Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 1, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 January 1894 — QUEER ARCHITECTURE. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

QUEER ARCHITECTURE.

Three of the Fatuous Leaning Eell Tower: In Italy. Of the bell towers or campaniles of Italy the most famous is the campanile of Pisa. Hundreds of tourists

visit this yearly not so much because it is beautiful as because it is curious. Instead of risin g perpendicularly it is built leaning, standing like a tree which Ithe winds have bent in its growth. It is 17 9 feet high a n d i s 13 feet out of per pe ndicular. Thetowler is built of white marble anti is encir-

bologna leaning toWebs. cled by eight rows of pillars rising one above the other.. It was begun in the twelfth century and ing. During its construction the foundation settled, throwing the bollding out of plumb, Notwithstanding its leaning position, the tower is perfectly solid. In its upper story there are seven bells, one of which is a giant of six tons’ weight. In Bologna there are two leaning towers. One of these, the Torre Asi Nelli, is 320 ,feet high and four feet out of the perpendicular. The defect is due to accident in its construction. -The othertower, the Torre Garisenda, was actually begun with the intention of building a leaning tower. The builders could' hot, however, carry it beyond 163 feet high, and at this height it is ten fest out of perpendicular. The two towers stand near each other in a square in the center of Bologna.