Bell of Chersonesos

It was cast before the foundation of Sevastopol for the Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker Church in Taganrog, which was the Russian Navy's military base at that time.

Today's fog bell was cast in 1778 from the Turkish trophy cannons seized by the Russian Imperial Army during the Russo-Turkish War of 1768–1774.

The bell was cast before the foundation of Sevastopol for the Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker Church in Taganrog, which was the Russian Navy's military base at that time.

Decades later, a bell with a Russian inscription was found and finally, thanks to diplomatic efforts undertaken by both sides, and especially by the French consul in Sevastopol Louis Ge, the bell was solemnly returned on September 13, 1913, to a monastery at Chersonesos and was placed on a temporary wooden belfry near the St. Vladimir Cathedral.

The French president Raymond Poincaré in his letter to consul Louis Ge wrote that he returned the bell to Russia "as a sign of alliance and friendship".