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| Wonders of the World - Leaning Tower of Pisa |
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Leaning Tower of Pisa
Torre Pendente di Pisa
Location: Pisa, Italy
Built: 1173-1350
Architect: Unknown.
The tower may have been designed by Bonanno Pisano and Guglielmo of Innsbruck, Austria or Diotisalvi.
The Tower of Pisa was designed as a bell tower but its main purpose was to promote the town of Pisa. The foundation of the tower was only three meters thick and the soil underneath was unstable. A series of wars interrupted the construction for many years. During the long pause, the soil continued to settle. Rather than abandon the project, builders accommodated the tilt by adding extra height to the upper stories on one side of the Tower. The extra weight caused the upper part of the Tower to lean in the opposite direction.
Over the centuries there have been many attempts to remove or reduce the tilt. In 1990, an Italian government-appointed special commission determined that the tower was no longer safe for tourists, closed it off, and started devising ways to make the building safer.
John Burland, a professor of soil mechanics, came up with the system of removing soil from the north side in order to make the building settle back into the ground and thus reduce the tilt. This worked and the tower was reopened to tourism in 2001.
Today, the Tower of Piza leans at a 3.97 degree angle.
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The Tower of Pisa was built to show the rest of the world the wealth of the city of Pisa. The people of Pisa were very good sailors and they conquered many lands, including Jerusalem, Carthago, Ibiza, Mallorca, Africa, Belgium, Britania, Norway, Spain, Morocco, and other places. But they had only one real enemy, the people from Florence. And to show how well they were doing they started to build a really useless belltower to go with the rest of the buildings near it - the Cathedral, Baptistery, and Cemetery.
They started to build the tower in the year 1173 that means the foot of the tower. After a while the war with Florence started again and they stopped. In 1180 the restarted and in 1185 they had finished the 1st., 2nd., and the 3rd. floor. And again war with Florence, which of course meant that they put all their money in warfare. In this year the tower started to lean to one side, so while they were building, it was already the leaning tower of Pisa. They must have been thinking that a bell tower without bell wasn't a bell tower so the put some bells on the top of the 3rd. floor in 1198.
After a another war with guess who...... Florence, they started again for a period of nine years, from 1275 till 1284. But they didn't have any reason to show off anymore since they had lost a big sea battle in 1284 against the fleet of Genoa. This was because they were betrayed by their own count. Count Ugolino della Gherardesca was locked up with his whole family in the tower of Gualandi.
The people of Pisa threw the key in the Arno River and the count and his family died of starvation. In 1319 they finished all the floors. And finally they put the bell tower on top of it in 1350. In 1392 Pisa was sold to Florence, a big humiliation for the people of Pisa.
The started a rebellion but in 1406 they had to surrender because they were under siege and everybody was dying of starvation. In 1499 they started another war against Florence who were using the people of Pisa as slaves. And again the brave but unfortuned army of Pisa lost and that is the and of the history of Pisa.
They never managed to gain the wealth as in the early years, and now it is a small city somewhere in Italy and they are still showing off with their tower...........
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The opening hours for the Leaning Tower of Pisa are:
- From November to February: 10:00-17:00 (09:00-18:00 Dec 25-Jan 1)
- March: 09:00-18:00 (until the 3rd), 09:00-19:00 (until the 20th), 08:30-20:30 (starting the 21st)
- From April to September: 08:30-20:30 (until Jun 13 and from Sep 5-30), 08:30-23:00 (from Jun 17)
- October: 09:00-19:00
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