---
title: "A sound silent for 800 years: Ukraine recreates the Desyatynna Church bell for the 35th anniversary of independence"
description: "To mark the 35th anniversary of Ukraine's independence, a team from four countries recreated the 1240 Desyatynna Church bell: 3D scanning, acoustic modeling, and casting in the Netherlands restored a sound that had been silent for nearly 800 years. The first toll sounded on 23 August."
date: 2026-08-24T09:22:00.000Z
lang: en
url: https://xab.info/en/posts/sound-of-medieval-kyiv-recreated-desyatynna-church-bell-en
tags: [ukraine, desyatinnaya-church, bell-reconstruction, archaeology, acoustics, medieval-history, kyiv, cultural-heritage]
publisher: "XAB.info"
---

# A sound silent for 800 years: Ukraine recreates the Desyatynna Church bell for the 35th anniversary of independence

![Recreated bell of the Desyatynna Church, suspended on a wooden frame, for the 35th anniversary of Ukrainian independence](https://xab.info/media/2026/08/24/zvuk-serednovichnogo-kieva-vosstvorili-kolokol-desyatinnoy-tserkvi/zvuk-serednovichnogo-kieva-vosstvorili-kolokol-desyatinnoy-tserkvi-1.webp)

## 🎯 Key Points

- To mark the 35th anniversary of Ukraine's independence, the Desyatynna Church bell was recreated; the church was destroyed in 1240, a fragment was found in 1937, and about 60% of the surface has survived
- The reconstruction used 3D scanning, X-ray fluorescence analysis, and acoustic modeling; casting was done at Royal Eijsbouts (Netherlands)
- The final bell weighs 87.5 kg; it sounded for the first time on 23 August 2026 at the National Prayer Breakfast
- The project brought together specialists from Ukraine, Germany, the Netherlands, and Portugal; funding came from Kyivstar and Farmak

To mark the 35th anniversary of Ukraine's independence, the public organization Ukraine WOW, together with the National Museum of the History of Ukraine, reproduced one of the country's oldest bells — the bell of the Desyatynna Church, which laid the foundation of stone church building in Rus' at the end of the 10th century. Thanks to a combination of 3D scanning, X-ray fluorescence analysis, acoustic modeling, and casting at one of the world's leading bell foundries, a team of specialists from four countries not only recreated the artifact's shape but also restored its sound, which had not been heard for nearly eight centuries. The reconstructed toll sounded for the first time on 23 August 2026 at Ukraine's National Prayer Breakfast.

### A relic discovered in 1937

Prince Volodymyr the Great founded the Desyatynna Church at the end of the 10th century. The temple became the first stone structure of its kind in Rus', and its bells called Kyiv's residents to worship and announced holidays, threats, and important events. In 1240, during the Mongol invasion, the church was destroyed and the bell was lost. A fragment of the artifact was only discovered in 1937 during archaeological excavations by the Ukrainian scholar Teodosiy Molchanovskyi (in some publications — Movchanovskyi). About 60% of the bell's surface has survived to this day, although the clapper and mounting elements did not. Since the find, the fragment has been kept in the collection of the National Museum of the History of Ukraine. The archaeologist's tragic fate — arrest on fabricated charges and execution in 1938 — became a separate part of the project's narrative: "Today his name sounds again together with this toll," noted museum director Yelena Zemniana.

### From 3D scan to digital twin

In spring 2026, the surviving fragment became the basis for a full reconstruction. The first step was non-contact 3D scanning, which captured the geometry and all surface details of the original. Next, using X-ray fluorescence analysis, researchers determined the chemical composition of the bronze. Based on the data obtained, the shape of the surviving part, and historical analogues, a complete digital model of the bell was built. At the next stage, engineers carried out computer modeling: they calculated the metal's behavior on impact and modeled the propagation of sound vibrations. Acoustic synthesis allowed the team to hear an approximate rendering of the future bell's sound even before its physical manufacture.

### An international team and German archives

The project brought together historians, archaeologists, engineers, acousticians, and casting masters from Ukraine, Germany, the Netherlands, and Portugal. German bell museums became a key source on clapper construction: the Westfälisches Glockenmuseum in Geseke provided materials on clappers from the 9th–13th centuries, and the GlockenStadtMuseum in Apolda — 3D scans of surviving clappers from the 13th–14th centuries. An additional reference artifact was a fragment of the crown of an ancient Russian bell from Sakhnovka in Cherkasy Oblast, also held in the National Museum of the History of Ukraine. The project's consultant was Portuguese bell expert Miguel Carvalho, who emphasized that the surviving fragment is an "extremely rare source of information on the shape, manufacturing technology, and metal of an ancient bell."

