This is the leaning tower of Pisa, Italy. I was awe struck by its very structure. Yes, it is leaning. It has been leaning since long, yet it can be climbed till the top floor where there are the bells. The tower is in fact is a belfry of the cathedral. To appreciate how it leans, I took one photograph from a distance which clearly showed to what angle it leans. One more I took from the window of the hotel where we stayed. Here also one can see to what angle it leans at the top. There are no barricades to the open balcony except to the belfry. One should imagine how it is to be there on the 5th floor and above with gusty cool wind blowing at you!
A few lines on the tower. Pisa got its name in 600 BC from a Greek word meaning “marshy land.” The leaning Tower of Pisa is a medieval architecture, in Romanesque style. The tower’s original purpose was as a bell tower for the Pisa cathedral. In 1172, a wealthy Italian widow named Berta di Bernardo left 60 coins in her will for a group charged with constructing the tower to buy stones to build it. The construction of this imposing mass was started in the year 1174 by Bonanno Pisano. When the tower had reached its third storey the works ceased because it had started sinking into the ground. The tower remained thus for 90 years. It was completed by Giovanni di Simone, Tommano Simone ( son of Andreo Pisano ) by constructing the tower with the belfry in the 14th century.. Designed to be vertical, the tower now leans at an incline of almost 4 degrees to the south. It’s base being built on a dense section of clay. The top of the Leaning Tower can be reached by climbing the 294 steps which rise in the form on the inner side of the tower walls