Picture of the day - October 7, 2007

The Leaning Tower of Pisa

Photo courtesy of Diane Robertson. Today's picture features the Leaning Tower of Pisa, one of the most popular tourist attractions in all of Europe and one of the world's most intriguing structures. Although it now leans a dizzying 5½ degrees from vertical, this most-famous of all towers was originally designed to rise straight up into the air just like any other tower. Construction of the first floor began on August 9, 1173, and for some time everything seemed to be going just fine. The first and second floors were completed with no apparent problems, but soon after construction began on the third floor five years later the massive weight of the tower became too much for the inadequate three foot deep foundation that had been laid on an area of weak, unstable soil. One side of the tower's foundation began to sink, causing the structure to begin tilting to one side. Even though it became quite apparent that the tower was most likely forever doomed to lean to one side - or eventually tip over completely, construction continued and a total of seven floors were built over the course of several hundred years. A couple of attempts have been made to "straighten up" the structure, but to no avail. In fact, Benito Mussolini's attempted "cure" in 1934 actually caused the tower to lean even more than it had before! Engineers spent the last decade of the 20th century on an apparently successful project intended to add structural strength to the tower. It is currently undergoing a major cosmetic face-lift to repair the cracks and remove the discoloration caused by centuries of exposure to the elements. My guess is the Leaning Tower of Pisa will always lean, but hopefully she'll be around a long, long time for all of us to visit and marvel at.   Visit the POTD Archives for previous "Pictures Of The Day"!     Submit a photo of your own!            Why I publish the "Picture of the Day"