The Museum Bell Center is located in a two-storey building at the beginning of the century near the Valdai Bell Museum. It is a single museum located in two different buildings. The Valdai bells were known throughout Russia, so in the mid-1990s, the first museum in Russia dedicated only to bells was opened here.
The Bell Museum is located in the building of the former Church of St. Catherine the Great Martyr, built in 1786 by the famous architect Nikolai Lvov. It is built in the Palladian style in the form of a rotunda. That`s what it was called.: "Lvov Rotunda". The height of the rotunda dome reaches 30 meters. The acoustics inside are great, so a bell museum was placed here in 1995.
Over time, the museum`s collection became so extensive that Russian-made bells were left in the rotunda. Collections of bells from all over the world were moved to the Museum Bell Center. The collection of the Valdai Bell Center Museum has several thousand exhibits. Bells from all over the world are represented here.
Also, in a multimedia format, you can get acquainted with the history of bells since the 5th century BC. The museum presents the changes in bell casting technology over the past few thousand years. The spheres of application of bells are described in great detail: on ships, on the railway, on fire crews, on sleighs and carriages of coachmen, etc. A large exposition is devoted to church bells.
