Our Notes & References

A fine, inscribed copy of Montferrand’s folio on the huge “Tsar Bell”, still in the Moscow Kremlin nowadays.

The renowned architect of the St. Isaac Cathedral in St. Petersbug gave the book to a fellow Frenchman, Léon Godard, in October 1856, a short time after Tsar Alexander II’s coronation, which Godard witnessed and described in a book published two years later. Godard (1825-63) was a priest and traveller, mostly known for his later activity in Algiers.

Montferrand (1786-1858) moved to Russia in 1816 and led major works for Tsar Nicholas I. One of them was to move and reinstall the enormous Tsar Kolokol, the 200-ton bell which Tsarina Anna Ivanovna ordered in 1733. A fire prevented its completion and the damaged bell spent a century in a pit, too heavy to be moved – until Ricard de Montferrand managed to lift it, which he explains and illustrates in his book.

Because of the medieval origins of the bell, Montferrand chose to ornate his text with beautifully crafted chromolithographed decorations, reminiscent of medieval manuscripts and illustrations: they create a beautiful effect, quite in contrast with the technical plates showcasing modern engineering and the equipment employed in the excavation. Besides lithographed plates of the bell before and after its extraction, Montferrand illustrates its massive bronze surface decorated with relief depictions of Tsar Alexei and Empress Anna.

Provenance

Léon Godard (a gift from the author, inscribed to the half-title “Souvenir d’amitié à Monsieur L. Godard. Aug. de Montferrand. St. Petersbourg, le 14/26 X 1856”).