The most famous towers: construction history and important facts. The history of the Kremlin: the final words about the towers

I found out here that our virtual tour of the towers of the Moscow Kremlin passed by five: Taynitskaya, Vodovzvodnaya, Troitskaya, Senate and Nikolskaya. We fix the assumption.

So, Tainitskaya tower.
The "oldest" tower of the Moscow Kremlin. The construction of the Kremlin fortifications began with it. Under the tower was dug a hiding place-well, to which the tower and its gates owe their name. In the event of a siege, it was possible to supply the Kremlin with water through this well and underground passage. It was built in 1484 by Peter Anthony Fryazin, and at the end of the 17th century a tent was erected over the tower.
Unfortunately, the tower, built in the 15th century, has not reached us. In 1770
It was demolished in the same year, as the Kremlin began the construction of the Kremlin Palace according to the project of V. Bazhenov. However, already in 1771 - 1773, the tower was restored according to the measured drawings of M. Kazakov, followed by the addition of a tent top.
In the 60s of the 19th century, a retractable archer was added to the tower, where the guns of the self-propelled battery were located. In 1930, the archer was dismantled, and the gates and hiding places were laid.
Its height is 38.4 meters.

And in the southwestern corner, the Kremlin guards Vodovzvodnaya tower. This is one of the most beautiful buildings of the entire ensemble, which was built in 1488 by the architect Antonio Gilardi and was called the Sviblovs, whose courtyard adjoined the tower from the Kremlin. Modern name the tower received in 1633 after the installation of a water-lifting machine in it and the installation of the first pressure water pipeline in Russia to supply water from the Moscow River to the Kremlin. As contemporaries testified, this machine, made under the guidance of the Englishman Christopher Golovey, cost several kegs of gold.
At the end of the 17th century, a tent was erected over the tower. In 1812, French troops retreating from Moscow blew up the tower, but already in 1816-1819, O. I. Bove restored it. The walls of the tower were treated with rustication, the loopholes were replaced by round and semicircular windows. In 1937, a ruby ​​star was installed on the tower.
The height of the tower is 58.7 meters, with a star - 61.85 meters.

Trinity Tower was built in 1495 - 1499. The significance of the tower for the western facade of the Kremlin is the same as that of the Spasskaya for the eastern one. The architect who built the tower in 1685 took this into account and gave its hipped top almost the same decorative decoration as that of Spasskaya. With this six-story tower with deep two-story basements, which served for defense purposes, and later in the 15th - 16th centuries were used as a prison, the architect Aleviz Fryazin Stary completed the construction of fortifications from the Neglinnaya River, later the Alexander Garden. There is evidence that there was a clock on the tower in 1585, which lasted until the beginning of the 19th century, until it burned down in 1812. Recently, the clock on the Trinity Tower was reinstalled. The tower received its modern name in 1658 from the Trinity Compound in the Kremlin. Prior to that, it was called Bogoyavlenskaya, Znamenskaya, Karetnaya after the churches located in the Kremlin and the Karetny yard. In 1516, a stone Trinity Bridge was built across the Neglinnaya River. The gates of the tower served as a passage to the mansions of the queen and princesses, to the court
patriarch. The Trinity Tower is the tallest tower in the Kremlin, its height with a star from the side of the Alexander Garden is 80 meters.

Nikolskaya tower built by the architect Pietro Antonio Solari in 1495. Its name is sometimes associated with the icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, which was placed above the gate of the archer. Other sources associate this name with the Nikolsky Greek monastery, which was once located on Nikolskaya
street. As in all travel towers, there was a drawbridge across the moat, and protective bars on the gates.
In the 17th century, the Nikolsky Gate served mainly as an entrance to the boyar and monastery courtyards in the Kremlin. In 1612, during the struggle against the Polish-gentry invaders, the people's militia, led by Prince Dmitry Pozharsky and Kuzma Minin, burst through these gates and liberated the Kremlin.
In 1812, the French, retreating from Moscow, blew up the tower. It was restored by the architect O. Bove in 1816. In 1917, during the October battles, the tower was badly damaged by artillery fire. It was restored in 1918 by the architect N. Markovnikov.
The height of the tower is 67.1 meters, with a star - 70.4 meters.

