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The secret of the Kremlin chimes. When does the New Year begin?

The exact Kremlin time is kept behind iron bars. Access to the holy of holies, the Spasskaya Tower, is only accompanied. Regime object. No elevators. Almost 10 floors up on foot along ancient spiral staircases.

Each hand is 3 meters, the dial itself is 6. The size is not so noticeable from the paving stones, but the main clock of the country occupies several floors. Wheels and gears larger than a man, a huge musical drum, a 32-kilogram pendulum - in total, the entire structure weighs more than 25 tons. In all other respects, the chimes are the most ordinary mechanical watches.

Evgeny Fedoseev, head of the Time Service of the Astronomical Institute. Sternberg: “The New Year begins at the first sound of the chimes. Ding-ding-ding. It’s already the New Year and we need to shout, congratulate and celebrate, but all these blows and signs come later.”

The wheels started turning. Began. This is how the arrival of the new year to replace the old one looks like in the heart of the main clock of the country.

And if we approach the problem even more pedantically, here it is:

The moment of the new year is a conditional and relative concept. How to negotiate. If you live in a city, then at different ends of it (west - east) the moment 24-00 LOCAL TIME will be at different times. In mid-latitudes, with a difference in distance of about 15 km, the difference will already be a minute.

So:

The first strike of twelve sounds ten seconds after the start of a new day. And their change occurs when the chimes begin to chime. That is, the beginning of the chime coincides with the instant of the change of day. At zero hours zero minutes zero seconds the chime begins. Ten seconds later the first strike of the bell sounds, chiming the whole hour.

The first clocks in Moscow appeared in 1404. At that time, Moscow was already a big city, and the Kremlin was the residence of the great princes. The Kremlin clock was one of the first in Europe and was considered a miracle of its time. This clock was located in the courtyard of Grand Duke Vasily Dimitrievich on Cathedral Square, not far from the Annunciation Cathedral. The chronicler described their structure in the following way: “This watchmaker will be called the clock; at every hour he strikes the bell with a hammer, measuring and counting the hours of the night and day; not a man striking, but human-like, self-resonant and self-moving, strangely created somehow by human cunning, pre-imagined and cunning.”

It is not known exactly when the Kremlin tower clock appeared. There is an assumption that they were placed on the Spasskaya Tower shortly after its construction (1491). However, documentary evidence of this dates back to the 16th century. Who made the clock and what it was like has not yet been established exactly.

At the beginning of the 17th century, this watch was sold to Yaroslavl, and from the surviving bill of sale we know that it weighed 960 kilograms. But the documents do not mention what kind of call they received.

A second clock appeared on the Spasskaya Tower, which was built in 1625. They were assembled under the leadership of the English master Christopher Golovey, who was invited to install the chimes by Tsar Mikhail Romanov. Thirty bells, cast by master Kirill Samoilov, chimed every hour. This mechanism was repaired several times after numerous Kremlin fires, but the chimes did not survive the fire of July 19, 1701.

New chimes, by order of Peter the Great, were delivered from Amsterdam to Moscow on 30 carts. They struck the hours and quarters and performed the chime on 33 bells. It is known for certain that Muscovites heard it for the first time on December 9, 1706 at 9 am.

Alas, this watch suffered the same sad fate as the previous mechanisms. They were repaired several times, but after the fire of 1737 the chimes stopped working for good.

In 1763, a “large chime clock” made in England was removed from the premises under the Chamber of Facets. It took master Ivan Polyansky three years to install them on the Spasskaya Tower. The mechanism served faithfully for several decades, during which its parts wore out and the clock stopped working. Their repairs were carried out at the Butenop brothers' factories for two years. There, a musical mechanism was re-created that performed the march of the Preobrazhensky Regiment from the times of Peter the Great and the melody of D.S. Bortnyansky “How Glorious is Our Lord in Zion.”

In 1860, the chimes surprised Muscovites with a new melody. It was the German mechanic Fatz, invited to service the watch, who retuned the copper musical shaft to the simple melody of “Ah, my dear Augustine.” However, Nicholas the First considered this song unworthy of the main clock of the state. By the way, earlier Nicholas did not allow the shaft to be tuned to “God Save the Tsar,” believing that the chimes should not play the national anthem.

In the revolutionary year of 1917, a shell hit the dial of the chimes, and the watch was repaired in 1919 by master N.V. Berne. Now the melodies of the “Internationale” and the funeral march “You have fallen a victim” were played on the musical shaft. These two melodies alternated (at noon and midnight) and sounded until 1932, when it was decided to leave only “Internationale”. In 1938, the performance of this melody stopped. Now the chimes only struck quarters and whole hours.

