Nabatnaya Tower

The Nabatnaya Tower (Russian: Набатная башня) is a tower in the southeastern section of the Kremlin wall, built in 1495. It is 38 m in height. Traditionally, there has always been a bell on top of the Nabatnaya Tower, used for notifying citizens of fires and other misfortunes in the Kremlin or on the Red Square (hence, the name Nabatnaya, which derives from the old Russian word набат - nabat, meaning "alarm" or "tocsin"). In 1680, a bellmaker Feodor Dmitriev cast the so-called Nabatny bell (alarm bell) weighing 150 poods (2.45 metric tons) and installed it on the tower. The bell subsequently broke and was re-cast by Ivan Motorin on July 30, 1714. The sound from this bell served as a signal for the spontaneous uprising of the Muscovites during the plague outbreak in 1771, which would later be called the Plague Riot (Чумной бунт). By the order of Catherine the Great, the tongue of the bell was removed after this incident. The tongueless bell remained on top of the tower for 30 more years. In the early 19th century, it was removed and transferred to the Arsenal. In 1821, the bell was moved to the Armoury, where it remains to this day in the vestibule.