Senate Tower located immediately behind Spasskaya, was built in 1491 by the architect Pietro Antonio Solari, and performed a purely defensive function - it protected the Kremlin from Red Square. For a long time she was nameless. The tower got its name after M. Kozakov built the Senate building on the territory of the Kremlin in 1787, the dome of which is clearly visible from Red Square.
Inside the main volume of the tower there are three tiers of vaulted rooms.
The deaf, square tower in 1860 was built on with a stone tent, it is crowned with a gilded weather vane.
In 1918, in honor of the first anniversary of the October Revolution, V.I. Lenin unveiled a memorial plaque on the tower, and during the restoration of the tower in 1950, the plaque was removed and transferred to the Museum of the Revolution.
The height of the tower is 34.3 meters.

Now, the towers erected in ancient times to protect against enemy raids are historical monument ancient architecture. Once the walls and towers frame the whole city - the Moscow Kremlin, in which the history of the development of Moscow architecture is concentrated in the face of cathedrals and palaces located on its territory. Being a historical monument of ancient architecture, the Moscow Kremlin, at the same time, serves as the official residence of the President of the Russian Federation.

I'll start the post with arguments from one LiveJournal, which I accidentally stumbled upon while searching for information on this topic. Moreover, the author has exactly the same questions that I have.

Tower of Kurt and Taga in the Kurtatinsky gorge

"I'm not a historian, not an archaeologist, I'm a photographer. I have been doing photography for a long time and, as some people say, successfully. Most of my archive consists of photographs of various places in North Ossetia, my homeland. Naturally, in my collection there is also a section dedicated to medieval architecture Ossetia. After all, our unique tower complexes, lonely medieval towers and crypts are not an adornment of the republic, but its face, and even, to some extent, the philosophy of our life.

Tsmyti - the most beautiful tower complex in Ossetia

While traveling and shooting towers, admiring the boldness of the architectural and engineering solutions of our ancestors, given their modest technical capabilities, one involuntarily asks the question - “For what? For what purpose?". As a child, when, without hesitation, I believed everything the elders said, I was quite satisfied with the military-defensive version of the construction of these towers. Kindling fires, throwing stones at the attackers, a sentinel point, climb into an inaccessible place and wait ... But, judge for yourself. Why was it necessary to build a heavy architectural structure just to make a fire on it in a moment of danger, when there is a suitable stone or rock nearby and it is enough to build a light shed for storing brushwood. For defense, many of the medieval towers (from the point of view modern man) are also not suitable. I climbed many of them, tried to imagine myself as a medieval warrior…. Well, it’s very inconvenient, standing at the top, pouring boiling water down (it will cool down in the wind anyway), throwing large stones at those passing by, or dragging molten lead upstairs. And to shoot from firearms, in my opinion, it is much more convenient from the side of the mountain, hiding behind some boulder. “Hide and wait”, but many towers “stuck” into the rocks have such a small usable area that there is nowhere for two to turn around, and only a professional rock climber with a set of hooks and ropes can climb to the saving bastion. And it was necessary to hide and protect respectable elders, obese women and small children. In general, I doubt the military-defensive version of the origin of the towers.

Almost inaccessible tower in the village. Zintsar (Castle of Os-Bagator)

Why were they built? Why are towers being built these days? On temples, at the entrance to the village, at the entrance to the alpine camp, in your yard? For defense? - No, for storage of utensils? - No, to attract tourists - hardly. So in the XII - XIV centuries, "perhaps, there was also a custom on the territory of our republic (fashion, if you like). Each self-respecting surname had to perpetuate its family with such a monument. After all, it is not for nothing that many towers are family. Or a monument - the tower was erected in honor of any significant event, like the tower of Kurt and Tag in the Kurtatinsky gorge. Our ancestors entertained their "I". They did not eat up, did not fill up, did not rest, but built riddles for us, their descendants."

Taken from the Journal of Vladimir Mayorov.

The mystery of the Svan towers (Georgia)

First of all, Svaneti is famous for its towers. There are a great many of them here, Mestia and Ushguli, in general, are a continuous forest of towers. There are towers in every courtyard here. Precisely, in order to look at the towers, huge crowds of tourists come here.

But here's what's interesting, this moment, no one knows for sure how these towers were built, or why.

In general, the tower is a structure of the correct form, with smooth walls, two or three stories high. The time of construction of most towers dates back to the XII-XIII centuries.

