The Bell Museum is located in the historical center of Valdai. It is located in the building of the former church, built in 1786 in the form of a rotunda by the famous architect Nikolai Lvov. In the museum you can get acquainted with the history of the Valdai bell casting, which became known throughout Russia, and the small "Valdai bells" became the symbol of Valdai.
Architect Nikolai Lvov served at the court of Empress Catherine II. After traveling to Italy, he became interested in the architectural style of Palladianism. There are many buildings in Russia that he built in this style. In the 18th century, there was a Travel palace and a building of City Council at this place in Valdai. The temple became a part of the architectural complex.
The church was consecrated in honor of the Holy Great Martyr Catherine, but it was often called the "Lvov Rotunda". Nowadays, the church is an architectural monument of federal significance, as are most Palladian-style buildings. Visually, the rotunda is very similar to a bell. The height of the church reaches 30 meters.
The Bolsheviks closed the Church of St. Catherine, but the building itself was not destroyed. Already in 1920, they declared the rotunda an architectural monument and later it housed a museum of local lore. In 1995, the first Bell Museum in Russia was opened here, dedicated only to bell casting. The collections of the Museum of Local Lore were moved to the mansion of the noblewoman Mikhailova. Now it is called the Museum of the County Town.
The collections dedicated to bell casting were so extensive that a Museum Bell Center was opened in the building next to the rotunda. This is a single museum, but in two different places, the largest in Valdai was the bell foundry of the Usachev brothers, but the small Valdai bells became the most famous in the country. They were hung on sledges and coachmen`s carts all over the country.
