Welcome back to the series on famous world monuments! As the final article in the series, we will be diving into the history of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. This structure is the perfect example of the idea that not ALL mistakes are bad. They can lead to great inventions, so never doubt your mistakes. A single human error in the 11th century created this famous landmark.
Located in Pisa Pi, Italy, the Leaning Tower of Pisa was originally designed to be a bell tower. The construction began in 1173 and three layers were built before people noticed that it began to tilt. This leaning was attributed to the clay mixture that the tower was built on. The foundation of the tower was built on a dense section of clay, which caused the tilting. This problem caused the construction to halt for 100 years! The story gets really interesting from here as many attempts are made to rescue the failed mission of completing the tower. The first attempt was made by the engineer Giovanni di Simone, who attempted to add more stories to the tower. This just caused more leaning, but he managed to add on a seventh floor and a bell tower. The tilting got worse and increased so they stopped again and no further changes were made until the 19th century by architect Alessandro Della Gherardesca. He decided to manipulate the bottom of the tower instead of the top and dug up the base in an attempt to allow people to come and see the intricately crafted base. The leaning only got worse! Due to safety concerns, the tower and the bell tower were closed in 1990 and reopened in 2001. Now, tourists are able to safely get tours of the building and see how it all started with one mistake. Mistakes upon mistakes were made, causing a monumental structure to remain to stand and be admired by multiple tourists worldwide.