The bell, weigh­ing about 200 tons, was cast in 1733–1735 by Ivan Motorin and his son Mikhail. The bell is sig­nif­i­cant­ly larg­er in size than all oth­er known bells. In 1737, while pro­cess­ing the bell after cast­ing, a fire occurred, as a result of which a large piece fell off of the bell. Thus, the bell nev­er worked as intend­ed, and until 1836 it lay in the foundry pit, and no one knew what to do with it. Then it was lift­ed from the pit and, togeth­er with the bro­ken piece, placed on a pedestal built by the archi­tect Auguste Mont­fer­rand.