Produced by Geraldine Norris Produced by Geraldine Norris

Produced by Geraldine Norris Produced by Geraldine Norris

The Leaning Tower of Pisa

You would imagine that any building would have to stand up straight or it would crumble and fall down, wouldn’t you? Well you may be surprised to know that there is one famous building that does lean over at an angle!

Pisa is a town in Italy and the Tower of Pisa is a bell tower which is part of the cathedral there. In the old days when it was built, most churches had towers that had large bells in them. The bells would ring out patterns or tunes to tell the local people that it was time to go to church.

The building of the Tower of Pisa began in 1173 (that’s about 840 years ago!) It was supposed to stand up straight but it began to lean over very quickly after the building started. This was probably because the soil it was built on was too soft and the building’s foundations weren’t strong enough.To start with the first three storeys were the only ones built. The tower was then left in that state for 100 years. This meant that the land had time to “settle”and this probably saved it from falling over as if the building had continued it would almost certainly have toppled.

When building recommenced in 1272 the land had settled and the builder added three more storeys. They tried to compensate for the lean by making the new floors taller on one side than the other. In fact all this did was to make it lean the other way! The seventh floor was not added until 1319 and the bell chamber at the top of the tower was built in 1372. The building had taken 199 years to complete! There are seven bells in the tower, the largest one of which was not added until 1655, so you could say that the whole project took nearly 500 years to finish.

The tower leans at nearly 4°, which means that the top of the tower is 3.9metres from where it should stand if the building was vertical. It is 55.8m high on one side and 56.7m high on the other and has 296 steps.

In 1964 the Italian government asked for help to keep the tower stable and scientists from many countries joined together to work on the problem. It was solved by adding lead weights to one side of the base of the tower and in 1987 the Leaning Tower of Pisa was declared a World Heritage Site. Millions of tourists visit the tower every year.

Bloom’s Taxonomy

Remembering:

• Where is the Leaning Tower?
• Why did churches have bell towers?
• What caused the tower to lean over?
• When did the Italian government ask for help?
• How did the scientists keep the tower from falling down?

Understanding:

Write down in your own words what these words from the text mean:

• foundations
• recommenced
• compensate
• stable

Applying:

Complete this table;

Date / Event
1173
1272
1319
1372

Analysing:

Match these sub headings with the correct paragraph.

• The Building Finally Finishes
• Modern Restoration
• The Building Begins
• Calling People to Church
• A Leaning Building
• Size and Angle

Evaluating:

Why do you think scientists from many countries worked together to solve the problem of the tower?

Creating:

Design a poster to advertise the Leaning Tower of Pisa.