Page 124 - DK Eyewitness Travel Guides - The World's Must-See Places

122 EUROPE Campo dei Miracoli, Pisa

Pisa's world-famous Leaning Tower is just one of the splendid
buildings rising from the lawns of the "Field of Miracles." It is
~
joined by the Duomo, a triumph of marble decoration; Italy's
FRANCl CAMPO DEl
"-._ M IRACOLI, PI SA 0 largest baptistry, with an acoustically perfect interior; and the
."~.....-. - ITALY
Campo Santo cemetery, containing Roman sarcophagi and
•Rome
sculptures. The buildings combine IVIoorish elements, such as
inlaid marble in geometric patterns (arabesques), with delicate
TYRRHENIAN
SEA
Romanesque colonnading and spiked Gothic niches and pinnacles.
MEDITERRANEAN SEA
IONIAN
SEA
PI SAN ARCHITECTURE
ROMANESQUE STYLE
The Romanesque architectural
When Charlemagne was crowned emperor of
style of Pi sa, with its tiers of open
the Holy Roman Empire in 800, he encouraged
colonnades on a background of
an ambitious wave of church-building through- marble and arcaded themes, was
out Western Europe. Massive vaults and arches, to spread widely, and examples Capella del Pozzo
characteristic of ancient Roman architecture, can be found throughout Italy and This domed chapel
were combined with elements from Byzantium as far afield as Zadar in Croatia. was added in 1594.
and the Middle East, and from the Germans, Carved support,
Celts, and other northern tribes in Western Duomo pulpit
~Campo Santo
Europe. This fusion created a number of local
This former cemetery was built in
styles known as Romanesque, meaning "in the 1278 around soil brought back from
manner of the Roman." Romanesque buildings the Holy Land. Once decorated with
are characterized by their vast size, sturdy piers, extensive frescoes, it was the burial
place of Pisa's wealthy for centuries.
and semicircular arches. Decoration is carved
into the structural fabric, rather than painted
~ The Triumph of Death
on. k1 important innovation was the These late 14th-century
replacement of timber construction with stone frescoes depict various
vaulting, which increased resistance to fire. allegorical scenes, including
a knight and a lady over-
whelmed by the stench
CARRARA MARBLE of an open grave.
The fine, snow-white marble quarried in Massa-
Carrara province in Tuscany was the stone of
choice for many Italian sculptors and architects
during the Renaissance. Carrara marble was a
great favorite of Michelangelo and many of
his most famous works are sculpted from it
The 300 or so quarries, located near the city of
Carrara, date back to Roman times, making this
the world's oldest industrial site in continuous
use. In Carrara itself today there are showrooms
and workshops where the marble is worked
into sheets or made into ornaments, The house
in which Michelangelo stayed when buying
marble is marked by a plaque.

THE LEANING TOWER OF PI SA
The tower is not the only leaning building on
this site. the shallow foundations and sandy silt
subsoil create problems for all of the structures.
However, none tilts so famously as the Leaning
Tower. The tower began to tip sideways even
before the third story was finished. Despite this,
construction continued until the tower's
completion in 1350, when the addition of the
bell chamber brought its total height to 179 ft ~ Baptistry Pulpit
(54 5 m) Recent engineering interventions by Nicola Pisano
have corrected the tilt by 15 inches (38 em) This great marble pulpit,
Measures adopted included the use of completed in 1260, is
carved with lively scenes
counterweights and the introduction of ten
from the life of Christ
anchors. The tower was reopened in 2 00 1.