by Melnikova A.S. “Bulat and Gold”). I don’t have information on the 18th century, but even using this example you can imagine what 42,474 rubles are.

I’m not a fan of sharp statements, I try to make more assumptions or it’s better to pose only a question to the reader so that he can decide for himself.
But, Christmas tree sticks. What a remake!?

By the way, with reverse side, the same empty arch with the same window. The lower dial of the ancient clock was on two sides, and upper part, where the chimes are now - on four sides! All of Russia sees this picture every year on the night of the broadcast of the country's congratulations by the President, few people understand the truth about why, but even fewer of those who think about the emptiness in the arch on the Spasskaya Tower.

While sorting out the “facts” I couldn’t get rid of the feeling that important information all sorts of nonsense gets erased and sticks out. As if on purpose, endless details about who received or spent how many rubles, what kind of cloth, how many watchmakers, and in what year. All these seemingly important statistics at first glance are not worth a damn; not only do the same events jump around in time from author to author and get distorted, but there’s also no point in them.
No one has the slightest idea about the structure of the clock, not about its operating principle, not about the number of similar ones, but only guesses. And all this is abundantly mixed with stories that in such and such a year there was a fire, and in such and such a year the clock was redone, or else a new one was installed and again removed and another one was made. All this is a distraction, I want to tell you. So that the devil himself breaks his leg. Take away from the main thing. We had our own ancient timekeeping system and our own clocks!

It is clear that Russia has become special and cannot be measured by a common yardstick. But, while everywhere they try to protect ancient heritage, preserve every little thing if possible, wouldn’t it be wise to leave, even an outdated, even a broken watch, they are even very good as a decorative element, decoration! Leave them for posterity rather than break them out, sell them for scrap and install the first squalor that doesn’t even fit in size.

I understand that there is and was more and more important issues, but this whole story with the Russian clock in the example of the Spasskaya Tower is nothing more than a concealment of the truth and obvious malicious sabotage.

I’ll add another drawing of a view of the Kremlin from the works of Tanner (1678) where supposedly there is a tower on the gate with a skillfully made clock, only for some reason there are arrows there! Not to mention the fact that higher up, where the chimes are now, there are no clocks at all.

Although, here you go, Olearius has everything in place.

Well, here it is, the 1800s, and what happened after decree P1:

With that part of the clock that took the place of the current chimes, Old Russian to Dutch, I still don’t understand at all. According to the drawing, I counted 12 divisions and there are some similarities there zodiac signs, apparently this is a month. The arrows are not visible there; it is not known whether this part was static, decorative, which is unlikely, but maybe, or had a mechanism.

It turns out that Tanner’s work is either not the Spasskaya Tower or an obvious forgery, since it is not even possible to classify the drawing as a later one. All the same, the clock is not in the right place. One can assume that under the guise of the Frolovskaya (Spasskaya) tower, perhaps they are slipping us the Trinity, but comparing Tanner with Olearius, it is clear that this is the same tower. Even the angle in the picture is the same and the domes of the churches inside the Kremlin are completely identical.

By the way, on Troitskaya, as it’s easy to see, there used to be the same clock, but now, like on Spasskaya, it’s empty, bare bricks and a window. Moreover, like on Spasskaya, there are two arches for a clock and it wouldn’t be out of place to assume that they were decorated like this same pair of Russian watches like Spasskaya.

Quickie

At the presentation of the 2011 State Prize, V. Molotkov, a restorer and watchmaker at the Hermitage Museum, said:

“In Russia, it turned out that Russian people were throwing away watches. Then the Germans arrived. You see, the Germans are neat people, they made signs in Moscow, in St. Petersburg, “We are repairing watches” and also wrote in German, because maybe foreigners there were in these cities. In German, the old clock is “alte Uhren.” When the master’s clock stopped, he called the butler and said: the clock is up, take it to the hack. "hackwork." [Transcript] [Video]

We are still enjoying the results of the German repairs to this day. This is what it is - hack work.

Bottom line

Still not clear? Confused? If you put everything back on its head, everything will become clear. This clock and its structure clearly corresponds to the ancient counting system - the Hexadecimal number system. After all, the number “16” came to us from the depths of history as the main, basic number.

1 arshin is equal to 16 vershok (71.12 cm). This is a length measure, as you understand.
1 octagon is equal to 1/8 of a dessiatine (a measure of area), and 1/8 is just part of an integer equal to 16.
1 pood is equal to 16 kilograms, but here we need to talk about some more features of the Russian scale of scales. The fact is that a pound is divided into pounds, and there are 32 of them! (2x16). The pound consists of lots, where a lot is equal to six spools of 32 shares each. And one share (the smallest unit of measurement for Slavs) is equal to 0.0444 modern grams!

