an independent reference on the history of bells and bell-ringing

Danilovbells

An independent, secular reference on the history of bells. This is not the website of the Danilov Monastery, the Russian Orthodox Church or Harvard University; we do not provide religious guidance.

People

People

Behind the history of bells stand real people: founders of monasteries, bell founders, ringers, patrons and intermediaries. This section covers the historical figures whose names come up most often in accounts of the Danilov Monastery bells and of the Russian bell tradition. We give only what is reliably known about them, in a line or two, without legends or unverifiable quotations.

Bells do not travel on their own. Behind every turn in their fate lies someone's decision, someone's work and someone's persistence.

— Editor's note

How this section works: it includes only historical figures from the past about whom reliable information exists in encyclopedic and university sources. We do not write about living people.

People in the story of the Danilov bells

From the founding of the monastery to the rescue of its bells in 1930.

Charles R. Crane (1858–1939)

An American industrialist and philanthropist. In 1930 he bought the bells of the Danilov Monastery and gave them to Harvard University to save them from being melted down.

Charles R. Crane and the Danilov Monastery bells (in Russian)

Ivan and Mikhail Motorin

The master founders who cast the Tsar Bell in 1735.

Historical context

How to read biographies

  • Distinguish documented facts from legends: striking stories, such as the rescue of the bells, easily attract myths
  • Note where the information comes from: a document of the period, a newspaper report or a memoir written many years later
  • Do not take quotations without a source on trust: words attributed to famous people often turn out to be later inventions
  • Look at the role a person played specifically in the history of the bells, and do not attribute to them facts about other people with similar names
  • Compare information across several sources, especially where they differ on dates and details

Sources

  • Great Russian Encyclopedia
  • Harvard University — Lowell House (history of the bells)
  • Harvard Gazette / Harvard Magazine (2007–2009)
  • A. I. Tsvetaeva, The Tale of the Moscow Bell-Ringer (Skaz o zvonare moskovskom, 1977)

This reference relies on encyclopedic works and on publications of Harvard University. The weights, numbers and dates of individual bells can differ from one source to another, so we give only verified information and say clearly where exact data are lacking.