Pisa - Piazza dei Miracoli

View of the Baptistery, the Cathedral and the Leaning Tower of Pisa... more

by Kim Andelkovic

Title

Pisa - Piazza dei Miracoli

Artist

Kim Andelkovic

Medium

Photograph - Photography, Digital Photography, Photograph

Description

View of the Baptistery, the Cathedral and the Leaning Tower of Pisa

The Piazza del Duomo ("Cathedral Square") is a wide, walled area to the north of central Pisa, Tuscany, Italy, recognized as one of the main centers for medieval art in the world. Partly paved and partly grassed, it is dominated by four great religious edifices: the Duomo (cathedral), the Campanile (the cathedral's free standing bell tower), the Baptistry and the Camposanto.

Leaning Tower

The campanile (bell tower) is located behind the cathedral. The last of the three major buildings on the piazza to be built, construction of the bell tower began in 1691 and took place in three stages over the course of 177 years, with the bell-chamber only added in 1889. Five years after construction began, when the building had reached the third floor level, the weak subsoil and poor foundation led to the building sinking on its south side. The building was left for a century, which allowed the subsoil to stabilise itself and prevented the building from collapsing. In 1825, to adjust the lean of the building, when construction resumed, the upper floors were built with one side taller than the other. The seventh and final floor was added in 1825. By the time the building was completed, the lean was approximately 1 degree, or 2.5 feet (80 cm) from vertical. At its greatest, measured prior to 1990, the lean measured approximately 5.5 degrees. As of 2010, this has been reduced to approximately 4 degrees.
The tower stands approximately 60m high, and was built to accommodate a total of seven main bells, cast to the musical scale:
1st bell (clockwise): L'Assunta, cast in 1902 by Giovanni Pietro Orlandi, weight 3,620 kg (7,981 lb)
2nd bell: Il Crocifisso, cast in 1917 by Vincenzo Possenti, weight 2,462 kg (5,428 lb)
3rd bell: San Ranieri, cast in 1922-1924 by Giovanni Andrea Moreni, weight 1,448 kg (3,192 lb)
4th bell: La Terza (1st small one), cast in 1473, weight 300 kg (661 lb)
5th bell: La Pasquereccia or La Giustizia, cast in 1262 by Lotteringo, weight 1,014 kg (2,235 lb)
6th bell: Il Vespruccio (2nd small one), cast in the 19th century and again in 1954 by Nicola di Jacopo, weight 1,000 kg (2,205 lb)
7th bell: Dal Pozzo, cast in 1903 and again in 2004, weight 652 kg (1,437 lb)
Number of steps to the top: 296

Uploaded

February 12th, 2012