The copy of Tsar Cannon was a gift of Municipality of Moscow to Ukrainian city of Donetsk where it was installed in front of City Hall in May 2001. Tsar Cannon was a response to a gift - a copy of Mertsalov's Palm to the city of Moscow.

While there are similarities with the original the copy of Tsar Cannon in Donetsk has a few significant differences. The first is that the barrel was done not from bronze but from cast iron. Barrel length is 5,28 meters which is 6 cm shorter than the original, barrel weight - 44 tons and gun carriage - 20 tons.

History of creation of the copy of Tsar Cannon in Donetsk

In July 2000 in the office of Fraternity of People Born in Donbass in Moscow (Russia) it was decided to create a copy of Tsar Cannon and transfer it as a gift from the government of Moscow to Donetsk. After prior approval began the search for steelworks to make a copy. General manager of HC Izhstal Valery Moiseev refused to create the copy of Tsar Cannon twice but when he got a personal request from the governor of Donbass - agreed.

After agreeing on all issues with the manufacturer Fraternity of People Born in Donbass had to get permission to make a copy of Tsar Cannon. The permission helped to get the adopted son of Stalin - Artem Sergeyev - native son of bolshevik Fyodor Sergeyev known under the pseudonym Artem. When Artem (Fyodor Sergeyev) died Stalin took his son to Kremlin in Moskow.

Director of Museum of Kremlin issued a permit to create a copy of Tsar Cannon provided that the copy must not be more than the size of the present Tsar Cannon. When completed the measurement of Tsar Cannon in Kremlin it was decided to make the copy by six centimeters shorter and made it of cast iron - not bronze.

Next the drawings submitted to steelworks HC Izhstal and was set up production time of the copy of Tsar Cannon - one and a half months. The company's employees have worked almost around the clock at steelworks to finish the copy in time. Finally the copy of Tsar Cannon was ready and all masters were shouted - "We did it!".

Tsar Cannon was transported from steelworks HC Izhstal in Izhevsk (Russia) to Donetsk (Ukraine) for only three days traveling a distance of over 1 864 kilometers.

Tsar Cannon in Moscow, Russia

Original Tsar Cannon - is a medieval cannon, a monument of Russian artillery and founding art which was cast in bronze in 1586 by Russian master Andrei Chokhov at Cannon Yard in Moskow.

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