Destinations / The Most Famous Towers in the World / The Two Towers of Bologna
The Two Towers of Bologna
Two of the most famous towers of Bologna are located in the city center, in Piazza della Mercanzia, approximately 200 meters from the Piazza Maggiore. In the Middle Ages the towers in Bologna were very popular. They combined safety with the residential functions. Protection was needed not only against external enemies. Almost 50 years of struggle lasted for investiture (the right to appoint bishops), especially aggravated between the Emperor Henry IV and Pope Gregory VII in the 11th century. The researchers attributed the erection of the towers in Bologna as a period of the struggle, the Citizen's Section. In addition, the tower clearly demonstrated the power of the owner. In the 12-13 centuries the city had 80-100 towers (other sources put the figure 180, this number is somewhat exaggerated). In the 13th century, many towers were destroyed or attacked themselves. In later centuries, the rest of the tower was used differently: as living quarters, as shops and prisons. The demolition of the last towers occurred in the 20th century, when the city wall with towers ages 12-13 had been destroyed. Now the city has less than 20 towers. Azinelli (97 m) and Garizenda (48 m) are the most famous of the towers of Bologna.
Description
Usually the towers were built square in plan. The base of the tower dates back to 5-10 m. The basement used large blocks of selenite. The walls were built double (often the outer wall was thinner than the inner), the gap was filled with gravel and cement. Rising above the wall it becomes thinner and lighter. The technical design provides openings for floors, cladding, etc. As a rule, the construction of the tower height of 60 m took from 3 to 10 years. It is believed that the construction of the tower began in Azinelli in 1109 and in Garizendy in 1119. The accurate historical information about the construction of the towers is extremely small, such as the name of Azinelli in documents was first mentioned a little later - in 1185. However, there is a beautiful legend about Azinelli tower.
Legend
In the early 11th century a young man lived in Bologna. He delivered with Reno River gravel and sand for the construction work in the city. He had a pack of donkeys, that’s why it was called Azinelli (“asino”- ass). Once he saw a beautiful girl through the window of one of the palace and fell in love with the beautiful girl so much that he decided to ask her hand from the girl's father, a wealthy and a noble gentleman. The rich father decided to respond to the request with a joke :"When you will build the highest tower in the town, I will give you in marriage my daughter." Poor Azinelli got very upset his life was not in joy, but then luck decided to help him. One day while working on the river, the boy saw something shiny. It was a treasure of gold coins. Wasting no time, he hired builders, and in 9 years the tallest tower of Bologna grew in the heart of Bologna. Azinelli was finally able to marry his beloved. The city officials became owners of Azinelli tower in the 14th century. It was used as a prison and a fortress. Between the two towers at a height of 30 m above the ground a wooden shift (burned in a fire in 1398) was built. In 1488, at the base of the tower a small fortress, which served as a watchman for the soldiers was built. Many scientists as Giovanni Battista Richcholi (in 1640) and Giovanni Battista Gulelmini (18th century) used the Azinelli tower for their scientific experiments. In the 20th century the tower was used as a television and as a point of observation during the Second World War.
The Azinelli tower is one of the tallest towers in Italy. The Garizenda Tower, the famous lines from the "Divine Comedy" of Dante says: How Garizenda comes under the overhang, if the vertex was getting a little Towards a cloud at a height of heaven ... too tilted. For this reason, the tower is called not only the two towers, but the Leaning Tower. According to the legend, the tower was bulit to Odda and Filippo Garizendi. The Garizenda tower was higher (60 m), but in the 14th century due to the subsidence of the soil structure, the tower was considered dangerous, and it was decided to shorten the tower. From the 15th to the 19th century the Garizenda tower was owned by a textile corporation, then the building became the property of the city. Now Azinelli and Garizenda are the main symbols of Bologna and one of the most attracting places to visit.
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Since ancient times, this is an unspoken competition among architects to be the builder of the tallest building, of the longest bridge, of the most original house, of the most beautiful churches, etc.
