Wednesday, December 05, 2007

The Leading Tower Of Pisa


Pisa is located towards the western area of Tuscany, and its origins date from as long as 3.000 years ago. We reached Pisa is almost 5 PM in the afternoon, the leading tower was closed for public to visit already. So we were arranged to visit Leaning Tower on the next day morning. Although it is world wide famous due to its Leaning Tower, I believe the city of Pisa also has many other great attractions and amazing characteristics to offer. Too bad that we don't have much time to look around this beautiful city.
We visited the Leaning Tower in the morning. The tower looks great. It sits on a square where there are some other historical buildings, all are well maintained. I am so excited to see this amazing tower in person, it has been my childhood dream since I am 10 years old, first time read the articles about leaning tower. The tower now leans at 4 meters from perpendicular. I am wondering how it will be after 20 years later.



More About Leading Tower
The Leaning Tower of Pisa (Italia: Torre pendente di Pisa) or simply The Tower of Pisa (La Torre di Pisa) is the campanile, or freestanding bell tower, of the cathedral of the Italian city of Pisa. It is situated behind the Cathedral and it is the third structure by time in Pisa's Piazza del Duomo (Cathedral Square).
Although intended to stand vertically, the tower began leaning to the southeast soon after the onset of construction in 1173 due to a poorly laid foundation and loose substrate that has allowed the foundation to shift direction.
The height of the tower is 55.86 m (183.27 ft) from the ground on the lowest side and 56.70 m (186.02 ft) on the highest side. The width of the walls at the base is 4.09 m (13.42 ft) and at the top 2.48 m (8.14 ft). Its weight is estimated at 14,500 tonnes. Due to the peculiarity of the tower, there is no lift inside, on the contrary of common belief. The tower has 296 steps (the seventh floor has a different number of steps on the two sides, if you climb it on the north part you can count only 294 steps). The tower leans at an angle of 3.97 degrees. This means that the top of the tower is 3.9 meters from where it would stand if the tower were perfectly vertical.

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