The main theory of the emergence of towers is combat, they say, they were built for defense, which is not without meaning, after all, a tower. But the trouble is, there were no internal wars in Svaneti, and most of the towers were built during the “golden age”, when no one invaded Svaneti. So why build towers? A vision for the future? May be. That's just, the towers, in their current state, are not very suitable for defense, a simple example is that most of the towers have windows on only one side, and what is most interesting, often, these windows look into opposite side, from the likely location of the enemy. Agree that it looks silly for a combat tower. True, on the upper floors, there are often windows looking at the foot of the tower, but they look more like observation windows than loopholes, while they are narrow enough to drop something significant from them, perhaps, pour resin .

Another theory is living quarters. But this theory is very weak, all the locals unanimously claimed that no one had ever lived in the towers. And this is very similar to the truth, for one simple reason - there is no fireplace in the tower. And this, given the harsh climate of Svaneti, is a very serious argument.

Some say the towers were used to store supplies. But then it is not clear why the tower? Why do we need vertical, smooth walls and windows that look so much like loopholes? But the fact that food was sometimes stored in the towers is true.

Also interesting is the fact that during the capture of the village, the towers were most often demolished? For what? After all, if this is a protective structure, isn't it better to use it for your own purposes?

In general, there is a lot of mystery in the history of the Svan towers, and the most mysterious thing is that no one knows exactly why they were needed. In the meantime, scientists are guessing, the towers continue to stand, empty, like many centuries before.

Vainakh towers in Chechnya and Ingushetia

The lands of Chechnya and Ingushetia are often called the "country of the Vainakhs". The Vainakhs are the common ancestors of the Chechens and Ingush, from whom they inherited a single language (possessing different dialects) and culture. For many centuries, this people lived on the territory between Ossetia and Dagestan, along the Main Caucasian Range.

Here, in the valleys of turbulent rivers and between high mountain ranges, he left behind a great architectural heritage: pagan sanctuaries, temples, ancestral crypts and towers.

"Towers of two rivals" in Ingushetia

In the mountainous Dzheirakhsky region of Ingushetia and adjacent mountainous areas Chechnya, there are hundreds of medieval stone tower complexes, villages, just stand-alone towers. The practice of building towers dates back to the 5th century.

Almost all of them are located on hills. Many of them are little studied, but striking in their splendor. The fact that they are little known is a consequence of their actual inaccessibility. In other words, the passage to them is extremely difficult and dangerous.

Twin towers from Ushkaloy, Argun gorge

It is believed that these towers are divided into combat and residential. Maybe later they were already adapted for these purposes, but for what purpose they were built is unknown.

Ingush towers

The most famous tower complex of Ingushetia is Vovnushki. Standing in the picturesque gorge of the Guloi-Khi River, stone towers look like a natural continuation of the rocks. Vovnushki tower complex in 2008 became a finalist of the competition "Seven Wonders of Russia".

Oddly enough, but the towers North Caucasus have similarities with the towers from Sichuan in China and the towers of the Anasazi Indians in California.

Towers of Tibet

In Tibet and in the Chinese province of Sichuan, there are also strange ribbed towers, some of them as high as a ten-story building. There are more than a thousand of these ancient structures in southwest China. The local population does not know who, when and why created them. It is said that the very first towers were built in these places as early as 1700 BC.

Unlike the Ingush towers, the Sichuan towers are star-shaped: some have an eight-pointed star in plan, others have a twelve-pointed one.

Anasazi Indian Towers, whose culture developed in the southwest North America in the beginning. III-XV centuries, also resemble the towers of the Caucasus.

Watchtower (Desert View Watchtower), a replica of Indian towers, built in 1932.

Round towers of Ireland

Ireland is literally dotted with incomprehensible towers that are not found anywhere else. More precisely, there are still two in Scotland and one on the Isle of Man. For three centuries now, historians and architects have been unable to explain their purpose. There are 65 of these towers throughout the island. And another 23 completely or partially destroyed towers.
The towers were obviously built according to the same technology, differing only in diameter and height. The height ranges from 18 to 34 meters. The walls of the tower are made of poorly processed stone with lime mortar. The tower has two walls - inner and outer. The inner one goes straight, and the outer one with a slight slope to the top. The space between the walls is filled with mortar.

