The Worlds Leaning Towers
Embarking on a tour to visit the world’s foremost leaning towers would demonstrate that Italy’s Leaning Tower of Pisa is no longer the world’s furthest leaning tower.
Along with bogus snow in a desert oasis, buildings made to appear like pieces of a chess board and islands in a map of the world, Abu Dhabi now lays claim to the building with the most lean to it. The Capital Gate building in Abu Dhabi was recently voted as being the foremost-leaning tower in the world, by the Guinness Book of Records. The building leans at 18 degrees, which is about five times that of the Tower of Pisa.
The Capital Gate deliberately erected to lean, unlike Tower of Pisa. The floor plates are staggered in such a way, to reach an 18 degree lean after the 12th floor.
The Leaning Tower of Pisa, the most prominent leaning tower of all, is a free standing bell tower. It started leaning soon after its erection in 1173, due to a poorly laid foundation and unsafe substrata.
Galileo is said to have thrown two cannon balls of different sizes from the tower, so as to demonstrate that their speed of descent was independent of their mass. However, this story may merely be a fantasy of Galileo’s secretary.
Germany, Netherlands, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Australia, Russian, China, United Kingdom, Malaysia, North America and the United States all can lay claim to ownership of a leaning tower.
The leaning tower of Suurhusen, East Frisia, Germany, a late medieval steeple, once held the world record for being the most tilted tower on earth.
Tjabbo van Lessen, local historian, claims the church was constructed on marshy lands, where old oak tree trunks were preserved by underground water. As the land became drier, throughout the 19th century, the wood decayed, creating the leaning tower.
Built by a Chinese builder, Leong Choon Cheong, as a clock and water tower, as well as a beacon for shipping, in 1885, the Leaning Tower of Teluk Intan, began to lean four years later, because of an underwater stream.
The Leaning Tower of Nevyansk, Russia, was erected in the 18th century. Many believe that the tower was intentionally built at an angle, while others say the cause was drifting substrata.
Tradition claims that the tower weeps, as water endlessly dribbles down the southeast wall. On top of the tower is the first created lightning rod, built 35 years prior to Benjamin Franklin.
It is also the earliest known building to use reinforced concrete, 130 years prior to the first recorded use by a Parisian gardener in 1860.
The tower also brags metal parts that show no detection of deterioration. Scientists state that the iron composition is 99.6%. Although commonplace today, it stands as a mystery how 18th century builders used such high-grade material.