Zvonnitsa

звонницы, zvonnitsy; Ukrainian: дзвіниця, romanized: dzvinytsia; Polish: dzwonnica parawanowa; Romanian: zvoniţă) is a large rectangular structure containing multiple arches or beams that support bells, and a basal platform where bell ringers stand to perform the ringing using long ropes.

Unlike bell towers in Western Europe, zvonnitsy in Russia were generally built of brick rather than stone.

[2] Sometimes, zvonnitsy were mounted directly on church roofs, resulting in a special form of church called a pod zvonom (Russian: под звоном, lit.

'under ringing') or izhe pod kolokoly (иже под колоколы, 'under bells').

In Polish, the word dzwonnica refers to any type of bell tower, while the fortified trellis construction containing apertures for bells is referred to by the term dzwonnica parawanowa.