In 1974, the chimes were stopped for one hundred days. During this time, the watch mechanism was completely disassembled, all worn parts were replaced. A device for automatic lubrication of parts was designed. But the musical mechanism was never repaired.

On the eve of the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Plenum of the Central Committee decided that the chimes should play the national anthem, written by Alexandrov. However, experts who examined the musical mechanism came to the conclusion that it was impossible to play this melody with the available bells.

Everyone probably knows the principle of operation of an ordinary music box. It was invented several centuries ago, but was especially widespread in the 18th and 19th centuries, when even pocket watches, cigarette cases and snuff boxes played various melodies. The musical mechanism had a so-called program cylinder, seated with small short pins. When the cylinder rotated, they set thin metal plates into sound.

The Kremlin chimes also have a program cylinder, but its diameter is about 2 meters and its width is more than 2 meters. The mechanism is driven by a heavy weight weighing more than 200 kilograms.

After the clock strikes, the chime mechanism stopper is disabled. A huge cylinder bristling with a thousand steel pins rotates slowly.

The sizes of the chime bells are different, therefore they produce different sounds: from a thick bass to a ringing treble. The weight of bells depends on their size - from tens to hundreds of kilograms. The weight of the largest bell is 500 kilograms.

When the program cylinder rotates, the pins touch a special device like a pedal. The pedal is connected by a steel cable to a striking mechanism (it is located above, on the 10th floor, where the bells hang). A cable pulls a specially shaped hammer from the edge of the bell, the pin breaks off the pedal, and the hammer hits the edge of the bell, producing sound from it.

While over the course of many decades the Kremlin chimes underwent all sorts of alterations, the clock mechanism always worked properly and almost never stopped.

And the music of the Moscow chimes did not sound until 1996. Then the inauguration of B.N. took place. Yeltsin, to which the music center was again repaired. This time he was “taught” to perform “Patriotic Song” and “Glory” by Glinka. To do this, we recorded the sound of each bell and analyzed both melodies using a computer. Smart electronics suggested how many bells and what tone were missing. The three missing bells were cast in Holland, delivered to Moscow and installed on the belfry.

And today you can hear Glinka’s melodies performed by the Moscow chimes. Of course, if you find yourself on Red Square at noon or midnight.

With what strike of the chimes on the Kremlin's Spasskaya Tower New Year is coming? With the first? No! Is it really the last one? Also no!

The first strike of twelve sounds ten seconds after the start of a new day. And their change occurs when the chimes begin to chime. More precisely, of course, it’s the other way around: the beginning of the chime coincides with the moment the day changes. At zero hours zero minutes zero seconds chime starts. Ten seconds later the first strike of the bell sounds, chiming the whole hour.

By the way, at different times the Moscow Kremlin chimes played different melodies. A tower clock appeared on the Spasskaya Tower back at the end of the 15th century under Ivan the Third. At the beginning of the 17th century, this watch was sold to Yaroslavl, and from the surviving bill of sale we know that it weighed 960 kilograms. But the documents do not mention what kind of call they received.

Alas, this watch suffered the same sad fate as the previous mechanisms. They were repaired several times, but after the fire of 1737 The chimes finally rose.

In 1763, a “large chime clock” made in England was removed from the premises under the Chamber of Facets. It took master Ivan Polyansky three years to install them on the Spasskaya Tower. The mechanism served faithfully for several decades, during which its parts wore out and the clock stopped working. Their repairs were carried out at the Butenop brothers' factories for two years. There, a musical mechanism was re-created that performed the march of the Preobrazhensky Regiment from the times of Peter the Great and the melody of D.S. Bortnyansky “How Glorious is Our Lord in Zion.” So that the belfry could play these melodies, it was supplemented with 24 bells. 16 of them were removed from the Trinity Tower and 8 from Borovitskaya. After this, the number of bells in the belfry reached 58, and 13 of them were cast for Golovey’s chimes.

In 1974, the chimes were stopped for a hundred days. During this time, the watch mechanism was completely disassembled, all worn parts were replaced. A device for automatic lubrication of parts was designed. But the musical mechanism was never repaired.