### Casting in the Netherlands and the final result

The final casting was carried out in the Netherlands at Royal Eijsbouts — one of the world's leading centers of bellmaking, where, among other things, bells were produced for Notre-Dame de Paris and other historic churches of Europe. The result was a reconstructed copy weighing 87.5 kg, whose alloy composition is as close as possible to the medieval original. According to Miguel Carvalho, the project's main value is the opportunity to restore a sound that the residents of medieval Kyiv could have heard: "This is the closest possible rendering of a sound that had been silent for nearly 800 years."

### Contradictory data

The Ukraine WOW press release states that the project was carried out "without state funding, with the support of Kyivstar and Farmak." At the same time, the same message says that the work was done "with the support of the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine." The wording creates ambiguity: if the Ministry of Culture is a state body, then its "support" may be interpreted as institutional assistance (access to the artifact, expert support, a venue) rather than direct budgetary funding. However, no clear distinction between these types of support is given in the published materials. In addition, in the source text the name of the archaeologist who made the find appears in two spellings — "Molchanovskyi" and "Movchanovskyi" — which makes it impossible to definitively fix the correct surname without recourse to archival documents.

### Presentation and miniatures

The reproduced sound of the bell was first presented to the public on 23 August 2026 during Ukraine's National Prayer Breakfast. In addition to the main reconstruction, the project team produced 20 miniatures of the bell, the further use of which is not fully disclosed in the provided materials. Ukraine WOW co-founders Yaroslava Hres' and Yulia Soloviev emphasized that the decision to recreate the bell "one-to-one — not only the shape but also the sound" was made after seeing the fragment in the museum collection and understanding its significance as a "testimony to the continuity of Ukrainian statehood."

## 🔍 Fact-Check Verification

- [The sound of medieval Kyiv: Ukraine recreates the Desyatynna Church bell](https://wave.rbc.ua/ukr/culture/zvuk-serednovichnogo-kieva-ukrayini-vidtvorili-1787563257.html) - Единственный релевантный источник. Пресс-релиз Ukraine WOW. Все ключевые факты (дата презентации, вес, технология, участники) изложены последовательно. Оговорки: формулировка о поддержке Минкультуры при заявлении «без госфинансирования»; два варианта фамилии археолога; текст обрывается на информации о миниатюрах.
- [Did the UOC MP try to drown out a picket in defense of the Desyatynna Church with bells?](https://www.unian.net/society/500184-upts-mp-pyitalas-zaglushit-kolokolami-piket-v-zaschitu-desyatinnoy-tserkvi.html) - Материал о конфликте вокруг пикета и действиях УПЦ МП, не связан с проектом реконструкции колокола. В статью не включён.

## ❓ FAQ

### Q: What is the Desyatynna Church and why is its bell important?
**A:** The Desyatynna Church is the first stone temple of Rus', founded by Prince Volodymyr the Great at the end of the 10th century. Its bells called Kyiv's residents to worship and announced events. The church was destroyed in 1240 during the Mongol invasion, and the bell was lost; a fragment was found in 1937.

### Q: How exactly was the bell recreated?
**A:** The fragment was 3D-scanned, the bronze composition was determined by X-ray fluorescence analysis, a digital model was built, the acoustics were modeled, and it was cast. The final casting was done at Royal Eijsbouts in the Netherlands. The final weight is 87.5 kg.

### Q: When and where did the reconstructed bell first sound?
**A:** On 23 August 2026 at Ukraine's National Prayer Breakfast.

### Q: Who funded the project?
**A:** The project was carried out without state budgetary funding, with the support of the companies Kyivstar and Farmak. The organizers were Ukraine WOW and the National Museum of the History of Ukraine; the materials also mention the support of the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine (probably institutional rather than financial).

### Q: What is known about the archaeologist who found the fragment?
**A:** The bell fragment was discovered in 1937 by Teodosiy Molchanovskyi (Movchanovskyi). In 1938 he was arrested on fabricated charges and executed. The project's press release emphasizes that his name "sounds again together with this toll."