Andrey Chokhov
Andrey Chokhov, also spelled Chekhov (Андрей Чохов (Чехов) in Russian) (c. 1545 – 1629, allegedly 8 December, Moscow) was a highly prominent Russian cannon and bell caster. He worked in Moscow at the Cannon Yard for more than 40 years, where he was responsible for casting many heavy weapons. Over 20 were documented, from 1568 to 1629, including the Tsar Cannon cast in 1586. His traditions were continued by the Motorin family.
Biography
Andrey Chokhov was born in about 1545, and entered the teaching of the well-known master cannon caster Kashpir Ganusov at a very young age, and stood out from the mass of Ganusov's students who performed regular work.
Chokhov took the lead in casting cannons in Moscow in 1590.[1]
Chokhov as cannon maker
Andrey Chokhov began his career at the Cannon yard in Moscow during the reign of Ivan the Terrible in the 1550s as an apprentice to a German (?) caster Kashpir Ganusov (russified name). In the 1570s, Chokhov became one of the leading Muscovite casters and supervised production of heavy battering weapons, such as siege arquebus Лисица (Vixen) and battering ram Собака (Dog) (both made in 1575), big cannon Волк (Wolf; 1576-1577), and a colossal arquebus Инрог (Unicorn), which would become the largest cannon of the Russian siege artillery (1577; weight - 7,134 kg; displayed in St. Petersburg). In 1586, Andrey Chokhov founded his famous Tsar Cannon (Царь-пушка), a masterpiece of the casting art of the second half of the 16th century.
Chokhov as bell maker
Andrey Chokhov is also known as a bell founder.
In 1594 and 1603, he cast two huge bells (called благовестники, or blagovestniki) weighing 625 poods (10.2 metric tons) and 1,080 poods (17.8 t), correspondingly. These bells were donated by Boris Godunov to the Troitse-Sergiyeva Lavra. In 1621, Andrey Chokhov and other masters cast four bells for the Ivan the Great Bell Tower (one of them called Глухой (Muffled) can still be seen in the middle tier of the bell tower). In 1622, Chokhov cast a 20-ton bell called Реут (Reut).
His biggest bell weighing 40 tons (cast in 1600) didn't survive to this day, as well as the so-called Godunov Bell (also known as Old Assumption Bell, or Resurrection Bell), which would be destroyed by fire in 1701.[2]
See also
References
- v
- t
- e
terminology
- List of heaviest bells
- Balangiga bells
- Bell of Good Luck
- Bell of King Seongdeok
- Big Ben
- Freedom Bell
- Great Bell of Dhammazedi
- Great Tom
- Ivan the Great Bell Tower
- Japanese Peace Bell
- Justice Bell
- Liberty Bell
- Maria Gloriosa
- Mingun Bell
- Bells of Notre-Dame de Paris
- Olympic Bell
- Petersglocke
- Sigismund Bell
- Swan Bells
- Temple Bell (Boston)
- Tsar Bell
- World Peace Bells
- Kentucky
- Yongle Big Bell
and foundries
- Bergholtz [sv]
- Bilbie family
- Andrey Chokhov
- Cockey
- Royal Eijsbouts
- Kashpir Ganusov
- Vanden Gheyn
- Gillett & Johnston
- Grassmayr
- Miles Graye
- Hatch
- Pieter and François Hemony
- Christopher Hodson
- Franciscus Illenfeld
- Juutila
- Marinelli
- McShane
- Meneely
- John Murphy
- Olsen Nauen
- Glockengießerei Otto
- Paccard
- Petit & Fritsen
- Richard Phelps
- Rudhall
- John and William Rufford
- Saarlouiser Glockengießerei
- Schilling [de]
- Taylor
- Hugh Watts
- Warner
- Whitechapel
- Geert van Wou