And the music of the Moscow chimes did not sound until 1996. Then the inauguration of B.N. took place. Yeltsin, to which the music center was again repaired. This time he was “taught” to perform “Patriotic Song” and “Glory” by Glinka. To do this, we recorded the sound of each bell and analyzed both melodies using a computer. Smart electronics suggested how many bells and what tone were missing. The three missing bells were cast in Holland, delivered to Moscow and installed on the belfry.

And today you can hear Glinka’s melodies performed by the Moscow chimes. Of course, if you find yourself on Red Square at noon or midnight.

I found some more details from the history of the Kremlin chimes:

The clock on the Spasskaya Tower was given special attention because it was considered the most important. But despite this, frequent fires damaged the parts of the tower clock, and the clock mechanism often failed. After one of the fires in 1624, the clock was so badly damaged that it was sold as scrap, by weight, to the Spassky Monastery in Yaroslavl for 48 rubles. To replace the defective watches that were sold, in 1625, under the leadership of the English mechanic and watchmaker Christophor Galovey, new, larger watches were made by Russian blacksmiths and watchmakers of the Zhdan family.

For this clock, 13 bells were cast by Russian foundry worker Kirill Samoilov. To install the new clock, the tower was built on four tiers. On the ancient quadrangle of the Spasskaya Tower, under the leadership of Bazhen Ogurtsov, an arched brick belt with white stone carved details and decorations was built on. And on the inner quadrangle a high tented roof with arched bells was erected, on which the hour bells were hung. A new main clock of the state was installed on tiers 7,8,9. On the 10th tier there were 30 bells for chiming, which could be heard more than 10 miles away.

The clock had an old Russian timekeeping system, and the mechanism consisted of oak links, dismountable, fastened with iron hoops. Thanks to a special mechanism, the clock chimed a certain melody from time to time, and they became the first Russian chimes. The diameter of the dial of the new clock was about 5 meters, weighed 400 kg and was assembled from heavy oak boards. The dial of this clock rotated, and the stationary hand was made in the form of a ray of the sun. The arrow was placed above the dial, indicating both night and day time. The inner circle of the dial was covered with blue azure and depicted the vault of heaven, along which were scattered gold and silver stars, images of the sun and moon. The numbers were designated by Slavic letters, and the dial was called the “indicative verbal circle” (recognizable circle). The letters were made of copper and plated with gold. The dials, turned in different directions, were divided into 17 divisions and were located in the central keel of the prominent arch of the reinforcing belt above the ancient quadrangle. At the top of the wall, in a circle, were written the words of prayer and the signs of the zodiac, carved from iron, the remains of which have been preserved to this day under the existing clock dials.

Christophor Galovey's clock was about a meter smaller than modern ones. The accuracy of the movement directly depended on the watchmaker servicing them. After installation, the clock burned in fires more than once, after which it was restored again. However, the Galovey clock on the Spasskaya Tower stood and served people for quite a long time.

By decree of Peter I in 1705, the entire country switched to a single daily timekeeping system. Returning from travels abroad, he ordered the English mechanism of the Spasskaya Tower clock to be replaced with a clock with a 12-hour dial purchased in Holland. The new Kremlin chimes chimed the hours and quarters, and also rang out a melody. The installation of the purchased clock on the tower and the alteration of the dial were supervised by the Russian watchmaker Ekim Garnov. The complete installation of the chimes was completed in 1709. To service Dutch watches, a whole staff of watchmakers was kept, most of whom were foreigners, however, despite all efforts, the watches often broke down and did not please Muscovites for long with their chimes. During that period, the clock was called by “assembly dances.” There were also bells there that sounded the “fire alarm.”

Dutch watches had 4 winding shafts: 1st for the clock mechanism; 2nd for striking the clock; 3rd for the quarter hour strike; 4th for playing melodies. The shafts were driven by weights. After the great fire of 1737, Peter's Clock was severely damaged. Then all the wooden parts of the Spasskaya Tower burned, and the chime shaft was damaged. As a result, bell music no longer sounded. Interest in the chimes disappeared after Peter I moved the capital to St. Petersburg. The chimes were broken and repaired many times, and the watches were serviced negligently.

Having ascended the throne and visited Moscow, Empress Catherine II became interested in the Spassky chimes, but by that time the clock had already fallen into complete disrepair. Attempts to restore them were unsuccessful, and by order of Catherine II, the “large English chiming clock” found in the Faceted Chamber began to be installed on the Spasskaya Tower.

