Let me lead you through the streets of Moscow

by Anni Pelmeni

The clocks of Spaskaya Tower in the Kremlin is an inalienable part of social life every Russian person: every year on December 31st at midnight the whole country listens to the chimes of Spaskaya Tower. Live translation from Spaskaya Tower (either on TV or radio or internet) is the-must of every New Year celebration regardless of age, company or place from Kamchatka to Kaliningrad.

The first clock with chimes was already installed when the Spaskaya Tower was initially constructed in the 15th century. The modern clock is the 4th within 5 centuries of history of the Spaskaya Tower. This clockwork was commissioned by Ekaterina II the Great in 1767 and since then several time the clock-masters had to virtually re-incarnate the mechanism after the sever damages of Napoleon's invasion, Revolutions of 1917, WWII.

The sound-treck of chimes has changed over time: God saves the Tsar (official anthem of Russian Empire) , then International, Soviet anthem and Glinka's Glory. Nowadays Russian anthem and Glinka's Glory are being played on special occasions.

Several interesting facts:

- the clockwork is mechaical with weights

- the clock has 4 faces on each side of the Tower

- the clockwork weights 25 tons and takes 3 floors of the Tower.

- the diametor of each clock-face is a bit more than 6 m; the height of each number - 72 cm; the hour-hand is 3 m long, the minute-hand - 3.28m.

And finally here is the soundtrack of the modern chimes-work, you do not need to wait till December 31 to hear it. Do not forget to make the wish.

 

[coolplayer width="300" height="80" autoplay="0" loop="0" charset="utf-8" download="1" mediatype=""]Clock on Spasskaya Tower[/coolplayer]

Stumbe it!