The Leaning Tower of Pisa
Friday, 27th January 2006 by James Turnbull
The Leaning Tower of Pisa is a bell tower in the Italian city of Pisa. Originally meant to be vertical the first stone was laid on August 9, 1173 but by 1178 it was pretty obvious that the tower has some stability issues.
In Superman III the evil Superman had no problems straitening out the lean but in reality the tower had to be closed for a decade and local houses evacuated while the world's engineers made the building stable for at least another 300 years.
To the west of the tower is the cathedral and then the round building is the baptistry. The white square to the north is a walled off cemetery.
Thanks: Scott Ventura, Simone, eRez, Gianni
No it’s the leaning tower of pizza
This isn’t just a leaning tower, it’s a curved one as well. During construction, new floors were added at an angle so they would go up vertically. This happened a couple of times. You can see the effect in the photograph of the wikipedia article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leaning_Tower_of_Pisa
The tower gets all the publicity, but the cathedral is really beautiful. It is constructed of an extraordinary combination of green and white marble.
not entierly true!!! its in a bannana shape. The tower gets all the publicity, but the cathedral is really beautiful. It is constructed of an extraordinary combination of green and white marble. This isn’t just a leaning tower, it’s a curved one as well. During construction, new floors were added at an angle so they would go up vertically. This happened a couple of times. You can see the effect in the photograph of the wikipedia article: No it’s the leaning tower of pizza
You know what would help, the coordinates to these sightseeing spots, instead of information. If I wanted info I would use wikepedia.
@Matthew: If you click the image thumbnail it will take you to a Google Map, or click “View in Google Earth” for Google Earth. Both have the co-ordinates for the sight.