The German watchmaker Fatz was invited for installation, and together with the Russian watchmaker Ivan Polyansky, within 3 years, the installation was completed. In 1770, the chimes began to sound the Austrian melody “Ah, my dear Augustine” because it was very popular with the watchmaker, a German by birth, servicing the clock. And for almost a year this melody sounded over Red Square, and the authorities did not pay any attention to it. This was the only time in history when the chimes played a foreign melody.

In 1812, Muscovites saved the Spasskaya Tower from destruction by French troops, but the clock stopped. Three years later, they were repaired by a group of craftsmen led by watchmaker Yakov Lebedev, for which he was awarded the honorary title of Master of the Spassky Watch. The clock installed under Catherine II operated successfully for eighty years without major repairs. However, after an examination in 1851 by the brothers Johann and Nikolai Butenopov (Danish subjects) and the architect Konstantin Ton, it was established: “The Spassky tower clock is in a critical condition, close to complete breakdown (the iron gears and wheels are worn out, the dials are dilapidated, the wooden floors have settled, the oak foundation rotted under the clock, the staircase needs redoing).”

In 1851, the Butenop Brothers company, famous for installing tower clocks in the dome of the Grand Kremlin Palace, took on the task of correcting the Spassky chimes and entrusted the production of new clocks to skilled Russian craftsmen. Based on the drawings of the experienced architect Ton, the interior decoration of the Spasskaya Tower was refurbished. The new watches used parts from old watches and all the developments in watchmaking of that time.

Extensive work was carried out. A new cast-iron frame was cast under the clock, on which the mechanism was located, the wheels and gears were replaced, and special alloys were selected for their manufacture that could withstand high humidity and significant temperature changes. The chimes received a Gragam stroke and a pendulum with a thermal compensation system designed by Harrison.

Special attention was paid to the appearance of the Kremlin clock. New black iron dials were made with gilded rims on 4 sides, for which numerals were cast in copper, as well as minute and five-minute divisions. The iron hands are wrapped in copper and plated with gold. The total weight of the watch was 25 tons. The diameter of each of the four dials is over 6 meters; the height of the numbers is 72 centimeters, the length of the hour hand is about 3 meters, the minute hand is another quarter of a meter longer. Digitization on the dial was done at that time with Arabic numerals, and not Roman numerals, as now.

Also, the Butenop Brothers company completely redesigned the music unit. To the old clock bells, they added bells taken from other Kremlin towers whose clocks were not working by that time (16 from Troitskaya and 8 from Borovitskaya), bringing the total number of bells to 48 with the aim of more melodic chiming and accurate execution of melodies. The striking of the clock was achieved by striking special hammers on the surface of the lower base of the bell. The musical mechanism itself consisted of a drum with a diameter of one and a half meters, in the middle of which a gear wheel was fixed. Parallel to the axis of the musical drum there is an axis for 30 levers of the hammer cocking mechanism, which ensures the sound of the bells located in the uppermost tier of the Spasskaya Tower. On the playing shaft of the clock, according to the personal order of the sovereign Emperor Nikolai Pavlovich, the melodies of the hymn “How Glorious is Our Lord in Zion” (music by Dmitry Bortnyansky) and the march of the Life Guards Preobrazhensky Regiment from the times of Peter the Great were set. New chimes rang over Red Square every three hours, and the melodies had important ideological significance and sounded until 1917. At 12 and 6 o’clock the march of the Life Guards of the Preobrazhensky Regiment, and at 3 and 9 o’clock the anthem “How Glorious is Our Lord in Zion.”

In 1913, a full-scale restoration of the appearance of the chimes was carried out, timed to coincide with the 300th anniversary of the House of Romanov. The Butenop Brothers company continued to service the clockwork.

In 1917, during the artillery shelling during the storming of the Kremlin, the clock on the Spasskaya Tower was seriously damaged. One of the shells hitting the clock broke the hand, damaging the mechanism for rotating the hands. The clock stopped and was faulty for almost a year.

