The Tsar Cannon (Russian: Царь-пушка) is a large, 5.94
metres (19.5 ft) long cannon on display on the grounds of the Moscow Kremlin.
It was cast in 1586 in Moscow. Mostly of
symbolic impact, it was never used in a war. Per the Guinness Book of Records
it is the largest bombard by caliber in the world and it is a major tourist
attraction in the Moscow Kremlin.
The Tsar Cannon is made of bronze and weighs 39.312
tonnes and has a length of 5.34 m (17.5 ft). Its bronze-cast barrel has an internal diameter
of 890 mm (35.0 in) and an external diameter of 1,200 mm (47.2 in). The barrel
has eight cast rectangular brackets for use in transporting the gun, which is
mounted on a stylized cast iron gun carriage with two wheels. The barrel is
decorated with relief images, including an equestrian image of Tsar Fyodor
Ivanovich. The cannon-style gun carriage, added in 1835, is purely decorative.
This weapon was never intended to be transported on or fired from this gun
carriage.
The spherical cast-iron projectiles located in front of
the cannon—each of which weighs approximately 1 ton, were produced in 1834 as a
decoration. They are too large to have been used in the Tsar Cannon, which
would have fired 800 kg stone grapeshot rather than cannonballs. According to
legend, the cannonballs were manufactured in St. Petersburg and were intended
to be a humorous addition and a symbol of the friendly rivalry between Moscow
and St. Petersburg.
This postcard came from Eugeniya (20 January 2015)
Postcrossing.
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