Every year, people from all over the world visit Pisa, Italy, to see the famous Leaning Tower. Even though it leans to one side, the tower has been standing for almost 850 years and doesn’t look like it’s going to fall anytime soon. The story of how it was built is full of surprises and challenges.
The Leaning Tower of Pisa was meant to be a bell tower for the Pisa Cathedral. Construction started in 1173, but problems began right away. When they finished the second floor, the ground started to sink, making the tower lean. The builders had chosen a bad spot because the ground was made of sand, clay, and mud, which couldn’t hold up the heavy marble tower.
To try and fix the lean, the builders made the columns on one side taller to make it look straight. But this just made the leaning worse. Realizing the problem was serious, they stopped building after five years to figure out what to do next.
For almost 100 years, the tower was left unfinished because Pisa was busy fighting with the nearby city of Genoa. In 1272, work on the tower started again. By then, the ground had settled a bit, but the tower was now leaning in the opposite direction.
The builders continued for six more years, making sure the upper floors were level even though the tower leaned. They stopped again after finishing the seventh story. It wasn’t until 1372 that they added the eighth story, tilting it slightly to balance the lean, finally completing the tower.
It took nearly 200 years to finish the Leaning Tower of Pisa. The tower is about 57 meters (186 feet) tall on the highest side, and about one meter (3 feet) shorter on the other side. There are two spiral staircases inside, one with 294 steps and the other with 296 steps, to make up for the different heights.
Over time, the tower’s lean got worse, and people worried it might fall. Many wanted to keep it from collapsing, but they didn’t want to straighten it completely because it was so popular with tourists. In 1990, the tower was closed for over ten years while engineers worked to make it safe.
To fix the problem, engineers added over 800 tons of lead weights to one side and used cables to hold the tower in place. They also took out the bells from the eighth floor to make it lighter. Finally, they carefully removed soil from under one side to straighten it just enough to be safe. This reduced the lean by over 17 inches (45 centimeters), making the tower stable for the first time.
Today, the Leaning Tower of Pisa is a symbol of clever engineering and history. Experts think it will stay stable for at least another 200 years. The bells are back, and visitors can climb the steps to enjoy the view from the top. The Leaning Tower of Pisa continues to amaze and inspire people from all over the world with its unique charm.
Build Your Own Leaning Tower: Gather some building blocks or small boxes and try to build your own leaning tower. Experiment with different materials like sand, clay, or mud as a base to see how they affect the stability of your tower. Can you make it lean without falling? What happens if you make one side taller than the other?
Observe and Report: Look around your home or neighborhood for objects that lean or are not perfectly straight. It could be a tree, a fence, or even a building. Take a picture or draw what you see, and think about why it might be leaning. Discuss with your family how the Leaning Tower of Pisa was stabilized and what could be done to help the objects you found.
Engineering Challenge: Imagine you are an engineer tasked with keeping the Leaning Tower of Pisa from falling. What creative solutions can you think of to stabilize it without making it completely straight? Draw your ideas or use craft materials to create a model of your solution. Share your design with your classmates and explain how it would work.