In 1918, by decree of V.I. Lenin, it was decided to restore the Kremlin chimes. First of all, the Bolsheviks turned to the company of Pavel Bure and Sergei Roginsky, but after the price for repairs was announced, they turned to a mechanic working in the Kremlin, Nikolai Behrens. Behrens knew the structure of the chimes since his father worked in a company that previously serviced the chimes. Together with his sons, Behrens was able to start the clock by July 1918, repairing the mechanism for turning the hands, repairing the hole in the dial and making a new pendulum about one and a half meters long and weighing 32 kilograms. Since Behrens was unable to adjust the musical device of the Spassky Clock, at the direction of the new government, the artist and musician Mikhail Cheremnykh figured out the structure of the bells, the score of the chimes and scored revolutionary melodies on the playing shaft. In accordance with Lenin’s wishes, at 12 o’clock the bells rang “Internationale”, and at 24 o’clock - “You have fallen a victim...” (in honor of those buried on Red Square). In 1918, the Mossovet commission accepted the work after listening to each melody three times on Red Square. The “Internationale” sounded first at 6 a.m., and at 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. the funeral march “You have fallen a victim.” After some time, the chimes were reconfigured. At 12 o'clock the bells rang "Internationale", and at 24 o'clock "You have fallen a victim."

In 1932, the exterior was repaired and a new dial was made, which was an exact copy of the old one. 28 kg of gold was spent on gilding the rim, numbers and hands, and “Internationale” was left as the melody. At the direction of I.V. Stalin, the funeral march was cancelled. A special commission found the sound of the chimes' musical device unsatisfactory. Frosts and wear of the mechanism greatly distorted the sound, as a result of which in 1938 it was decided to stop the musical drum and the chimes fell silent, beginning to chime the hours and quarters.

In 1941, an electromechanical drive was installed specifically for the performance of the Internationale, which was subsequently dismantled.

In 1944, a new anthem of the USSR was adopted to the music of A.V. Alexandrov and poems by S.V. Mikhalkova, and G.G. El Registana. In this regard, by order of J.V. Stalin, they tried to set up chimes to ring out the new anthem, but for a reason unknown to us, this never happened.

In 1974, a major restoration of the Spasskaya Tower and chimes was carried out, and the clock was stopped for 100 days. During this time, specialists from the Watch Industry Research Institute completely disassembled and restored the watch mechanism, and replaced the old parts. A system for automatic lubrication of parts, which was previously done manually, was also installed, and electronic clock control was added.

In 1996, during the inauguration of B.N. Yeltsin, the chimes, which had been silent for 58 years, began to play again after the traditional chiming and striking of the clock. At noon and midnight the bells began to play “Patriotic Song” by M.I. Glinka, and every 3 and 9 o’clock in the morning and evening the melody of the choir “Glory” from the opera “A Life for the Tsar” (Ivan Susanin) by M.I. Glinka. The choice of song was not accidental; “Patriotic Song” was the official anthem of Russia from 1993 to 2000. To implement this project, research work carried out by NIIchasoprom specialists was required. As a result of the work, recordings of the chiming of bells on the Spasskaya Tower, which have survived to this day, were listened to. At different times, there were up to 48 bells, and the tone of each of the 9 surviving bells was identified. After which it became clear that they were not enough for the selected melodies to sound normally; 3 more bells were needed. Based on a special spectral recording of the sound of each missing bell, new ones were made.

The last major restoration work was carried out in 1999. The work took half a year. The hands and numbers were again gilded and the historical appearance of the upper tiers was restored. Important improvements were made in the operation and monitoring of the Kremlin Chimes: a special ultra-sensitive microphone was installed for more accurate timely monitoring of the movement of the clock mechanism. The microphone captures the accuracy of the movement, on the basis of which the software helps determine the presence of problems and quickly identify in which part of the watch mechanism the rhythm is broken. Also, during the restoration, the chimes were reconfigured, after which, instead of the “Patriotic Song,” the chimes began to play the approved national anthem of the Russian Federation.

The Kremlin chimes in our time are located in the tented end of the Spasskaya Tower and occupy the 8th, 9th, 10th tiers. The main mechanism is located on the 9th floor and is located in a specially designated room. It consists of 4 winding shafts, each of which has specific functions. One is for keeping the hands, another is for striking the clock, the third is for calling the quarters, and one more is for playing the chimes. Each mechanism is driven by three weights weighing from 160 to 220 kg, which tension the cables. The accuracy of the clock is achieved thanks to a pendulum weighing 32 kg. The clock mechanism is connected to the musical unit, which is located under the tower tent in the open 10th tier of bells, and consists of 9 quarter bells and 1 bell that strikes the full hour. The weight of the quarter bells is about 320 kg, and the weight of the hour bells is 2160 kg.

