The defining and most well-known characteristic of the Pisa tower is of course its famous lean. What was once seen as an embarrassing mistake has now become loved and embraced by both locals and tourists. Although, some wonder how this happened and why it has stayed this way all these years.

What is the leaning tower of Pisa?

The leaning tower of Pisa is often just referred to as “The Bell Tower of Pisa”, “Pisa Tower”, “Torre Pendente di Pisa” or “The Tower of Pisa”. Pisa translates as “_____1_____” in the Greek language which is appropriate considering the tower’s questionable foundations. The structure is a bell tower (campanile) that as part of the cathedral of Pisa and a few other surrounding buildings. It is located at the Piazza del Duomo in Pisa, Italy.

Construction

The building work on the leaning tower of Pisa first started on the 9th of August 1173 and it took almost _____2_____ years to finish. Donna Berta di Bernardo partly funded the construction of the tower.

The medieval monument is built in a _____3_____ style of architecture, however, the tilt was only noticeable once they were 5 years into the build. The building process took so long because it was interrupted by the outbreaks of _____4_____. Engineers and architects responsible for the tower were Giovanni Pisano, Guglielmo, Diotisalvi, Gherardo di Gherardo, Bonanno Pisano and Giovanni di Simone.

Description

The whole tower is made out of rock and _____5_____ and weighs 14,500 tonnes. At the very top of the tower, there is a chamber that holds the bells. It stands at 57 meters tall with 8 floors, 207 small stone columns, 211 arches of marble, and nearly 300 steps in total. The building crew was originally planning to construct the tower to a height of ______6______ meters, but they were discouraged by the discovery of the lean and didn’t want to take the risk of continuing and potentially causing more damage. For the sake of comparison, the ______7_____ is three times taller than the Pisa Tower.

The Lean

Obviously, the Pisa Tower is slightly unstable. The lean was purely _____8_____ as it was initially supposed to stand vertically upright by design. Instead, it leans almost _____9_____ degrees to one side. A few other high structures in Pisa also lean which leads many to believe that the same problem is quite common in the local area.

The tower leans to one side because of the poorly constructed _____10______ that it is built upon. The ground wasn’t very sturdy to begin with which meant that it had trouble bearing the monument’s weight. Another reason for the tower’s lean is down to where exactly the steps were placed. Apparently, there are a couple more steps on one side of the tower than the other which puts the structure slightly _____11_____.

The leaning tower of Pisa has a carefully balanced center of _____12______ over the base which is why it hasn’t collapsed so far. Experts estimate that the tower will not topple for another hundred years or so.

Restoration

The Pisa Tower was built slightly curved in the opposite direction of the lean as a way of impulsively fixing the mistake halfway through construction. In an attempt to improve safety, the foundations were treated by being injected with ______13______ in the 1920s. The situation has slightly improved as the monument used to lean as much as 10 degrees before 1990. Restoration work was performed in order to remedy this.

Some people have suggested the idea of dismantling the structure _____14______ and then rebuilding it on better foundations in a new location. The tower wouldn’t technically have to be demolished if done this way and will still remain authentic.