Historical Facts About The Leaning ‘Bell’ Tower Of Pisa

Historical Facts About The Leaning 'Bell' Tower of Pisa

The Roman Catholic bell tower is known and loved as one of the seven wonders of the medieval world.

Work on its ground white marble campanile floor first began on August 8, 1173 but its full construction took part in three major stages which spanned 177 years.

The magnificent freestanding bell tower known as Italy’s Leaning Tower of Pisa has fortunately been returned to its former glory after an eight-year restoration project in which it was cleaned and partially straightened after construction engineers managed to straighten it by 18 inches (45cm) from the vertical, returning it to its position in 1838.

Now the most famous bell tower in the world has actually stopped moving for the very first time in its 800-year-history.

It cost a whopping £20 million (26m euros) and an army of construction engineers a painstaking 10-years to remove 70 tonnes of earth from the northern side of the tower to encourage the tower to right itself and will hopefully remain stable for at least another 200 years.

But what initially caused the 11th century Roman Catholic Bell Tower of Pisa To lean?

The first sign of trouble was when its construction reached the second floor in 1178 and began to sink  due to its mere three-metre foundation which was set in unstable subsoil which meant the Tower of Pisa was destined to lean from its very beginning.

Owing to the Republic of Pisa warring against Genoa, Lucca and Florence the bell towers construction grinded to a halt for almost 100-years which in effect allowed the underlying soil to settle because if it hadn’t the tower might have certainly toppled over.

In 1272 construction work on the tower began again under chief architect Giovani di Simone who in a desperate effort to compensate for the towers tilt ordered his engineers to build upper floors one side taller than the other and because of this Pisa’s tower actually curved.

But in 1284 work stopped once more when Pisa was defeated by Genoa in the bloody battle of Meloria.

Finally in seventh floor was built by Gothic inspired architect Tommaso di Andrea Pisano who successfully merged his gothic elements of the bell tower in perfect harmony with the Romanesque style of the original tower.

The famous bell-chamber was added in 1372 which holds seven bells each one donates to each note of the musical major scale.and completed in 1319 he seventh floor was completed in 1319.

Standing at the height of 183.27ft (55.86m) from the ground on the low side and 186.02ft (56.7m) on its high side, the towers walls have a base width of 13.42ft (4.09m) to the top width of 8.14ft (2.48m) and weighs a staggering 14,500 metric tonnes and now thankfully its structure has been deemed safe for tourists to climb its 296 steps for another 200-years.