Hans Falk

Who is Hans Falk?

Hans Falk, also known as Ivan Falk or Johann Falk, was a Dutch and Russian bellmaker of German origin. In The Netherlands he was known as Hans Falck van Neurenberg. In the 1610s he lived and worked in Den Bosch and in 1619 he became a citizen of Leeuwarden, where he started a foundry. A lot of churches in Friesland and a few in Groningen bear his name on their bells. Around 1634/1635 he left Friesland for Russia. His foundry in Leeuwarden was taken over by Jacob Noteman.

The name of Hans Falk, as a Moscow Cannon Yard craftsman, was first mentioned in historical documents in 1627. From then on and until the late 1650s, he was considered as the main cannon and bellmaker of Moscow. Falk was paid an official salary and given a "gift from the tsar" once a year. He was granted a workshop made of stone at the Moscow Cannon Yard, while other Russian foundrymen had to work in those made of wood. Hans Falk lived at the household of Knyaz Mikhail Kozlovsky on Rozhdestvenskaya Street. In April 1641, he filed a petition in the name of Mikhail Fyodorovich, asking the tsar to provide him with his own household, which would soon happen.

A German scholar Adam Olearius, who travelled through Russia in the 1630s, mentions Hans Falk in his book Beschreibung der muscowitischen und persischen Reise, saying that he was a very experienced craftsman from Nuremberg and taught Russians how to cast cannons. Adam Olearius also says that Falk was able to make cannons that could discharge 26 pounds of iron with 25 pounds of gunpowder. According to Olearius, this is what made Hans Falk famous in Holland.