This is the Assunta bell at the top of the Tower of Pisa. It was cast in 1654 by Giovanni Pietro Orlandi and weights 3,620 kg or 7,981 lbs. It is one of 7 bells at the top of the tower and together they weigh 10,496 kgs or 23,091 lbs. Originally the tower took 177 years to build usually because wars interrupted construction which began in 1173. Donna Berta di Bernardo, a widow and resident of the house of dell'Opera di Santa Maria got the tower construction started in 1172 when she gave sixty coins to purchase some of the stones, which still form part of the base of the tower today.
The tower started leaning soon after construction started because of a poor foundation. Various efforts were made to stop the leaning but it was not until 1970 when an international team decided on a plan to fix the tower. Although the rate of leaning increase was very slow the tower would have eventually fallen over if they had not stopped the increased leaning. It took 20 years but the tower was stabilized at the lean it had in the 1830's. Now it should be stable for at least 200 more years.
No comments:
Post a Comment