Leaning Tower of Pisa Architectural Wire Sculpture Doodles Destinations

This miniature artistic interpretation of the Leaning Tower of Pisa is a hand tied and hand decorated sculpture in wire. The Leaning Tower of Pisa is the freestanding bell tower of the cathedral of the Italian city of Pisa. Although intended to stand vertically, the tower began leaning to the southeast soon after the onset of construction in 1173, due to a poorly laid foundation and loose substrate that has allowed the foundation to shift direction. The tower presently leans to the southwest. Construction of the first floor of the white marble campanile began on August 9, 1173, a period of military success and prosperity. The tower began to sink after construction had progressed to the third floor in 1178. Construction was subsequently halted for almost a century, because the Pisans were almost continually engaged in battles with Genoa, Lucca and Florence. This allowed time for the underlying soil to settle. Otherwise, the tower would almost certainly have toppled. In 1272, construction resumed under Giovanni di Simone. In an effort to compensate for the tilt, the engineers built upper floors with one side taller than the other. This made the tower begin to lean in the other direction. Because of this, the tower is actually curved. Construction was halted again in 1284, when the Pisans were defeated by the Genoans in the Battle of Meloria. The seventh floor was completed in 1319. The bell-chamber was not finally added until 1372. There are seven bells, one for each note of the musical major scale. The largest one was installed in 1655. After a phase of structural strengthening from 1990 to 2001, the tower is currently undergoing gradual surface restoration. In May 2008, after the removal of another 70 metric tons of earth, engineers announced that the Tower had been stabilized such that it had stopped moving for the first time in its history. They stated it would be stable for at least 200 years. (some information adapted from Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia)