The holiday service in the Laura was conducted by Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexy II and attended by thousands of people, representatives of the local and federal authorities, and prominent academics and arts figures.
The new bell weighs over 70 tons, and from the highest bell-tower of this country its voice is heard over tens of miles around the place.
Russian Empress Elizabeth had a prototype of the bell weighing several tons less cast in the 18th century. The Bolsheviks threw the Tsar Bell down from the tower and destroyed it.
Last year the bell was cast anew by St. Petersburg-based Baltiysky Zavod, delivered to the Laura by a special truck, and in April lifted to the tower to ring for the first time on Trinity Day.
Troitse-Sergieva Laura founded in 1337 by Reverend Sergiy Radonezhsky is a Russia's spiritual center and a most sacred place in this country. For centuries the Laura has also been collecting a unique library of handwritten and old-typed books.
From 1920 the monastery was closed an the Laura housed a historical museum and other state establishments, and became a monastery again only after WWII - in 1946. In 1971, 1988, and 1990 it hosted Regional Convocations on most important religious issues. Now thousands of pilgrims go to the Laura from Russia and abroad.
The most ancient building in the Troitse-Sergieva Laura is the Trinity Cathedral (1422-1425) where the hallows of Reverend Sergiy Radonezhsky are kept. Since 1814 the Laura has been playing host to the Spiritual Academy. It is an educational establishment with a great record - established in 1685 in Moscow, it was closed in 1919 and opened back in 1946, together with the monastery.
