58 metres high, weighing 14,453 tonnes and leaning at an angle of five and a half degrees – the Leaning Tower of Pisa is the symbol of the Italian city. The tower was originally intended as a bell tower for Pisa Cathedral and was supposed to be 100 metres high. However, due to the soft soil of mud and sand, the tower began to lean towards the southeast just twelve years after the foundation stone was laid. It took almost 200 years to finally complete the tower. It was repeatedly repaired or weighed down with lead bars until it was finally stabilised and straightened out a little in 1999 by making holes in the floor on the northern side of the tower.
It is said that Galileo Galilei used the tower’s tilt when he dropped two balls of different weights from the top of the tower to disprove Aristotle’s assumption that heavy objects fall faster than light ones. There is no evidence for the story. In fact, Galileo described the laws of falling by studying how balls behave when they roll down an inclined plane.
Photo: A tower famous only for being crooked. Credits: Unsplash/Alex Vasey.
