Tower of Pisa

The leaning of the Tower of Pisa comes into the story in 1173, when construction began. Thanks to the soft ground, it had begun to lean by the time its builders got to the third story, in 1178. Shifting soil had destabilized the tower's foundations. Over the next 800 years, it became clear the 55-metre tower wasn't just learning but was actually falling at a rate of one to two millimetres per year.





The leaning tower of Pisa is more accurately referred to simply as the bell tower, or campanile. The Pisa tower is one of the four buildings that make up the cathedral complex in Pisa, Italy, called Campo dei Miracoli, which means Field of Miracles. The first building constructed at Campo dei Miracoli, Pisa, was the cathedral, or Duomo di Pisa, which rests on a white marble pavement and is an impressive example of Romanesque architecture. The next building added was the baptistery just west of the dome. Then work on the campanile began. Before the work on the campanile was completed the cemetery, Campo Santo, was built.