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The Leaning Tower of Pisa or more commonly called in Italy; the Tower of Pisa is an independent bell tower that stands behind the Cathedral of the Pisa. The tower is the third building that was built in the Campo dei Miracoli. The building of the tower was done in three stages because of the design. The first floors of the tower are made of beautiful Italian marble. The construction began in August of 1173. The first floor has strong pillars that have strong leaning arches.
The design of the tower was the idea of Guglielmo and Bonanno Pisano; the latter was a well-known artist from Pisa. Bonanno departed Pisa around 1185 and when he was dying he came back to his hometown. They found his coffin at the beginning of the tower in 1820.
The tower began to lean after the third floor was laid in 1178; the foundation was weak and unstable. The design was a little flawed from the beginning, they did not want to stop construction after the construction was stopped fro nearly 100 years they built the rest with the slight lean. The time allowed the soil to settle in and construction continued. In 1272 another architect took over the project, the next 4 floors were built at the angle to try to compensate for the lean.
The construction stopped again in 1284 due to war. The bell section was added in 1372. There are seven bells; each bell has a note on the musical scale. Galileo was reported to have dropped two cannon balls from the tower to prove a theory that the speed of the drop was caused by gravity not because they were heavy cannon balls. Benito Mussolini had demanded that the tower to set straight, so he had workers set in concrete into the foundation. But all that managed to do was set the soil down further.
In 1964, the government of Italy needed funding to stop the tower from falling. But tourist came from so far away would come to see the tower that they decided to leave the tilt. The tower was shut down in January of 1990; the bells were taken out to try to take some weight off of the tower. Using cables and winches relieved some of the weight. Reconstruction took place and in December 2001 the tower’s lean was significantly less and it was reopened to the public.