The Leaning Tower Of Pisa Essay, Research Paper

The Leaning Tower of Pisa

Built between the years of 1173 and 1350 as a bell tower the Leaning Tower of Pisa on a soft spot in the ground. With it being built only 2 meters above Sea Level the lean became obvious in the year 1178 when the third story was being built. There were three construction stops, one in 1178, one in 1185, and one in 1284, all caused by war.

The actual name of the Leaning Tower is TORRE PENDENTE DI PISA, which translates to HANGING TOWER OF PISA. The original architect for the Leaning Tower was Bonanno Pisano.

Over the years the Leaning Tower of Pisa has changed the direction in which it was leaning. In the years between 1173 and 1250 it was leaning to the north and in the years between 1272 and present it was leaning toward the south.

There are 294 steps to the bell tower, 700,000 visiters had climbed to the top in 1989. It was closed to the public on January 7, 1990 because it was ruled that the Leaning Tower had become unstable for the public.

The lean data for the Leaning Tower in 1298 showed that it was leaning at 1.43 meters, around 1550: 3.79 meters, 1787 and 1812: 3.79 meters, 1817: 3.84 meters, 1911; 4.04 meters, 1935: 4.8 meters, and 1997: 5.2 meters. This lean data was taken by running a 90 degree angle line from the bell tower to the ground and then measuring out the distance between the end of the line and the base of the building.

In an effort to level the tower back out, they added 600 tons of lead to the north end in 1995 which corrected the tilt 0.07″ overnight in September 1995. After the overnight tilt 230 tons more was added. In the effort to level the tower back has corrected it an inch since 1990.

In closing I would like to add that I personally would love to climb my way up the 294 steps to the bell tower of the Hanging Tower of Pisa. I would love to ring the bell one day, though I know that that day will probably never come for me, maybe it will for you.

I have read many web pages and asked many people about their thoughts on the matter. Many of the web pages said the same as the people I asked, ‘It sure would be great to go inside to take a look.’ I’m sure that maybe one day it won’t be the Leaning Tower of Pisa any more but then what would I dream of???!!???