Tsar Cannon The Tsar Cannon ( , " Tsar ' - pushka " ) is a large , long cannon on display on the grounds of the Moscow Kremlin . It was cast in 1586 in Moscow , by the Russian master bronze caster Andrey Chokhov . Mostly of symbolic impact , it was never used in a war . However the cannon bears traces of at least one firing . Per the " Guinness Book of Records " it is the largest bombard by caliber in the world , and it is a major tourist attraction in the ensemble of the Moscow Kremlin . Description . The Tsar Cannon is located just past the Kremlin Armory , facing towards the Kremlin Senate . The very low ratio of the length of its barrel to its caliber makes it technically not a cannon , but a stylized mortar . The Tsar Cannon is made of bronze and weighs 39 . 312 tonnes and has a length of . Its bronze - cast barrel has an internal diameter of , and an external diameter of . The barrel has eight cast rectangular brackets for use in transporting the gun , which is mounted on a stylized cast iron gun carriage with two wheels . The barrel is decorated with relief images , including an equestrian image of Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich . The cannon - style gun carriage , added in 1835 , is purely decorative . This weapon was never intended to be transported on or fired from this gun carriage . The spherical cast - iron projectiles located in front of the cannon - each of which weighs approximately 1 ton , were produced in 1834 as a decoration . They are too large to have been used in the Tsar Cannon , which would have fired 800 kg stone grapeshot rather than cannonballs . According to legend , the cannonballs were manufactured in St . Petersburg , and were intended to be a humorous addition and a symbol of the friendly rivalry between Moscow and St . Petersburg . History . By the 16th century , bronze casting technology in the Tsardom of Russia was advanced enough to create many artillery pieces noted for their large caliber and rich ornamentation . Artillery was extensively used in the Conquest of Kazan and in numerous other battles . " Tsar " joined other heavy siege guns in the arsenal which could fire massive stone cannonballs to break down fortress walls . In a defensive deployment these guns could fire stone grapeshot on attacking enemy troops . The exact reason why the Tsar Cannon was cast is unknown . The master bronze - caster Andrey Chokhov is known to have resided near today ' s Lubyanka Square from 1568 - 1629 . The Tsar Cannon was placed at several points around Moscow in its history . It is known to have been mounted on a special frame with a fixed inclination angle in Red Square near the Place of Skulls in order to protect the eastern approaches to the Kremlin , indicating that it originally did have a practical application . However , by 1706 , it was moved to the Kremlin Arsenal and mounted on a wooden gun carriage . It was not used during the French invasion of Russia , although Napoleon Bonaparte considered removing it to France as a war trophy . The wooden gun carriage burnt in the fire that consumed Moscow in 1812 , and was replaced in 1835 by the present metal carriage . In 1860 , the Tsar Cannon was moved to its current location on Ivanovskaya Square near the Tsar Bell , which is similarly massive and is the largest bell in the world ( but which has never been rung ) . The cannon was last restored in 1980 . It was thoroughly studied at that time and gunpowder residue was found , indicating that the cannon had been fired at least once . A replica of the cannon was made in 2002 at the Izhevsk machine - building factory . It was given to the Ukrainian city of Donetsk and now is installed near the Donetsk city administration building .