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LEANING TOWER OF PISA Block Set: 27 pieces 13.5" TALL Read a brief history below |
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$39.95
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The Leaning Tower of Pisa is one of the most famous
buildings in the world. There was initially some question about
whether the builders intended it to lean, but this seems doubtful in light
of modern evidence. It appears that subsidence of the soil has been to
blame. It is still not known with certainty who the architect was. The tower leans at an approximate 10% incline. In the mid-1800's, ill-informed conservation efforts caused an acceleration of the tilt, which has stabilized again. The tower is presently closed to the public. The tower stands about 55 m high, and is 19.58 m in diameter at the base. More information may be obtained from the official Torre di Pisa website at http://torre.duomo.pisa.it/index_eng.html 1173: Commencement of works on 9 August of the year 1173. 1182: Establishment of the "Opera Campanilis petrarum Sancte Marie" (Stone Works of the bell tower of Saint Mary). 1185: Probable interruption at the height of the 4th order. 1198: The presence of a bell-ringer at the Tower is documented - a sign that the building can hold at least one bell, partially fulfilling the purpose for which it was intended. 1231: Building work, probably taken up again in the first decades of the century, proceeds. A workshop in which marble for the Tower is worked is documented. 1233: Oath of the worker Benato Bottici: in the ceremony of investiture he pledges to be "solicitous and attentive in the building of the bell tower of the church, according to the means of the Opera". 1260: Giovanni di Simone, whose presence was documented at the Opera del Duomo from 1260 and, from 1267 as master builder, intervenes in the construction of the Tower. Building proceeds up to the seventh order, where a correction of the axial inclination of the building is made, which is no longer rectilinear, having assumed a concave form.Further suspension of building work. 1278: Giovanni Pisano measures the inclination of the Tower with a plumb line. 1292: After almost a century of inactivity, Tommaso Pisano completes the construction, erecting the belfry and making the last important geometric correction of the structure. Back to International Block Assortments |
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