6 Fun Facts About The Leaning Tower Of Pisa

The Leaning Tower of Pisa was not designed to be a stand-alone building. It was designed as a bell tower of a cathedral. As quoted from Walks of Italy, the complex consist of a Cathedral, a Baptistery, a cemetery, and a very tall bell tower.

The construction process of the Pisa Tower was started in 1173. However, it only finished in 1399. It means that they need over 200 years to build the tower. According to the Questoapp website, the tower need a lot of time to build because of wars and battles that disrupted the building process.

According to Learning Escapes, the Tower of Pisa was originally 60 meters high. The diameter of its base is 15.4 meters. The tower weighs over 14,000 tons! It's not a surprise since the tower is mainly made of white marbles.

The Leaning Tower of Pisa was meant to be straight. However, a combination of various factors makes it leans to one side. According to Bella Italia Tour, the terrain in Pisa is mainly made of soft clay. Building a high and heavy tower on a soft terrain makes the tower lean to one side.

As quoted from Leaning Tower of Pisa Tickets, Benito Mussolini saw the tower as a national disgrace. He then orders his people to "fix" the tower. They drilled hundreds of holes into the foundations. Their idea was to pump tons of grout into the holes to straighten the tower. However, it only made the tower heavier and caused it to lean even more.

As we already know, the soil in the city of Pisa is mainly made of soft clay. So it's not strange that there are other buildings in the city that lean to one side, just like The Leaning Tower of Pisa. One of them is the 12th-century San Nicola Church, which is located just half a mile away from the tower.