The entire system of measures, counting, time is unified system. Looking ahead, I will say, in relation to clocks, clocks were not just on the towers, but they were on EVERY tower, on the buildings that we call temples, or rather, belfries. And the word hour is not from a church service, but vice versa church service from an hour. I will tell you everything in detail and show you.

To be continued...

Clock on the Spasskaya Tower - business card Moscow Kremlin. This tower has a gate to Red Square, the gate was considered holy, and the tower was called “Spasskaya” because there was an icon of the Savior of Smolensk on it. The hipped top of the tower is by master Bazhen Ogurtsov. The chimes are installed there - a tower clock with a set of tuned bells.
History of the clock on the Spasskaya Tower
Presumably, the clock was installed in the tower after it was built in 1491 by the architect Pietro Antonio Solario at the behest of Ivan III. And in 1585, official watchmakers were already “passed” according to the documents.
The ancient "Byzantine time" chimes had one hand and showed the "day" and "night" hours.
In 1624, after a fire, the clock had to be replaced. Under the supervision of the English mechanic and watchmaker Christophor Galovey, Russian blacksmiths and watchmakers Zhdan produced larger watches. The Russian foundry worker Kirill Samoilov cast 13 bells for them. To accommodate the bells and mechanisms, the tower had to be built on top. Strictly speaking, it was these clocks that were the first chimes, since they began to “ring” the melody at certain moments in time. The mechanism was made of oak. Only time was on them again... "Old Russian." Foreigners wrote:
On our watches the hand moves towards the number, but in Russia it’s the other way around - the numbers move towards the hand. A certain Mr. Galloway - a very inventive man - came up with a dial of this kind. He explains this as follows: “Since Russians do not act like all other people, then what they produce must be arranged accordingly.”
Click to expand...

Of course, Peter I replaced them with Dutch ones - with a 12-hour dial. The clock chimed every quarter of an hour. The overseas thing often broke down, and in 1737 it completely burned down. They were in no hurry to restore them - the capital was moved.
In 1767, a new clock was found - now English - and installed by master Fatz. They had a song “Oh, my dear Augustine” - the only time in history there was a foreign tune.
In 1851, the clock we are familiar with was manufactured and installed. This was a fundamentally new mechanism. Oak parts were replaced with cast iron; special alloys reacted minimally to temperature changes.
A modern pendulum, a more accurate stroke, a melody - everything was fundamentally new. The watch was manufactured at the Russian factory of the Danish citizens of the Butenop brothers. The musical part of the mechanism was improved; 48 bells were used, some of which were transferred from other Kremlin towers where there had once been clocks. hammers struck the bells.
The melodies were “programmed” using a special rotating drum. In tsarist times, “How Glorious is Our Lord in Zion” and the march of the Life Guards Regiment of the Preobrazhensky Regiment of Peter the Great’s times were played.
In 1917, a shell hit the tower, and the clock remained faulty for a year. On Lenin's instructions, the clock was repaired, and other melodies were dialed - the International and "You have fallen a victim..."
But by the forties of the 20th century, the worn-out mechanism required serious restoration. And the melodies were not played cleanly. This restoration took place only in 1974 - the clock was stopped for 100 days. The last major renovation dates back to 1999.
Until 1996, the chimes were silent for 58 years, and at the inauguration of President Yeltsin they played the melody of Glinka’s “Glory,” which at that time was performed as the anthem of Russia. Here is a modern drum responsible for "music"
Bell music has its own rhythm, so it is difficult to guess that at noon, midnight, 6 and 18 o'clock the Russian anthem is performed, at 3, 9, 15 and 21 o'clock the melody of the choir "Glory" is performed.
The clock on the Spasskaya Tower is not the most accurate, but it is the most important. Their four dials have a diameter of 6.12 meters, the height of the numbers is 0.72 meters, the length of the hour hand is 2.97 m, the length of the minute hand is 3.27 m. The total weight of the chimes is 25 tons. This is a completely mechanical watch, and therefore a unique watch. They are subject to regular lubrication (separately winter and summer composition lubricants), modernizations - they are “on the pencil” in scientific institutes.
An important question: when does it come? New Year? With the first or last blow? So, the chiming clock has nothing to do with it. The new goal comes early, with the start of the bell!