Колокола-гиганты в Сибири в XVII–XX вв.: памятники литья и их культурное значение

Abstract

There is fragmentary information about giant bells in Siberia; the topic of studying this phenomenon has not been raised before. The article gives and justifies the definition of a giant bell. Bells weighing 500 pounds or more were found in most large provincial Siberian cities; in some cases (Tobolsk, Kungur, Pyskor, Nizhny Tagil, Irkutsk) there were several such bells. It is noted that in Siberia, which has experienced a shortage of bells throughout the entire Orthodox period of existence, bells of smaller weight can also be considered giants. Giant bells were the subject of special concern of kings and bishops and had great cultural significance in the life of Siberians. Notifying local residents about the most important events not only in the church and state life of the country, the ringing of such bells was a kind of mass media for the population. In the conditions of low-rise buildings in Siberian settlements, this ringing covered not only the entire territory of the city, but was often heard in neighboring settlements. During the research, the problem of attribution of bells in terms of their weight arose. It turned out that in various pre-revolutionary sources the same bell can have different data; often the weight was rounded to some more convenient values, both up and down. Of the 22 bells described in the article, not a single giant survived after the anti-bell campaign of the 20th century; all of them were destroyed. The article raises the issue of restoring the lost bell heritage and provides data on the existing giant bells cast at the beginning of the 21st century.