Hey! It's Holly, but you can call
me Taco! This is my first time learning about the Ancient Wonders, and
I want to share with other people. So here I go!
The leaning tower of Pisa was supposed
to be vertical, but it began to lean during the year 1173 because of poor
construction. The tower leans southwest now. It must have been a big tower
to have to lean.
The height of the tower is 55.86m.
The widths of the tower's walls are 4.09m. The leaning tower weighs 14,500
metric tons. The tower has 296 steps. The tower leans at 3.97 degrees.
That's a big tower!
Construction of the tower was stopped
because the Pisans were engaged in battles with Genoa, Lucca, and Florence.
In 1198, clocks were put in the third floor. Seven bells were also put
in/ I wonder what they're for.
On January 7, 1990, the tower was
closed again. While the tower was closed, the bells were taken out to
get rid of some weight. Apartments and houses in the way of the tower
were moved for safety. The final solution to keep the tower from falling
was to straighten the tower to a safer angle, by taking away 38 cubic
meters of soil under the raised end. The tower was straightened by 18
inches. After 10 years of correcting the building, the leaning tower was
opened on December 15, 2001 (The day after I turned 3!), and was said
to be stable for another 300 years. That's a long time!
In May 2008, after taking away another
70 metric tons of soil. The engineers announced that the tower had stopped
moving for the first time. They said that it would be stable for at least
200 years. That's a long time too!
So how'd you enjoy the leaning tower
of Pisa? At first I didn't think I'd like the leaning tower. Now I think
it's very interesting. I hope you like it too!