Leaning Tower of Pisa

The Leaning Tower of Pisa is a building in Pisa, Italy. It is a bell tower. It is famous for its nearly four-degree lean. In 1990 the tower was leaning at 5.5 degrees and increasing. After that, much restoration work has been done to stop it from falling over completely. There was scaffolding all around the tower for 20 years. On 26 April 2011, the last bit of scaffolding was removed so that the tower can be seen properly again."Standing corrected" in The Independent, 27 April 2011 p.31 The Leaning Tower of Pisa has survived four earthquakes since 1080. In the 1990s the tower was closed to the public lest further damage cause it to collapse with people inside.

The height of the tower is about  from the ground. Its weight is about 14,500 tons. The tower has 294 steps.

 History 
The tower construction began in 1173. When the second floor was built in 1178, the tower started to lean. This was because it had a small three-meter foundation in soft soil. The design of this tower was bad from the beginning. Construction was stopped for almost 100 years because the people of Pisa were often at war with Genoa, Lucca and Florence.

There is an old story that Galileo Galilei used the Tower for a physics experiment.

 Photos of the tower 

 Related pages 
 Pisa

References

Category:Buildings and structures in Italy
Category:Pisa
Category:Towers in Europe
Category:12th-century buildings and structures