Leaning Tower of Pisa - Guide To Attractions

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There are many places in this world which act as a source of making money for their home countries. All the sites in thee world which get a lot of people as visitors form all parts of the world are a constant source of income and making money for the home towns. Few parts of the earth are rich in such places while others are not so established when it comes to tourism. This is something really interesting. If a country gets more and more visitors, its tourism will be well developed. The most developed nations of the world all have a very well developed Tourism industry. Africa is a continent which has many such places which are either exceptionally beautiful naturally, or they have a significant historical background. There are many places in Africa which people come to visit. One of these places is the mosque of Djenne.

Leaning Tower of Pisa

There are many places in the world which are able to gather the attention of those who love to travel. Some of those places are unique and very attractive. Leaning tower of Pisa is one of those places which are considered to be very well known internationally. These places represent the countries in which these are located. The buildings like leaning tower of Pisa carry with them an aura of the era they belong to. This tower is a bell tower. It is a free standing one, but the most important thing about it is that it leans naturally. There is no logical reason behind its leaning, but the tower leans anyway. The Tower is located in the city of Pisa, in Italy. When the tower was built, it was supposed to be a straight and well erected one. Soon after its construction started in 1173, it started leaning towards the south east. The one reason you can point out for its leaning is the weak foundation and loose substrate due to the presence of which the tower now leans. It is standing in the leaning position for the past many centuries.

Leaning tower of Pisa is more than 180 feet high from the ground from its lowest side. The exact height at this side is 183 feet while on the other side it is 186 feet. The tower is a unique example of the engineering and construction science of the time when it as built. The walls of its base are almost 13 feet wide. The tower weighs more than 14,500 tonnes in all. There are 294 steps present in this tower. The tower is leaning for the past so many years at an angle of 5.5 degrees. By saying this we mean that if the tower was standing straight and tall, it would have been at a distance of 4.5 meters from the place where it stands today. This is something really interesting to note. On one hand we declare that the tower had a weak base so it started leaning. On the other hand, the tower is in its leaning position, standing there for past so many centuries. The tower definitely is a unique feature existing on the surface of the earth.

The leaning tower of Pisa took some 174 years to get built. It was built in three different stages. The first stage began in 1173. The first floor was constructed during this time. There are blind arches in the first floor and also the pillars, which support the tower’s huge building.

One more interesting fact about the Leaning tower of Pisa is that there is a controversy related to its builder. The identity of the builder is a controversy itself. Bonanno Pisano is considered to be the engineer and builder of this tower by most of the people. The tower actually started leaning when the third floor was being constructed in 1178. After this first stage of building, the construction stopped for next few decades as the region was constantly engaged in wars. The third phase completed in 1372.

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