The striking of the clock is achieved by striking a hammer connected to the mechanism of each bell. At the beginning of the hour, the chimes are rung 4 times, and then a large bell chimes the hours. Every 15, 30, 45 minutes of the hour the chime plays 1, 2 and 3 times. The musical mechanism of the chimes itself consists of a programmed copper cylinder with a diameter of about two meters, studded with holes and pins in accordance with the dialed melodies. It is rotated by a weight weighing more than 200 kg. When the drum rotates, the pins press the keys, from which the cables connected to the bells on the belfry stretch. At noon and midnight the anthem of the Russian Federation is performed, and at 3, 9, 15, 21 o'clock the melody of the choir "Glory" from Glinka's opera "A Life for the Tsar" is performed. The melodies differ greatly in the rhythm of their execution, so in the first case, the first line from the hymn is performed, and in the second, two lines from the “Glory” chorus are performed.

Today we see on the Spasskaya Tower of Red Square those chimes that were restored by the Butenop brothers in 1852. Since its appearance on the Spasskaya Tower, the clock has been constantly reconstructed in connection with the development of progress in one or another field of mechanics, materials science and other sciences. Until 1937, the clock was wound manually twice a day, and then this process was mechanized, thanks to 3 electric motors, lifting the weights for winding was done without much effort. For each shaft, weights weighing up to 200 kg are made from cast iron ingots, and in winter this weight is increased. Preventive inspection of the mechanism is carried out every day, and once a month - a detailed inspection. The clock's progress is controlled by the watchmaker on duty and a special device. The mechanism is lubricated 2 times a week, and summer or winter lubrication is used. The clock mechanism has been working properly for more than 150 years. This is a symbol not only of the Kremlin, but of all of Russia, which, as in the old days, measures the course of the country’s history.

For Russians, the sounds of the chimes, like champagne and Olivier salad, have long been an integral attribute of the New Year.

Many people believe that they should clink glasses of champagne after the Kremlin chimes strike 12 times. This misconception dates back to the Soviet era: when time signals were broadcast on the radio, the last radio signal corresponded to the beginning of a new hour. But this does not apply to the chiming clock. There is another opinion: the New Year supposedly begins with the first blow. This is also not true.

Now I’ll tell you when to “clink glasses”...

Each hand is 3 meters, the dial itself is 6 meters. The size is not so noticeable from the paving stones, but the main clock of the country occupies several floors. Wheels and gears larger than a man, a huge musical drum, a 32-kilogram pendulum - in total, the entire structure weighs more than 25 tons. In all other respects, the chimes are the most ordinary mechanical watches.

Here, at the astronomical time service of the Sternberg Institute, they know everything about them, observe the stars, study the rotation of the Earth and continuously receive signals from satellites so that the chimes constantly receive reports about the most accurate Moscow time. Here they know the answer to the main question.

Evgeny Fedoseev, head of the Time Service of the Astronomical Institute. Sternberg: “The New Year begins at the first sound of the chimes. Ding-ding-ding. It’s already the New Year and we need to shout, congratulate and celebrate, but all these blows and signs come later.”

The wheels started turning. Began. This is how the arrival of the new year to replace the old one looks like in the heart of the main clock of the country.

And if we approach the problem even more pedantically, here it is:

The moment of the new year is a conditional and relative concept. How to negotiate. If you live in a city, then at different ends of it (west - east) the moment 24-00 LOCAL TIME (!) will be at different times. In mid-latitudes, with a difference in distance of about 15 km, the difference will already be a minute.

So:
The first strike of twelve sounds ten seconds after the start of a new day. And their change occurs when the chimes begin to chime. More precisely, of course, it’s the other way around: the beginning of the chime coincides with the moment the day changes. At zero hours zero minutes zero seconds chime starts. Ten seconds later the first strike of the bell sounds, chiming the whole hour.

The first clocks in Moscow appeared in 1404. At that time, Moscow was already a big city, and the Kremlin was the residence of the great princes. The Kremlin clock was one of the first in Europe and was considered a miracle of its time. This clock was located in the courtyard of Grand Duke Vasily Dimitrievich on Cathedral Square, not far from the Annunciation Cathedral. The chronicler described their structure in the following way: “This watchmaker will be called the clock; at every hour he strikes the bell with a hammer, measuring and counting the hours of the night and day; not a man striking, but human-like, self-resonant and self-moving, strangely created somehow by human cunning, pre-imagined and cunning.”

About the clockmaker it is written in the chronicle: “The prince himself conceived the clockmaker, and the clock was installed by a Serb monk named Lazar.” For installation of the clock they paid 150 rubles, a large amount for that time.

It is not known exactly when the Kremlin tower clock appeared. There is an assumption that they were placed on the Spasskaya Tower shortly after its construction (1491). However, documentary evidence of this dates back to the 16th century. Who made the clock and what it was like has not yet been established exactly. In archival materials only from 1585 there is a mention of the watchmakers of the Frolovsky (Spassky), Trinity and Tainitsky gates. Documents have been preserved that show that watchmakers received 4 rubles and 2 hryvnias per year for their work and 4 arshins of cloth for clothes.

At the beginning of the 17th century, this watch was sold to Yaroslavl, and from the surviving bill of sale we know that it weighed 960 kilograms. But the documents do not mention what kind of call they received.

Alas, this watch suffered the same sad fate as the previous mechanisms. They were repaired several times, but after the fire of 1737 The chimes finally rose.

Everyone probably knows the principle of operation of an ordinary music box. It was invented several centuries ago, but was especially widespread in the 18th and 19th centuries, when even pocket watches, cigarette cases and snuff boxes played various melodies. The musical mechanism had a so-called program cylinder, seated with small short pins. When the cylinder rotated, they set thin metal plates into sound.

The Kremlin chimes also have a program cylinder, but its diameter is about 2 meters and its width is more than 2 meters. The mechanism is driven by a heavy weight weighing more than 200 kilograms.

After the clock strikes, the chime mechanism stopper is disabled. A huge cylinder bristling with a thousand steel pins rotates slowly. Busy with pins

30 tracks for one piece and 30 for another. Each track is dedicated to one bell. The sizes of the chime bells are different, therefore they produce different sounds: from a thick bass to a ringing treble. The weight of bells depends on their size - from tens to hundreds of kilograms. The weight of the largest bell is 500 kilograms.

While over the course of many decades the Kremlin chimes underwent all sorts of alterations, the clock mechanism always worked properly and almost never stopped.

And today you can hear Glinka’s melodies performed by the Moscow chimes. Of course, if you find yourself on Red Square at noon or midnight.

