Was the Tsar Cannon ever used in battle?

The artillery piece saw no wartime deployment, though examination confirmed gunpowder residue from firing.

Who cast the Tsar Cannon?

Bronze master Andrey Chokhov cast the monument at the Cannon yard during the reign of Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich.

Can the cannon be fired today?

The cannon cannot fire because installation on its decorated metal carriage disabled the firing function.

Where is the Tsar Cannon located?

The cannon is situated on Ivanovskaya Square near the Tsar Bell within the Moscow Kremlin grounds.

What record does the Tsar Cannon hold?

Guinness World Records recognizes the cannon as the largest bombard by caliber on Earth.

Moscow · Russia

Tsar Cannon: what's nearby, how to get there and when to go · 2026

Residents living around the Kremlin fortress quickly learn to navigate daily perimeter checkpoints and tourist crowds around Ivanovskaya Square.

Tsar Cannon · CC BY-SA 4.0

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About the place

The Tsar Cannon rests on Ivanovskaya Square inside the Moscow Kremlin as an early modern bronze bombard.

Master caster Andrey Chokhov produced the bronze weapon at the Cannon yard during the reign of Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich. Engineered as an enormous caliber bombard, the piece was originally stationed by the Place of Skulls on Red Square to guard eastern approaches, disproving assumptions that the work lacked practical defense value.

Read on

The barrel was moved to the Kremlin Arsenal and mounted on timber framing, which burned during the wartime fire that consumed the capital upon French occupation. A replacement carriage cast in Saint Petersburg at the Berd facility disabled operational firing, after which authorities transferred the barrel beside the Tsar Bell.

Restoration work at Serpukhov revealed gunpowder traces showing the barrel was fired while anchored in earth, contradicting historic foreign satire that dismissed it as an ornamental showpiece. Long-term residents who traverse the fortress grounds encounter the bronze monument amidst strict government security and protocol closures.

Associations

Andrey ChokhovMaster bronze founder who cast the massive barrel at the Cannon yard.
Tsar BellMassive neighboring monument on Ivanovskaya Square that was never rung.
Transport constraintsEnormous weight made battlefield movement between positions impossible.
Place of SkullsEarly Red Square placement site intended to defend eastern approaches.

Facts

Gunpowder residue identified during restoration confirmed that the weapon discharged from an earth emplacement.
The replacement carriage manufactured in Saint Petersburg permanently disabled the bombard from discharging.
Napoleon Bonaparte considered transporting the bronze bombard back to France as a military trophy during his invasion.
The bombard was originally deployed beside the Place of Skulls on Red Square to defend eastern fortress approaches.

Updated September 8, 2026Source: Wikipedia

Tsar Cannon: what's nearby, how to get there and when to go · 2026

What is around31

The Tsar Cannon rests on Ivanovskaya Square inside the Moscow Kremlin as an early modern bronze bombard.

Getting there and staying

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