Telling the truth, the architects began to receive recognition for their work only in recent times (since the era of modern times.
) Prior to that, until the time of the late Middle Ages, all the laurels battered rulers, barons, knights and other nobles, many of whom did not know what the project construction is.
There are several categories of buildings, which, thanks to their impressive size are among the most famous man-made objects.
These categories include the pyramids, bridges, towers and skyscrapers.
A tower is a high engineering construction.
The main differences from the other towers, tall buildings are the lack of braces (console design, fixed only at the bottom)and extremely low internal volume, and sometimes the entire volume of the tower is occupied by only one staircase.
As an engineering construction, the tower belongs to the antenna-mast structures.
The most commonly towers use antennas and feeder equipment for their location.
For example, mobile operators are placed on towers and relay panel antenna.
If the height of the antenna-mast structures (AMC), is more than 45 feet , it requires an electricity system.
This requirement REGA to ensure safety.
The creators of the Eiffel Tower gave the go-ahead starting the present stage of the competition for the title of " the biggest skyscraper or tower of the world.
" Built in 1889 it became the tallest (312m) building in the world.
Prior to its two thousand years the palm kept Pyramid of Giza (147m).
After the Eiffel Tower became the champions of the growth series: the Empire State Building (381m) in New York, Chicago Sears Tower (442m), Malaysia's Petronas Towers (452m), Taiwan's Taipei 101 (508m).
The latter was built in 2004 and held the title of the world's tallest skyscraper until 21 July 2007, when the line was broken by the cherished tower Burj Dubai in United Arab Emirates.
It rose to a height of 512 meters.
The construction of the tower is not yet complete, its completion is scheduled for late 2008.
According to the statements of architects, its height will reach a record high indeed - 808 meters.
The cost of the construction of the tower is estimated at one billion dollars and has lasted for almost four years.
The average rate of the construction of one floor lasted three days.
The tower and the adjacent buildings occupied a land of 200 hectares (it cost the owners of the building 20 billion dollars).
The tower will be equipped with 56 elevators (incidentally, the fastest in the world), boutiques, swimming pools, apartments class "luxury" hotels, and observation sites .
A distinctive feature is the construction of the international working teams: South Korean firm contractor, American architects, Indian builders.
Four thousand people had been involved in the construction.
The building of the tower was created in the shape of a trefoil - a symbol of life in the desert.
Its spire will be visible at a distance of sixty miles.
The Burj Dubai Tower will be the center of a large architectural complex.
Among the buildings of the huge complex (12ha), there will be an artificial lake, 30 thousand homes, a large park area, nine hotels.
Since ancient times, people seek height.
The evidence of this fact can be found everywhere - from the ancient Egyptian pyramids to the modern skyscrapers.
The legend of the Tower of Babel explains this tendency as theomachism - people wanted to reach heaven and defeat the gods.
Then they did not succeed, God sent the exuberant wind, tossing the tower, and mixed in a sentence all human languages.
But people have stubbornly continued to build high-rise structures - whether we wanted to prove his power, or trying to get closer to God, or seeking other worlds .
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But as a person - just a man, and him, as did the ancient Romans, to err, it sometimes happened that tall buildings do not want to look up and just started to lean down to its creators.
So, many towers fell .
The reasons for the fall of the towers is the most different, many of them are connected with the peculiarities of the soil or with errors in the design and construction.
But, of course, each tower has an explanation of this feature.
A good tower is usually not one but several legends associated with its slope.
And certainly the leaning tower is a local (and sometimes known in the whole world) landmark.
If the tower identified its status, it is immediately placed in local guidebooks, and even brings considerable income.
We will cover the most famous bowing towers, each remarkable in its own way.
The most famous of falling towers are one of the oldest.
The tower is a bell tower and is part of the architectural ensemble, which also includes the cathedral, baptistery and cemetery.
All this is built of white marble and it simply shines in sunny weather .
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