The snowstorm bell was reconstructed by the ringers of the Siberian Bell Art Center in the Church of the New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church, which is located in the Lozhok microdistrict of the city of Iskitima.
The Siberian Bell Art Center was founded in Novosibirsk in 1997 as a bell ringer school. And for the past 25 years he has been working in several areas of activity: the Bell Ringers School trains church bell ringers, the technical department, which is engaged in the construction of bell towers throughout the region. In addition, the casting of bells, the manufacture of bell-ringing simulators, and worship crosses were added. In particular, there are several crosses from this Center in the Iskitimsky district.
One of the main activities of the Center is science. In particular, the event that took place recently in the Lozhkovsky Temple is a vivid example of scientific research — the reconstruction of the blizzard bell, which once helped travelers in bad weather not to lose their way or find the right way to the temple.
This type of ringing was introduced in the Russian Empire in 1851, during the reign of Emperor Nicholas Pavlovich. There are archival chronicles and evidence of how the blizzard repeatedly saved people from certain death.
So, in February 1912, Tomsk judges and the prosecutor went to Kainsk (now Kuibyshev), but got caught in a snowstorm and got lost. As the newspapers wrote later, they spent sixteen hours in snowdrifts until they heard the bells of the Stone Cathedral of the Savior. They decided to follow the sound and found the right path.
However, in 1918, according to a decree of the Council of People's Commissars, bell ringing during a snowstorm was banned.
But after a hundred years, it is being revived, and our city is taking part in this. "To us, to us, to us!" calls the largest bell, the Blagovest, on the Lozhkovskaya bell tower.
The bells are operated by Alexander Rusakov from the village of Stary Iskitim. One day, climbing the bell tower with the kids, I felt something inexplicable. He says, "I got hooked, so I became a bell ringer." Alexander is a participant in the special operation in Donbas, he was "behind the ribbon" twice. The Zhukov medal on his chest is a reward for leading the guys out from under fire.
"When I call," says the hero bell ringer, "this is how I remember the dead guys and send greetings to my comrades living and fighting in Ukraine.
According to the materials iskitim-gazeta.ru