The Leaning Tower of Pisa

📖 In short

The Leaning Tower of Pisa is a beautiful white bell tower in Pisa, Italy, and it's very famous because it leans! It looks as if it's about to fall, but it has been standing for more than 800 years.

🤩 Did you know?

The tower is about 55 meters tall.
Building the tower began in 1173.
The tower was closed in 1990 for repairs and reopened in 2001.
The tower has about 300 steps to the top, and seven bells at the summit.

🔎 Find out more

🌟 Why does the tower lean?

The tower was built on soft ground of clay and sand. When the workers built the first floors, the ground began sinking on one side, so the tower leaned.

🔍 A very long build

Building the tower took about two hundred years! Work stopped several times because of wars. And the builders tried to fix the lean by making the upper floors tilt slightly the other way.

💡 Saving the tower

The tower's lean grew over the years, and people feared it would fall. So it was closed for years, and engineers carefully removed some earth from under the high side, reducing the lean a little.

🎯 A famous photo

Tourists love having their photo taken holding out their hands as if they're stopping the tower from falling! They can also climb its steps to the top.