Tourism Festival (Leaning Tower of Pisa)

Italy was long known for its beautiful architecture, where many of its buildings today became monuments. This is evident in northern Italy, where the Romans first, and then the Catholic Church, began to build temples, cathedrals and other facilities that attracted crowds of tourists for centuries.

Ironically, in an area of ​​intense competition, one of the most famous architectural buildings in the region has been built in a manner that has suffered from many errors: the sloping Pisa tower.

From the earliest stages of its construction, in the twelfth century, the bell tower - belonging to the cathedral of Piazza dei Miracoli in the Italian city of Pisa - was called the Leaning Tower of Pisa. To find out why this inclination exists and to discover more amazing facts about the Pisa Tower, follow this article.

1. The identity of the real tower designer can not be ascertained, but experts have nominated three potential designer names.


Leaning Tower of Pisa
The Leaning Tower of Pisa - Painting by painter Rauschenfels von Steinberg 1830

2. Funding for the construction of the tower came from the spoils of war after the inhabitants of Pisa attacked the city of Palermo in Sicily, which was under Islamic rule in 1063. They used the spoils of war to build the tower.


Leaning Tower of Pisa
Photo: Vyacheslav Argenberg / GettyImages

3. The construction of the tower continued for 199 years. It began in 1173 and was not completed until 1372.

Leaning Tower of Pisa

4. The shape of the curved tower began to appear before its construction was completed for a long time, specifically when the workers completed construction work on the second floor in 1178.

Image: ilbusca / GettyImages

5. The reason for the tower is that the soil on which the soil is built is soft sponge, so the moist soft soil has not been able to provide the necessary support to carry the massive stone construction.

Image: Library of Congress site

6. When workers noticed the tower tower, it stopped working for nearly 100 years (from 1178 to 1272).

Photo: Victor Ivanenko / GettyImages

7. The long period during which the building stopped stopped the tower from collapsing. During that period, the stone block that was built by the soil began to make it more cohesive.


Leaning Tower of Pisa

8. After the work resumed, the builders tried to correct the mileage by making each layer slightly shorter than the sides, but this did not work.


The Leaning Tower of Pisa is an old image
Photo: J.F. Jarvis / Library of Congress

9. At first the tower was tilted to the other side, and the workers attempted to compensate for the mileage during the second phase of construction. The center of gravity of the tower was shifted and became tilted to the south rather than to the north.


A painting of the Leaning Tower of Pisa

10. Spend a lot of effort and money in trying to change the direction of the tower. Between 1990 and 2001 it was closed so that the workers could move the soil, trying to reduce the slope to the south and make the tower slightly tilted to the north, to avoid falling in the future.


The pillars of the Leaning Tower of Pisa

11. The measurement of Milan tower began periodically only recently (starting in 1911).

Leaning Tower of Pisa

12. The mileage increased significantly in 1964 to the extent that the curved body was 5.18 meters in height from the center, and the government then opened the door to accepting any proposal to deal with it.


Leaning Tower of Pisa

13. In 1995, engineers used liquid nitrogen in an attempt to freeze the soil under the tower to stop the tilt. The plan also included laying pegs in the ground but did not succeed and was quickly abandoned.


Leaning Tower of Pisa
Image: Location of VoyageDiscount

14. The tower is a small part of Piazza Dei Miracoli, this sacred landmark includes many other churches.


Leaning Tower of Pisa

15. It is not the only sloping tower in the city of Pisa. The local soil nature caused Milan many church towers, including the bell tower at the San Michele degli Scalzi church, but it was not slanted to make it look good on postcards like the tower Famous.


Church (San Michele degli Scalzi)
Church (San Michele degli Scalzi) - Photo: Samuele Manfrin / Wikimedia

16. In fact, there are many sloping towers around the world, some of which have been designed to be curved, while others have been bowed by other factors, but none have been known as the sloping Pisa tower.


The Grand Mosque of Nuri in Iraq - the picture on the right, and the Gate Tower in Abu Dhabi - the picture on the left.

17. The Pisa tower is also no more curvy towers around the world. The church tower in the city of Suurhusen in Germany is more inclined, as many other towers were designed to tend to its center.


The church tower in Suurhusen, Germany


18. The world known as Galileo Galilei was baptized in the church complex to which the tower belongs, and he is said to have inspired his famous theory of the convictions of the way the lanterns and bells of these churches swing.


The well-known world (Galileo Galilei)
Portrait of the world known (Galileo Galilei) by Justus Sustermans - Picture: Wikimedia

19. Galileo may have used the tower in one of his most famous theories, telling stories that he would throw cannonballs and feathers out of the tower to prove that different objects were falling at the same speed, but many researchers question the authenticity of the novel.


Leaning Tower of Pisa
Image: Periodpaper site

20. The fascist supreme leader (Mussolini) was about to destroy him, convinced that a leaning tower was not ready to embody the image of the fascist state, and tried to correct Milan tower by pouring cement in the foundations, but the plan did not

Fascist leader (Mussolini) - Photo: Stefano Bianchetti / Corbis via Getty Images

21. One man saved the tower from destruction during the Second World War. A US Army officer named Leon Weckstein was about to order the destruction of the tower, which was a bastion of the Nazis, but did not allow him to destroy something so beautiful.


Honoring Officer Leon Weckstein
Honoring Officer Leon Weckstein - Photo: Leon Weckstein

22. Despite the curvature of the tower, seven huge bells were installed at the top, the largest of which weighs 3.5 tons, equivalent to one and a half times the weight of the rhinoceros.


Bells of the Leaning Tower of Pisa
One of the bells of the sloping tower (Pisa) - Photo: Jordiferrer / Wikimedia

23. Visitors can climb to the highest point in the tower, although dangerous, but allow ticket holders to climb the stairs and head towards the top.


The top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa
The highest point in the tower (Pisa)

24. The tower has stopped moving further in recent years, thanks to the ongoing restoration work since 1990, with no increase in bending after 2008.


Leaning Tower of Pisa
Image: seng chye teo / GettyImages

25. The experts did not agree whether Milan would eventually lead to the downfall of the tower. It had passed through many of the moments when it fell, but successful repairs prevented it.


Leaning Tower of Pisa
Photo: Igor Jankovic / GettyImages