Orthodox bell ringing map

Every town and nearly every church in Russia has its own bell ringing style — a distinctive pattern produced by a ringing master who rings the row of bells by moving the internal stringed hammers. Ringing patterns travel through the ages representing the local identity for the whole community, both religious and secular.

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[expand title=”This map is based on the sounds from the Preobrazhenie festival. More on that”]

An important note: these are not the actual on-location church bell recordings. The sounds in this map were recorded at the Preobrazheniye festival in Yaroslavl in 2016. Each year the festival features a line-up of monastery and church ringers from Russia’s regions, performing accordingly to their own regional or church manner.

Bell ringing map features patterns inherent to the following towns and villages of Russia: Arkhangelsk, Vologda, Kazan, Kalyazin, Nekrasovskoe, Novosibirsk, Pechory, Pokrov, Rostov Veliky, Rybinsk, Sergiyev Posad, Suzdal, Yaroslavl..[/expand]

Vologda. St. Sophia Cathedral (1568)



Performed by Grigory Pavlov, Oleg Timofeev. Image: commons.wikimedia.org  Back to the map 

Novosibirsk. Holy Martyr Tsar Nikolay parish (1989)


Performed by Natalia Kochina. Image: tsar-nikolay.ru  Back to the map 

Pokrov village. Shelter of Our Most Holy Lady (1794)


Performed by Alexey D’yachenko, Alexander Mikhailov, Sergei Polyansky, Igor Medvedev
Image: vk.com/hrampokrov  Back to the map 

Yaroslavl. St. Leontius Church (1608)


Performed by Nikolay Samarin. Photo courtesy Ilya Beskhlebny, ilyabim.ru  Back to the map 

Suzdal. Church of the Dormition of the Theotokos (ca. 1650)


Performed by Valery Garanin. Image: commons.wikimedia.org  Back to the map 

Pechory. Pskov-Caves monastery (1473)


Performed by Vladimir Degtyaryov (Yaroslavl), Natalia Khol’shina (Novosibirsk)
Image: commons.wikimedia.org  Back to the map 

Arkhangelsk. Chiming bells


Performed by Anna Tropina. Image: flickr.com/photos/akozlov  Back to the map 

Kazan. Kizichesky monastery (1687)


Performed by Dmitry Pan’kin, Elisey Pan’kin, Afanasy Pan’kin
Image: commons.wikimedia.org  Back to the map 

Yaroslavl. Church of Nikita the Martyr (16th century)


Performed by Andrey Bukin, Vassily Vakatov. Image: fotoyar.ru  Back to the map 

Suzdal. Church of the Dormition of the Theotokos (ca. 1650)


Performed by Valery Garanin. Image: commons.wikimedia.org  Back to the map 

Rybinsk. Transfiguration Cathedral (ca. 1660)


Performed by Alexey D’yachenko, Alexander Mikhailov, Sergei Polyansky, Igor Medvedev
Image: golddomes.ru  Back to the map 

Vologda. St. Sophia Cathedral (1568)


Performed by Grigory Pavlov, Oleg Timofeev. Image: commons.wikimedia.org  Back to the map 

Kalyazin. Kalyazin bells (in the manner of the Kalyazin masters)


Performed by the Sergey Maltsev’s bell-ringing company  Back to the map 

Rostov Veliky. Rostov monastery bells


Performed by the Sergey Maltsev’s bell-ringing company. Image: flickr.com/photos/ksenia-sm  Back to the map 

Suzdal. Church of the Dormition of the Theotokos (ca. 1650)


Performed by Vladimir Degtyaryov, Valery Garanin. Image: commons.wikimedia.org  Back to the map 

Sergiyev Posad. In the manner of the Trinity Sergius monastery ringing masters


Performed by Valery Garanin, Vladimir Degtyaryov   Back to the map 

Nekrasovskoye village. Our Most Holy Lady (of Assuage My Sorrows icon) church (ca. 1840)


Performed by Sergey Kazakov. Image: autotravel.ru  Back to the map 

Arkhangelsk. An extract from The Northern Bells ringing performance


Performed by Vladimir Petrovsky. Image: flickr.com/photos/akozlov Back to the map