The Leaning Tower at Pisa.
PISA, which is a walled city of Tuscany, in Italy, is celebrated for its famous leaning tower. The height of this remarkable tower is about one hundred and seventy-eight feet. It is inclined from the perpendicular so much, that the upper story overhangs the base fourteen feet. It is ascended by three hundred and fifty-five steps, and contains seven bells. It stands alone, unconnected with any building, and was probably intended as an ornamental belfry. It is built of white marble and granite, and has eight stories, and seven columns, and divided by cornices. Its form and proportions are graceful, and its whole appearance is remarkably beautiful. When approaching the city, which is situated on an extensive plain, at the distance of a few miles, the effect, when the tower is seen over the tops of the trees, between two others which are perpendicular, is so striking, that the spectator feels almost inclined to doubt the evidences of his senses. It was erected about 1174, by Wilhelmus, a German architect, assisted by two Pisans. From the inclination of the stairs, it seems to a person going up or down hastily to roll like a ship. This beautiful structure, notwithstanding its inclination, seems to have withstood the ravages of time with more than usual success, as it has now stood for more than six hundred years without any fissure or the slightest perceptible sign of decay. Travelers, antiquaries, and the learned in general, have been perplexed and divided in opinion with respect to the cause of this deviation from a perpendicular line. Some have thought it the result of design; others have believed it to be accidental. Dr. Arnott, in his popular work on the “Elements of Physics,” says it was built intentionally inclined to frighten or surprise; but he was probably mistaken. Among the paintings in the Campo Santo, which are supposed to have been executed about the year 1300, more than one hundred years after the tower was erected, is a large painting of the now leaning tower, where it is standing perfectly upright. It may, therefore, now be considered as certain that the inclination was caused by the gradual sinking of the earth, as in many other instances in Italy. This opinion is confirmed by the circumstances of the lowest row of pillars being sunk deep in the earth, the mouldings not running parallel with the horizon, and the inclination of the stairs. Pisa is the capital of a province of its own name, situated in a marshy but fertile plain, on the river Arno, seven miles from its mouth. It is no wonder that in so many hundred years such an immense structure as this tower should settle as it is now seen, especially as its foundation is on marshy land. Very accurate models of this leaning tower are frequently beautifully made in alabaster and marble. Pisa has many very elegant edifices built of marble. Its cathedral is one of the noblest ecclesiastical structures in Italy; and a marble bridge, which crosses the Arno, is one of the finest in Europe. Pisa was the birth-place of Galileo, of which the present inhabitants often boast.—Sel.