Leaning Tower of Pisa
From Wikipedia, a free encyclopedia written in simple English for easy reading.
The Leaning Tower of Pisa is a building in Pisa, Italy. It is a bell tower. The Tower is famous because it leans to one side.
The height of the tower is about 55 metres from the ground. Its weight is about 14,500 tonnes. It currently leans for about 5.5 degrees. The tower has 294 steps.
After the third floor was built in 1178, the tower acquired a lean, due to a mere three-meter foundation in weak, unstable subsoil. The design of this tower was flawed from the beginning. Construction was halted for almost 100 years because the Pisans were almost continually engaged in battles with Genoa, Lucca, and Florence. This allowed for the underlying soil to settle, otherwise the tower would almost certainly have toppled. In 1198 some clocks were temporarily installed on the unfinished construction.
