Stone wonders made by skilled craftsmen have remained on the territory of modern Russia from the old times. Not only Europe and Egypt can boast of this. Apparently, the ancient technologies of stone processing were preserved until the end of the 19th century. and with us.
Near St. Petersburg there is a giant Tsar Bath. Its other name is "Babolovskaya Bowl".
Contemporary photography and photography of the early 20th century. Although, there is information that restoration work has been going on here for the third year.
Photo with a person - to make it easier to compare its dimensions. The lower part of the bath, according to witnesses who examined this product, is poorly processed - rough. The building has been in a deplorable state for a long time. The bottom photo on the right is a hole through which water was allegedly drained. It is too small, the draining process would take hours …
Close-up photo. The exact geometry of the bath is visible here. Visually does not raise questions. Why is this product not the same household symbol of Russia as the Tsar Cannon and the Tsar Bell? After all, in the right offices they know about this object! They cannot even repair the building for so many years …
Promotional video:
According to the official history, Samson Ksenofontovich Sukhanov made the bath:
Because there is no drain hole in the bathtub, then many ask the question: how did they pump out the water? Was it really impossible to provide for a system of pipes for supplying and draining water? In addition, there is no water heating. The photo with the hole will be below.
Watch a short video with information about the Tsar Bath:
Let's move on to the section of the article about possible options and technologies for manufacturing the Tsar bath. The first is the most controversial version of bath stamping or casting:
1. Casting from composition for natural granite
I suggest you watch the process of making concrete vases by craftsmen from Southeast Asia:
Another similar video:
A pipe hole remains in the center of the vase. As you can see, it is filled with concrete while the product has not yet set. And there is also a hole in the Tsar Bath in the center! It is shown above in the photo. It has just a small diameter of the pipe for the hole when casting using the technology in the video - the technology is suitable and this explains. The only question is: why didn't the masters close it up?
Some will say that the video is concrete. And the material of the Tsar Bath is granite. That there is no connection. there are many facts indicating that artificial granite could be obtained according to old recipes from certain mixtures.
Here is the text of one of the recipes for imitating products that look like natural granite:
Ask who checked this recipe? Yes, there is no such information. But it may be just one of the many recipes available at the time. And I would not exclude the possibility of making the Tsar Bath from compositions that approximate or repeat natural granite. I also think that we are mistaken with natural granite, considering it an igneous rock. There is already a mass of evidence that it is a mineral, petrified or crystallized plastic rock, geo-concrete - such mud exits from the bowels of the Earth.
2. Making a Tsar bath from a single piece of granite by machining
There is information about the manufacture of similar products in the 19-20 centuries:
Lustgarten Granite Bowl
The granite bowl is now and in the process of grinding (drawing 1831). The simple rig is similar to the vase moldings in the video above. Previously, the vase stood on blocks. Perhaps this is the installation process itself.
Figure showing the installation process. The photo on the right is another example:
I did not find information for this bowl.
What conclusion can be drawn? In the old days, craftsmen were unambiguously able to make such masterpieces from multi-ton granite blocks. And, most likely, not in 10 years. And there was a technology for delivering these lumps and masses to the place of manufacture and further to the place of installation.
But the casting technology at that time is also not excluded.