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History
of Pisa
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to the Tower
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On
August the 9th 1173, the
architect Bonanno Pisano began the
construction of one of the most
beautiful monuments in history, so
beautiful that it became a wonder of the
world. The tower was projected as the
steeple of the cathedral in Pisa. But
during its first years the tower had a
gradual yielding, compelling Bonanno
Pisano to stop the building at the third
floor. It needs to be given prominence
that the project was about a straight
building, but because of its nature the
underlying ground, mostly composed of
sand and clay, wasn’t able to support
the heavy weight of the tower and it
caused the slope. In the meantime the
architect Bonanno Pisano worked on the
cathedral’s four doors but soon after
he died, and so couldn’t complete his
wonderful tower.
About 100 years later, the young
architect Giovanni di Simone began again
the building of the tower. He tried to
balance it with a slight inclination of
the building in the opposite direction
from the third floor. Giovanni di Simore
died before the completion of the tower
as a soldier in the awful war of Meloria,
where Pisa lost.
After this war the city went into
decline and building was stopped again.
Finally in 1350 the tower was completed
thanks to the architect Tommaso Pisano. In
the following centuries the slope
increased constantly by 1 millimetre/year
and only during 1990 with an urgent
intervention the slope was stabilized.
Height mt. 58,36, weight ton. 14,453,
leaning shadow mt. 2,36, circumference mt. 5,22.
Yearly leaning increase until 1993 millimeter 1,2/year.
The tower has 8 floors with the bell
floor at the top where are installed 7
bells for the seven musical notes. You
can reach the top of the tower by an
internal circular staircase of 293
stairs.
 The
tower of Pisa has been built as the
steeple of the Santa Maria Cathedral, so
they both have the same architectural
style. Togheter with the Battistero and
the Cemetery they form the wonderful
square who's name of Piazza dei
Miracoli (miracles square). The light
green of the gardens and the white of
the marbles create a perfect colors
effect to give prominence of the
beautiness of the monuments and more of
the tower. No cars are allowed to run on
the square area and so the tourists from
everywhere in the world walk, take
pictures and buy souvenirs in a complete
relax a joyness, especially in the sunny
days.
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