The Leaning tower of Pisa is one of the world’s most beautiful and bizarre buildings. It is the bell tower of the Cathedral of Pisa in Tuscany, Italy. The tower is Romanesque in style and made of white marble.
The tower at present leans about 14 feet from the vertical and continues to lean farther south every year. The structure, today more than 800 years old, has leaned almost since the day construction was started. It leans because when the building was half completed, the soil under one half of the circular structure began to subside and the tower tipped. After a gap of around 100 years, architects devised a plan to compensate for the tilt. Two storey’s, the third and the fifth where build out of line with the others and closer to vertical in an effort to alter the tower's center of gravity. But the leaning continued to increase gradually through the centuries. Pumping to keep water away from the surrounding ground and the injection of cement grout into the foundations and subsoil have been tried in recent years, but without much success. The tower continues to increase its tilt each year.
Why was it built? In 1174, during Pisa’s golden age, a period of economic prosperity and artistic riches, the citizens resolved to build the bell tower that their magnificent cathedral had been without for so long. The tower was to surpass all other towers being built in Italy at the time and was to symbolize the wealth and power of the illustrious Republic of Pisa.
From the top of the tower, astronomer and physicist Galilei, a native of Pisa conducted his famous experiments. He proved that bodies of different weight fall at the same speed.
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