Tower of Pisa has the height of 55 m, and the inscription on it indicates that it was established yet back in 1174. But since Pisa calendar was one year ahead than a standard one, actual date for the starting of the construction is to be considered as 1173. Architects of the tower were Bonanno Pisano and Wilhelm Von Innsbruck, but both had no chance of viewing the completion of their creation. By the way, up to the second half of 14 century, tower remained without belfry at the top.
There were assumptions that the bend of the tower was thought by the architects in advance - for the sake of displaying their prowess and excellent architectural ability. But this assumption is not well justified. Most probably the other assumption is possible: architects knew that they were building on a very bad foundation and that's why they had already put in a possible slight bend in construction design.
Nowadays, when looking at the tower from the ground or climbing 294 stairs to get to its upper deck, realizing that this whole construction is about to bend on the side you can only wonder how and why it has not yet fallen down. Pisa tower is bending more and more each year and this brings worries for it.
"Falling" tower is of cylindrical shape and soars up with its eight stories. Its six central floors are banded with decorative arcades with a possible influence of Byzantine or Islamic architectural traditions. The issue of Islamic influence seems interesting because as it is not known whether the idea of separate bell tower appeared in Christian church architecture under the influence of Muslim minarets, or on the contrary, the minarets alone with muezzins on the top, calling for praying, had originated from Christian bell towers.
"Falling" tower was built as a belfry by the Pisa cathedral, which was started a century earlier. It happened after the victory of the people of Pisa against the Saracens at Palermo in 1063. This architectural style of construction became popular as Roman Pisa style. The influence of Islam can be observed in the black and white marble covering of external walls. The front of the first floor is decorated with arcades, the decorative arcades are layered in the upper part, becoming smaller from center to wings and creating a pediment construction. The cathedral with its middle and transversal naves and ornamental richness of interiors was eventually finished later.
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