For Russians, these sounds, like champagne and Olivier salad, have long been an integral attribute of the New Year. Only the main question is, when exactly it occurs, there is still no complete clarity - with the chime of the bell, with the first or last strike of the chimes. The exact Kremlin time is kept behind iron bars. Access to the holy of holies, the Spasskaya Tower, is only accompanied. Regime object. No elevators. Almost 10 floors up on foot along ancient spiral staircases. Each hand is 3 meters, the dial itself is 6. The size is not so noticeable from the paving stones, but the main clock of the country occupies several floors. Wheels and gears larger than a man, a huge musical drum, a 32-kilogram pendulum - in total, the entire structure weighs more than 25 tons. In all other respects, the chimes are the most ordinary mechanical watches.
Evgeny Fedoseev, head of the Time Service of the Astronomical Institute. Sternberg: “The New Year begins at the first sound of the chimes. Ding-ding-ding. It’s already the New Year and we need to shout, congratulate and celebrate, but all these blows and signs come later.” The wheels started turning. Began. This is how the arrival of the new year to replace the old one looks like in the heart of the main clock of the country. And if we approach the problem even more pedantically, then here it is: The moment of the onset of the new year is a conditional and relative concept. How to negotiate. If you live in a city, then at different ends of it (west - east) the moment 24-00 LOCAL TIME will be at different times. In mid-latitudes, with a difference in distance of about 15 km, the difference will already be a minute.
So: The first strike of twelve sounds ten seconds after the start of a new day. And their change occurs when the chimes begin to chime. That is, the beginning of the chime coincides with the instant of the change of day. At zero hours zero minutes zero seconds the chime begins. Ten seconds later the first strike of the bell sounds, chiming the whole hour.
The first clocks in Moscow appeared in 1404. At that time, Moscow was already a big city, and the Kremlin was the residence of the great princes. The Kremlin clock was one of the first in Europe and was considered a miracle of its time. This clock was located in the courtyard of Grand Duke Vasily Dimitrievich on Cathedral Square, not far from the Annunciation Cathedral. The chronicler described their structure in the following way: “This watchmaker will be called the clock; at every hour he strikes the bell with a hammer, measuring and counting the hours of the night and day; not a man striking, but human-like, self-resonant and self-moving, strangely created somehow by human cunning, pre-imagined and cunning.” It is not known exactly when the Kremlin tower clock appeared. There is an assumption that they were placed on the Spasskaya Tower shortly after its construction (1491). However, documentary evidence of this dates back to the 16th century. Who made the clock and what it was like has not yet been established exactly. At the beginning of the 17th century, this watch was sold to Yaroslavl, and from the surviving bill of sale we know that it weighed 960 kilograms. But the documents do not mention what kind of call they received. A second clock appeared on the Spasskaya Tower, which was built in 1625. They were assembled under the leadership of the English master Christopher Golovey, who was invited to install the chimes by Tsar Mikhail Romanov. Thirty bells, cast by master Kirill Samoilov, chimed every hour. This mechanism was repaired several times after numerous Kremlin fires, but the chimes did not survive the fire of July 19, 1701. New chimes, by order of Peter the Great, were delivered from Amsterdam to Moscow on 30 carts. They struck the hours and quarters and performed the chime on 33 bells. It is known for certain that Muscovites heard it for the first time on December 9, 1706 at 9 am. Alas, this watch suffered the same sad fate as the previous mechanisms. They were repaired several times, but after the fire of 1737 the chimes stopped working for good. In 1763, a “large chime clock” made in England was removed from the premises under the Chamber of Facets. It took master Ivan Polyansky three years to install them on the Spasskaya Tower. The mechanism served faithfully for several decades, during which its parts wore out and the clock stopped working. Their repairs were carried out at the Butenop brothers' factories for two years. There, a musical mechanism was re-created that performed the march of the Preobrazhensky Regiment from the times of Peter the Great and the melody of D.S. Bortnyansky “How Glorious is Our Lord in Zion.” In 1860, the chimes surprised Muscovites with a new melody. It was the German mechanic Fatz, invited to service the watch, who retuned the copper musical shaft to the simple melody of “Ah, my dear Augustine.” However, Nicholas the First considered this song unworthy of the main clock of the state. By the way, earlier Nicholas did not allow the shaft to be tuned to “God Save the Tsar,” believing that the chimes should not play the national anthem. In the revolutionary year of 1917, a shell hit the dial of the chimes, and the watch was repaired in 1919 by master N.V. Berne. Now the melodies of the “Internationale” and the funeral march “You have fallen a victim” were played on the musical shaft. These two melodies alternated (at noon and midnight) and sounded until 1932, when it was decided to leave only “Internationale”. In 1938, the performance of this melody stopped. Now the chimes only struck quarters and whole hours. In 1974, the chimes were stopped for one hundred days. During this time, the watch mechanism was completely disassembled, all worn parts were replaced. A device for automatic lubrication of parts was designed. But the musical mechanism was never repaired. On the eve of the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Plenum of the Central Committee decided that the chimes should play the national anthem, written by Alexandrov. However, experts who examined the musical mechanism came to the conclusion that it was impossible to play this melody with the available bells. Everyone probably knows the principle of operation of an ordinary music box. It was invented several centuries ago, but was especially widespread in the 18th and 19th centuries, when even pocket watches, cigarette cases and snuff boxes played various melodies. The musical mechanism had a so-called program cylinder, seated with small short pins. When the cylinder rotated, they set thin metal plates into sound. The Kremlin chimes also have a program cylinder, but its diameter is about 2 meters and its width is more than 2 meters. The mechanism is driven by a heavy weight weighing more than 200 kilograms. After the clock strikes, the chime mechanism stopper is disabled. A huge cylinder bristling with a thousand steel pins rotates slowly. The sizes of the chime bells are different, therefore they produce different sounds: from a thick bass to a ringing treble. The weight of bells depends on their size - from tens to hundreds of kilograms. The weight of the largest bell is 500 kilograms. When the program cylinder rotates, the pins touch a special device like a pedal. The pedal is connected by a steel cable to a striking mechanism (it is located above, on the 10th floor, where the bells hang). A cable pulls a specially shaped hammer from the edge of the bell, the pin breaks off the pedal, and the hammer hits the edge of the bell, producing sound from it. While over the course of many decades the Kremlin chimes underwent all sorts of alterations, the clock mechanism always worked properly and almost never stopped.
And the music of the Moscow chimes did not sound until 1996. Then the inauguration of B.N. took place. Yeltsin, to which the music center was again repaired. This time he was “taught” to perform “Patriotic Song” and “Glory” by Glinka. To do this, we recorded the sound of each bell and analyzed both melodies using a computer. Smart electronics suggested how many bells and what tone were missing. The three missing bells were cast in Holland, delivered to Moscow and installed on the belfry. And today you can hear Glinka’s melodies performed by the Moscow chimes. Of course, if you find yourself on Red Square at noon or midnight.