Leaning Tower of Pisa
Visit the famous wobbly tower in Italy that's been leaning to one side for over 800 years!
Close-up view showing the tower's beautiful carved marble columns and arches on each of the eight levels
The Leaning Tower of Pisa looks like it's about to fall over, but it's been leaning safely for over 800 years! This famous white marble bell tower in Italy started tilting when builders were only on the third floor because the ground underneath was too soft and squishy. Instead of starting over, they kept building anyway, trying to fix the lean by making the upper floors slightly curved to compensate.
The white marble Leaning Tower of Pisa tilting dramatically surrounded by green grass and other cathedral buildings. Image Credit: Rachel Claire, Pexels
The tower leans about 12 feet to one side and is 186 feet tall - imagine a 18-story building tilting like it's going to tip over! It took almost 200 years to finish building because construction kept stopping whenever wars broke out or when builders worried it might collapse. The tower has 296 steps spiraling up to the top, but climbing them feels very strange because the floor slopes to one side.
For many years, the tower kept leaning more and more each year, and engineers worried it would eventually fall down. In the 1990s, they carefully removed soil from under the high side and added steel cables to hold it steady. Now the tower is safe and will probably keep leaning for hundreds more years! Galileo, the famous scientist, supposedly dropped balls from the top to study gravity.
The Leaning Tower of Pisa teaches us that sometimes the most famous landmarks are the ones with "mistakes" that make them unique and unforgettable!
