The beautiful city of Pisa, Italy. The Leaning Tower of Pisa in it - one of the main attractions for more than one century. Tourists from all over the world come to see this wonderful creation. The tower is striking in its originality, and the glory of the “falling” excites the minds of those who love adventure. The falling bell tower, which Italy is proud of, reaches a height of 55 meters, and the inscription on it indicates its long-standing origin (laid in 1173).
For several years, the Leaning Tower of Pisa has been pleasing with its ringing bells. For 11 years, a team of international restorers worked on the revival of the Venice bell tower, which collapsed more than 100 years ago, in 1902, as well as updating the “falling” tower.
The tower is located on the territory of Piazza dei Miracoli (Square of Miracles), it is the Cathedral Square of Pisa. The square is truly full of wonders - the Baptistery, the Cathedral, the old frescoes on the walls of the Camposanto monumentale and Roman sculptures, of course, the most famous Campanile - the “falling” tower. The splendor of the architecture of the square surprises the imagination of any tourist; it is not without reason that Cathedral Square is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Leaning Tower of Pisa: History
The history of the Leaning Tower of Pisa is still full of mysteries and secrets, however, the locals themselves set forth the history of the city as a legend about Pelops - he left Greece and laid down a city in Italy that reminded him of his hometown. It is difficult to judge the veracity of this legend in our time, but the fact that the land has been sacred since the existence of the ancient Etruscan tribes is undeniable.
The Leaning Tower of Pisa is also fraught with many interesting puzzles. For example, what a brilliant architect about 1000 years ago decided to deceive all the laws of physics and become famous throughout the world. It seems unbelievable, but maybe everything. Even now, some tourists at the beginning are afraid to come close to her, suggesting that she might collapse, and only approach closer when they realize that the Leaning Tower of Pisa has stood "falling" for so many years.
The name of the architect who designed Campanila has been lost, but there is reliable evidence that the foundation stone was laid in the foundation of the tower in August 1173. This is indicated by the inscription located to the right of the entrance. Now it is believed that the Leaning Tower of Pisa began to slope due to incorrect calculations in the strength of the soil and the mass of the structure. The soil, and accordingly the foundation, is gradually sagging.
The fact that the tower was sloping was noticed 10 years later, while 3 colonnade rings had already been built. For safety reasons, the work was suspended because the subsidence of the foundation by that time was more than 30 cm and the slope was 5 cm. After 100 years, the architect Giovanni de Simone resumed construction work on the Campanile. A brilliant idea occurred to him how to smooth the angle of inclination at the tower. As a result, the impression was that the tower “straightened”, but because of this the foundation sank even more and at the end of the construction of the loggia floors, in 1284, the tower slope was close to 90 cm. After several decades, in ΙΙ half of the XIV century, a belfry was installed on the tower.
All this time the tower did not stop “falling”, but did not “fall”. In the XIX century, it deviated even more than 4 meters. Surprisingly, despite all the malfunctions in this building, it still suffered the earthquake of 1846 and the bombing of ΙΙ World War II.
In 1990, at a time when the tower was tilted annually by 1-2 mm, its viewing was forbidden for tourists and restoration work began. Thanks to these works, soil fortifications around the foundation were made, and the Venetian bell tower was repaired. Using steel cables, the Leaning Tower of Pisa itself was also strengthened.
And now the well-known Pisa miracle attracts a huge number of tourists from all over the world with its beauty, and with its existence proves that miracles do happen.