Matchbox label from Soviet Russia featuring the Tsar Cannon. The label is from end 50’s, early 60’s.
The Tsar Cannon is a large early modern period artillery piece (known as a bombarda in Russian) on display on the grounds of the Moscow Kremlin. It is a monument of Russian artillery casting art, cast in bronze 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. It is largest bombard by caliber in the world, and it is a major tourist attraction in the ensemble of the Moscow Kremlin.