Those who believe that the falling towers include only the famous Leaning Tower of Pisa and the rickety water tower on the road to the cottage are deeply mistaken. The miscalculations of architects and builders, as well as the natural features of the soil, cause many buildings to lean toward the earth from year to year. We offer a closer look at the top ten most famous falling towers.
10. Tiger Hill Pagoda or Huqiu Tower is located in China, in the city of Suzhou, Jiangsu Province. Built in the 10th century, it rises 47 meters above the ground. The weight of the seven-story structure is about 7 thousand tons. For more than a thousand years, the tower has been falling steadily, and today its slope is 2.32 meters.
9. Asinelli and Garisenda Towers in the Italian city of Bologna, they are striving for land, ignoring all the efforts of the city authorities. A greater deviation from the vertical (3.22 meters) at the lower Garisenda tower.
8. Burana Tower or the church of St. Martino is located on the Venetian island of Buran. The construction of the 15th century still has not fallen to the ground just because it found support in the building next to it.
7. Bedum Tower located in the Dutch town of the same name. At a height of 35.7 meters, the tower deviated by 2.61 meters from the vertical. The angle of inclination of the building exceeds the figure of the famous Leaning Tower of Pisa.
6. Frankenhausen Church Tower in Germany it is located on a hilltop and is constantly exposed to strong winds. Perhaps this has its effect on the fall rate of the structure, which approaches the ground by 6 cm per year. According to engineers, the turning point for the tower may come within the next ten years.
5. Suurhusen Church in Germany was built in the late Middle Ages in the East Friesland region. Until 2010, it was this building that was considered the most inclined tower in the world. The tilt angle of the Suurhusen spire is 1.22 degrees ahead of the famous leaning tower of Pisa.
4. Nevyansk tower - this is the most famous of the Russian falling towers. Built in the first half of the 18th century by order of Peter the Great, the tower has a height of 57.5 meters. Today, the tower deviated from the vertical by 2.2 meters. According to legend, the tower began to tilt due to the fact that its basements were flooded with the workers there, engaged in minting counterfeit coins. The tower is included in the list of historical monuments of national importance.
3. Protestant Church Oude Kerk (Old Church) from the Netherlands has the nickname “Old John”. The tower of this architectural ensemble in the Gothic style is rejected by 1.98 meters at a 75-meter height.
2. Famous London Big Ben falls too! The clock tower of the British Parliament building, although not strongly, but stubbornly leans to the northwest at 43.5 cm (0.26 degrees). Since 2003, the Big Ben tilt speed has been 0.9 millimeters per year. It would seem that the process is proceeding rather slowly, but the work of the London Underground has a constant influence on it.
1. Leaning Tower of Pisa brought worldwide fame to the Italian city of Pisa. The fall of the tower began a few years after the start of its construction due to the soft clay soil at the base. When construction was completed in 1350, the slope was already about four and a half feet. The construction height is 55.86 m on the lowest side and 56.7 m on the highest. Thanks to conducted in 2002-2010. restoration work, the angle of the tower was reduced from 5 to 3.5 degrees. In 2008, scientists made a statement that thanks to work to strengthen the soil and the building itself, the tower’s fall was stopped.