In which countries there are falling towers?

Everyone has the Leaning Tower of Pisa. But do you know what a miracle, like an inclined building, can be seen in almost every country? And sometimes, like, for example, in China, Italy or Russia, there are several of them. But PR is a great power. The Leaning Tower of Pisa, whose photo is replicated so that everyone, even an inveterate home-stayer, saw it, outshines all other sloping buildings. And not only: this masterpiece of medieval architecture with such a dangerous flaw was copied. People like to tickle their nerves and live in buildings that are supposedly falling. Therefore, now erect buildings, the design of which specifically laid down the angle. Such "falling" new buildings appeared in Dusseldorf, Abu Dhabi, Madrid, Montreal and Las Vegas. But in this article we will talk about old buildings. Some of them, such as the tower in the Spanish city of Zaragoza, could not withstand the struggle against gravity, but many still stand and even fixed their tilt angle firmly.

Why do they fall?

The reasons for the deviation of the building from the vertical axis can be many. Architects, starting construction, should not only draw a design of the structure, but also explore the grounds at the site of its erection. Sandy or swampy soils sag with time from the weight of the building, why it can give a roll. This is what caused the fall of the Tower of Pisa. The very construction of multi-colored marble is perfect. The building resembles a frozen stone lace. However, it began to heel during its erection. Gradually the angle of inclination became menacing. But now the restorers were able to solve this problem. They completely fixed the ground under the base of the tower and stopped its fall. Earthquakes often destroy buildings or ... tilt them. Movement of tectonic plates can also lead to a roll of high towers. This process is not as rapid as an earthquake, but over the years the angle of inclination becomes more and more noticeable. Now, if you look at the London Big Ben, you can see that it is almost half a meter off the northwest. There are also such "falling" buildings, which appeared not as a result of engineering miscalculation, but, on the contrary, of brilliant foresight. There are many such towers in China. Architects, given the wind rose and the ground, specifically gave the buildings such an angle of inclination that they were more stable.

The most-most falling tower

Where is this record holder? This is by no means the Leaning Tower of Pisa. The world-famous Italian building has an inclination angle of only 5.2 degrees. But the tower of Huzhu, which is located in the mountains of Tien Ma in the Chinese province of Songjiang near Shanghai, tilted to 6.63 degrees. In addition, this seven-story stone structure is 19 meters taller than a hundred years older than its Pisan rival. It was built under the emperor Yuanfeng, circa 1079. The tower was originally conceived as sloping. In this place, strong southeasterly winds often blow. The tower is tilted in the opposite direction, so that the air streams support it. It is said that if the building were made strictly vertical, then it would have collapsed long ago. With the same calculation in 1621, the Dragon Tower of Guilong was erected on the island of Jiang-xin in the middle of the Yujian River. Its apex is diverted from the ground by more than a meter.

Modest record holder

If the main criterion is to count not the deviation of the top from the base (measured in meters), but simply the angle of inclination from the earth's surface, calculated in degrees, then a small nameless falling tower emerges into the leaders. Country China, Liaoning Province, Suizhong County - that's its coordinates. The angle of incidence - as much as twelve degrees - is two and a half times that of the Tower of Pisa. However, the Chinese structure is small. It consists of three floors and has only ten meters of height (against the 90 m of the Leaning Tower of Pisa). Therefore, the deviation of the apex from the base is small.

The oldest falling tower

It is also located in China. This is the tower of Huqiu. The octagonal seven-story structure of black brick was erected at Xiangde (the Later Zhou Dynasty) around 959. The cause of the slope in this case (from this, most often, the falling towers appear) is the lack of architects. Soft soils eventually sagged, and now the Chinese restorers had a big problem: how to stop the fall of the ancient site. The situation became dangerous: the old brick began to crumble. In 1981, the degree of subsidence was stabilized. The angle of inclination was fixed. It is 2.47 degrees. At the same time, the apex is 2.32 meters from the base.

Falling Towers in Russia

In our country, you can often find tilted (sometimes at a rather dangerous angle) buildings. The most famous is the Nevyan Tower. It is located in the eponymous center of the Sverdlovsk region. This is a monument of the eighteenth century. However, the glory of the Nevyanskaya Tower brought not a noticeable angle of inclination, but a unique auditory room. It has great acoustics. There, in the Urals, there is a bell tower at the cathedral in the town of Usolye. In Kazan, in the local Kremlin, the top of the Syuyumbike tower deviated almost two meters from the base. And, finally, in Solikamsk at the Holy Cross Cathedral there is also a "falling" bell tower. What is interesting, the reasons for the slope of buildings Russian folk thought never attributed to the movement of tectonic plates, subsidence or engineering miscalculations. Always devils are guilty, the death of the princess of Kazan (Syuyumbike) or the nostalgia of the architect Afanasy through his native Tula (Nevyansk).

Pisa, Bologna, Venice, Rome

The famous bell tower at the cathedral in Pisa is not the only falling tower in Italy. And even in this city there is another inclined structure. This is the bell tower of the monastery church of St. Michael the Order of the Barefoot. Once the medieval cities had secular house-towers, where the noble families lived. In Bologna, there were two such buildings - the Tore degli Azinelli (a hundred meters high) and twice its Torah Garizenda. Both stand on Rizzoli Street and are a symbol of Bologna. In Venice, the falling towers are also two. The first is located on the island of Burano. This is the bell tower of the church of San Martino. The second is located in the Castelo region. This is the bell tower of the Orthodox Greek church of San Giorgio dei Greeks. The earthquake of 1348 turned before the direct tower of the Militia (erected under Pope Innocent III) into a falling one.

Polish Curves

The marshy terrain, strong firm winds plus flaws in the construction gave birth to the falling towers in this country. True, they are modestly called "crooked." The most famous of them is Kshiva Vezha in Toruń. It is a part of the medieval defensive structures of the city. Grown up in the thirteenth century. Since then, it has deviated a mile and a half from the vertical. Another "Kshiva Vezha" is located in the town of Ząbkowice Slaskie, which is at the church of St. Anne (1413). Because of the displacement of tectonic plates in the late 16th century, the tower began to roll. Now its slope is two meters. In the tower is the Frankenstein Museum. In Wroclaw, to the oldest building of the city, the Holy Iji church is adjoined by the curved Kapitula tower.

Inclined belfries and other buildings

We can only list the falling towers scattered all over the world. This is the Old Church (Oude Kerk) in the Dutch town of Delft, the Church of St. Margaret in the Romanian Mediash. Because of the peculiarities of the soils of such inclined structures, even a dime in Britain and Ireland. You can name the tower Greyfriars in Kings Lynn, Bridgnorth (Shropshire), Kilmakdu in Galway (Ireland), Castle Karefili in Wales, the clock tower of Alberta in Belfast. In Germany, Ulm also has a leaning tower with a slope of 3.3 °. And even in the Kiev Lavra, the Great Bell Tower tilted to 62 centimeters in the northeastern direction, which is very noticeable with a height of 96 meters.