Leaning Tower of Pisa |
The Leaning Tower of Pisa
Photo used courtesy of toxic57 at webshots.com
| What: | A bell tower built in the 12th century that took 200 years to build. Originally intended to stand upright, the faulty foundation caused the tower to permanently lean to one side. Although efforts were made to rectify the tower, it never fully straightened up. The Tower stands 56.70 meters on it's higher side. It's weight is estemated at 14,500 tonnes, and the tower has 194 steps. It was built in three stages, the first stage was stopped after the first stage because of the foundation fault, and wasn't started up again until almost a century later due to constant warring with other Italian cities. Because of this stall, the foundation soil was given a chance to settle and pack, keeping the tower at an angle, but also preventing any toppling. The second stage was interrupted by the Pisans being defeated in a battle against the Genoans. Finally the bell chamber was added in 1372 to finish off the building. The tower now has seven bells representing each note of the major scale. |
| Where: | Pisa, Italy |
| When: | Construction started towards the end of 1173 BC and continued for about two hundred years, during which time it was stopped twice. |
| Why: | It was built as the bell tower of the accompanying cathedral. |
| Interesting fact: | In 1990, the tower was closed off to the public so work could be done to prevent it from toppling over. several methods were proposed to stabilize it by a team of methematecians, architects, engineers, and historians, but in the end they decided to straighten it up a little bit by digging out soil from the raised end. The end result is that the tower is actually a little more straight than it was 50 years ago. |