Thelma with the Tsar Cannon

The Tsar Cannon (Царь-пушка) is a large artillery piece (known as a "bombarda" in Russian) on display in the grounds of the Moscow Kremlin. It is a showpiece of Russian artillery casting art, cast in bronze in 1586 in Moscow, by the Russian master bronze caster Andrey Chokhov. Mostly symbolic, it was never used in a war. However, the cannon bears traces of at least one firing. It is the largest bombard by caliber in the world. When we were taking these pictures in the Kremlin is when we even saw Putin arrive in his black motorcade.