Leaning Tower of Pisa:
The Measurements
by Prof. Piero Pierotti
Interesting Survey
on the Measurements
of the Bell-Tower
While the circumference of the tower at the base is 48.6 meters which is equal
to 100 feet of "Fibonacci" or pisani, the height is 58.36 meters which
corresponds to 100 pisani arms of 58.36 cm; the columns of the first open
gallery are 2.91 meters high, which corresponds to 5 arms or one "pertica"
pisana.
These constitute "the measument scale" for the whole construction, in fact "the
height of every open gallery is egual to two columns, or 10 arms, that, multiplied
by six open galleries makes 60 arms" to which should be added the double
height of the base story of the cylinder and the height of the bell-tower top story,
an additional 40 arms, making a total of 100.
The horizontal measurements were taken in feet, as used by the land-surveyor,
and the vertical in arms, both strictly calculated according to exact arithmetic
multiples that demonstrate the modular structure of the tower and of its elements.
NOTE: Measurements of the plan of the Tower according to P.Pierotti - 1989
Description provided by Professor Piero Pierotti
Member of the Commission for the Restoration of the Tower
and Professor of Medieval Architecture at the University of Pisa
http://humanities.cisiau.unipi.it/~pierotti/Torre/misure-en.html
Personal e-mail to:
gary@endex.com
