Leaning Towers of the World
- heliya erfani
- 7 months ago
Leaning Towers of the World؛ The Oldest Architecture in the World
“Architecture” is one of the oldest and most fundamental human arts that has accompanied and been in harmony with mankind throughout history. The culture of societies can also be found in the architecture of many historical narratives in the brick rows of historical buildings.
Over time, this functional art evolved from merely providing shelter to becoming a symbol and cultural-religious model for societies. Today, many remaining historical buildings and towers are defined and explained with such functions.
From another perspective, these buildings also serve another function that is inherently contradictory to their original purpose, which was never intended for this use. One of these functions is the tourism aspect of historical buildings, which is the simplest and most basic of such functions. The historical significance, events that have occurred with the building, its association with a famous individual or historical event, etc., can increase the tourism value of these buildings.
In this category of buildings, some structures have an added feature beyond their peers. An occurrence during their construction or maintenance stages is now a major reason for the attractiveness of these historical buildings.
Today, our focus is on introducing the most famous leaning towers in the world, and we hope this fascinating journey continues with other types of historical buildings. Stay with the Sepahran Blog .
The highest degree of tilting among the world’s towers belongs to the “Suurhusen Church” tower, which currently has a tilt of 5.193 degrees. A simple comparison with the 1.22-degree angle of the “Tower of Pisa” shows how remarkable this is.
The height of the medieval tower is 32 meters, and its construction dates back to 1495. The gradual tilting process of the tower started in the 19th century. The expert reason for this incident is the swampy ground on which the church is built. To address the subsidence of the building in the swamp, measures were taken, including the provision of an oak foundation, which is the most important and perhaps the only reason for the tilting of the church tower.
The decay of the oak wood over time has led to a process that continues to this day.
| Latin name | Year of manufacture (AD) |
Location |
|
Suurhusen Tower |
1945 |
This church was built in 1638 in Bad Frankenhausen, Germany. The structure became unstable due to its location above underground water springs. The tower began to lose symmetry almost within the first year or two after construction, gradually tilting towards the ground level.
The severity of the tower’s tilt is such that today, with a 4.8-degree angle from the vertical, it ranks second among the most tilted architectural structures in the world.
The continuation of this tilting process and the failure of engineers’ efforts to contain it have led to experts losing hope for its continued existence. Many engineers believe that soon parts of the church, including its tower, will collapse and be destroyed.
| Latin name |
Year of manufacture (AD) |
location |
|
Frankenhausen Tower |
1638 |
The bell tower of “Bedum City Cathedral” in the Netherlands is another leaning tower in the world. With a height of about 36 meters, it has a deviation of 2.16 meters. This amount of deviation in terms of height difference has caused this tower to rank higher than the “Tower of Pisa.”
Efforts to curb the continued increase of the slope have put the tower in a suitable and stable position, but they have not completely stopped the gradual process of its tilting.
| Latin name | Year of manufacture (AD) | location |
| Bedum Tower |
__________ |
Bedum Tower |
This tower is definitely the most famous leaning tower in the world, and for many people, it evokes the first and only idea of a building being crooked. The tower is located in the city of Pisa in Italy, with a height of 55.86 meters on the shorter side and 56.67 meters on the taller side.
The construction of this tower began in 1173 AD. It was intended to be a symbol of the city’s cathedral. However, very soon after only three floors were built, it began to bend towards the southeast, halting construction for a hundred years.
After this period, in 1234, another architect named Pisano continued the work, but he could not find a solution to the bending of the tower. After him, the task of completing the tower was entrusted to another person. Finally, the construction of the Pisa Tower was completed in its current condition, reaching a height of 56.70 meters.
Initially, the angle of the tower was 6.3 degrees relative to the vertical surface. Currently, the tower has deviated a staggering 2.4 meters from its original line and continues to do so. Many believe that considering the tower’s annual deviation of 2.5 cm, it will completely collapse in less than eighty years. However, measures have been taken to prevent this.
Experts consider the main cause of the tower’s deviation to be related to the underlying soil, which is a mixture of sand, soil, and clay.
| Latin name | Year of manufacture (AD) | location |
| Pisa Tower |
1173 |
Leaning Tower of Pisa |
The Garisenda Tower, with a height of 48 meters, is one of the two famous towers of the city of Bologna. This tower was built together with the Asinelli Tower (with a height of 97 meters) between the years 1109 and 1119. The reason for the popularity of these two towers, which are considered symbols of the city of Bologna in addition to being several hundred years old, is their inclusion in the list of the world’s leaning towers.
Experts have attributed the gradual tilting of these towers since the middle of the 14th century to the presence of soft soil under the Garisenda Tower.
