Day 15 - Italy

New words in this story

Notes: Trong lịch sử của ngành kiến trúc, hiếm có công trình nghệ thuật nào mà chính sự sai lầm trong quá trình xây dựng lại biến nó thành một tuyệt tác của nhân loại. Vậy mà ở Italy lại tồn tại một công trình như vậy, đó là ngọn tháp nghiêng Pisa nổi tiếng.

The Pisa Tower is the best leaning tower in the world. It was built in 11^th century. It was made of white marble. It is 55.863 meters tall.

However, after the 3^rd floor was finished in 1178, the Pisa Tower began to lean.

The foundation caused the lean of the tower. It was only 3 meters deep. The foundation was built on clay. So, the land was not strong enough to keep the weight of the huge tower.

After that, the Pisa Tower was stopped within 100 years. The government hoped that the soil would settle. And it would be strong enough to hold the weight of the tower.

In 1319, the 7^th floor was finished. There was a road that was built near the tower. This made the lean worse. Then, the tower was abandoned until the 19^th century.

The Pisa Tower was first leaning 0.2 degrees towards the north. A century later, this number reached 5,5 degrees in 1990. Now, the lean of the Pisa Tower is nearly 4 degrees. Scientists say that it can be stable for the next 200 years.

When everyone come here, they will be divided into a group of 30 people and visit the tower in 30 minutes. But, there is no break time during the tour.