The gradual process of tilting has largely stopped today. However, at the moment, the Asinelli Tower has a deviation of 1.3 degrees, and the Garisenda Tower has a deviation of 4 degrees.
| Latin name | Year of manufacture (AD) | location |
| Bologna tower italy |
1109-1119 |
Towers of Bologna |
The Yun Yan Pagoda was built in 961 AD on a hill known as “Tiger Hill” in Suzhou Province. With a height of about 47 meters, the pagoda is hexagonal in shape and has seven floors. Part of this Buddhist temple was constructed on a stone foundation, while the other part was built on soil, causing the tower to gradually tilt due to soil sedimentation over more than a thousand years. This has resulted in a current tilt angle of three degrees.
The efforts to curb the gradual tilting of this tower have been more successful than with other structures. The injection of concrete into the soil part of the foundation has made the condition of the tower stronger and more resistant than before.
| Latin name | Year of manufacture (AD) | location |
| Yunyan pagoda tower |
1961 |
Tower of Tiger Hill Pagoda |
The old church of “Oude Kerk” is located in the city of Delft in the Netherlands. The bell tower was added three centuries after the church was built, between 1325 and 1350 AD. With a height of about 75 meters, it is one of the leaning towers in the world. The base of the tower rests on a canal that, although filled in at the time of construction, remained unstable. Therefore, the architects tried to prevent this deviation on each floor during the construction of the tower.
However, it seems that this effort was not effective, and the rest of the tower remained tilted except for the top four turrets.
| Latin name | Year of manufacture (AD) | location |
| Oude Kerk Tower (Netherlands) |
1325-1350 |
Oude Kerk Tower |
The Trony Tower was built in the 13th century as part of the city’s defensive wall. However, its use changed from the 18th century, and since then, it has served various purposes such as a prison, blacksmith shop, gun house, retail shop, and coffee shop.
The reason for the tower’s tilting is its placement on an unstable foundation, which caused its upper part to deviate 1.5 meters from the vertical position. Fortunately, this process has stopped, and the fear of the collapse of this valuable historical structure has disappeared.
| Latin name | Year of manufacture (AD) | location |
| Trony Tower |
13th century |
Trony Tower |
This tower was built by order of Peter the Great between 1721 and 1745, with a height of about 57.5 meters for military use. However, due to the instability of its foundation and soil erosion caused by the movement of underground water, the tower soon began to tilt. Today, the tilt has reached three degrees.
To counteract this deviation, angular bricks were used during construction to help stabilize the tower and prevent further tilting.
| Latin name | Year of manufacture (AD) | location |
| Novinskiy Tower |
1721-1745 |
Novinskiy Tower |
The tower of the Homa Temple in the state of Orissa (now Odisha) in India is not only not crooked but is also very resistant and fundamentally well-designed and built. What places this temple on the list of leaning towers in the world is the temple’s own structure, which is a sacred place dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva.
The reason for the tilt of this temple is unknown, and its history remains unclear. However, despite the curvature of the temple, its dome remains completely perpendicular to the ground, which is one of the main attractions of this holy Hindu site.
| Latin name | Year of manufacture (AD) | location |
| Leaning Temple of Huma |
1638 |
Leaning Temple of Huma |
“Big Ben,” also known as the “Clock Tower,” is the largest and one of the most famous clock towers in the world. Located as part of the Palace of Westminster on the northeast side of the British Parliament building in London, its construction dates back to 1856.
The height of this beautiful tower is 96 meters from the ground, and it features large clocks on all four sides, which add to its magnificence. The degree of tilting of the tower is not easily visible to the eye. However, according to an official announcement from the British Parliament, the tower is tilted 0.26 degrees to the northwest due to London Underground excavations and underground development.
Interestingly, its tilt has increased by 0.9 mm per year since 2003.
| Latin name | Year of manufacture (AD) | location |
| Big Ben Tower (UK) |
1856 |
Big Ben Tower (UK) |
In this list, there is a notable absence of a famous Iranian structure. The Karim Khan Zand Citadel in Shiraz is another historical building that is included in this list due to the tilting of one of its towers. The northwest tower of the citadel, with a height of 15 meters, was not aligned parallel to the other towers at the time of construction due to soil settlement and the ground’s inability to support its weight. As a result, its displacement to the west caused the rectangular structure of the citadel to be distorted. The tower in its new location also experienced further subsidence due to these issues, leading to increased tilting.
However, this process has been halted with the strengthening of the lower foundation of the tower, and the risk of its collapse has been completely eliminated.
| Latin name | Year of manufacture (AD) | location |
| Arge Karim Khan |
1856 |
Karim Khan Zand Citadel (Iran) |
Conclusion:
The leaning towers of the world are known as symbols of cities and countries.They are also considered important tourist destinations. In this article, you got acquainted with some of the leaning towers of the world and saw their pictures. If you know another tower that is not in this list, please comment in the comments section.