The stone dome of the towers, which has a conical shape, also raises questions. Why is it so complex and massive?

Interestingly, the entrance to the tower is located at a height of 1.5 to 7 meters above the base. No steps leading to this entrance were provided by the builders. Towers were erected over 5 centuries, from 700 to 1200.

The first written mention of these towers appears in the XII century. It was written that the towers symbolize people's desire for God. Well, what else could write in those years, the prelate of the church, about incomprehensible structures?

Only in the Enlightenment in the 17th century, it was suggested that these towers had nothing to do with the church. And a diametrically opposite version arose - the Vikings erected towers to control local population. But the Vikings, then, would have to build such towers not only in Ireland. Yes, and in the central part of the island, there are towers, but there are no traces of the Vikings. So it's not Vikings.

Last official version, says that the towers were built to hide in them during the Viking raids. Indeed, the towers are located near Christian churches. And the high entrance allowed people to climb the ladder and hide during the raids. And lime mortar began to be used only during the time of Christianity.
But as it turned out, lime mortar was used on the island in the Bronze Age. This is evidenced by the crypt discovered by archaeologists in Belfast, of the Bronze Age. And how much such a shelter, like a tower, could protect from the Vikings?
It seems that the purpose of these towers has not been fully disclosed.

Fantastic towers of Bologna

Of all the antiquities, the towers in Bologna are the most striking. Especially standing in the center of Torre Asinelli and Torre Garisenda.

With a height of 97.2 m, the tower is the most high structure historical center Bologna and the tallest of the "leaning towers". Even during construction, the tower began to deviate, and today this inclination is 1.3 °, with an offset of 2.2 m in the upper part. And the neighboring Garisenda tower was shortened three times due to its slope of 3 m, and today its height is 48 m.

There is no exact date for the construction of the Asinelli tower, but it is believed that construction began between 1109 and 1119. However, the first document mentioning the tower of Asinelli dates only to 1185, almost seventy years after the estimated date of construction. The tower's name comes from the family traditionally credited with building the structure.

According to legend, in the Middle Ages, there was an unspoken competition among the richest families of Bologna: whoever builds a tower higher than the others deserves the highest honor.

In the XIV century, the city authorities became the owners of the Asinelli tower. Since then, the tower has been used both as a prison and as a fortress.

They also write that then, in the 12th century, all wealthy families built such towers, so that Bologna in those years resembled Manhattan. It was later which towers themselves collapsed, which were dismantled, so that only a few have survived to this day.

San Gimignano: the city of "a hundred towers".

In another Italian little san Gimignano, the concentration of towers is so high that it creates the feeling of a little man among the skyscrapers.

Why is this, why? But, again, they write "then, in order to show their wealth and power, the families built towers, so in the XIV century there were 72 towers, of which 14 survived."

"Medieval Skyscrapers"

towers Central Asia and the Middle East

Many will say that there is nothing unusual in them - these are minarets, but ...

Burana Tower, Kyrgyzstan, circa 10th century.

For some reason the entrance is not at ground level. Builders weren't looking for easy solutions?

The original height of the tower was at least 40 m, its upper part was thrown off by an earthquake. Today, the height is just over 21 meters.

Inside the tower

Swastika

Near the Burana tower there is an ancient settlement covered with soil.

Qaboos Tower (Iran), built in 1006-1007. We see the same conical massive roof as in Ireland.

This is what the tower looked like before restoration.

Sanbenito. Minaret al Malwiya, Iraq. The approximate date of construction is 849.

The quality of the processing of stone blocks is amazing.

Jam minaret in Afghanistan.

In one of the remote and deserted corners of Afghanistan, there is a mysterious tower. The height of more than 1500 meters above sea level and the rocks made it difficult to access, and this is what allowed it to survive to this day. For a long time, this tower was forgotten until it was rediscovered in 1957.

The top of the first tier contains the text from the Koran. There is also another inscription here, indicating that this minaret was built by Ghiyas-ud-Din Muhammad ibn Sama, one of the leading rulers of the Ghurid Empire. According to the same inscription, it is believed that the Jam minaret was built in 1194.

And his riddle is also in the fact that the entrance to this structure was not found. Now his role is played by a passage already punched in our time.

These are just some of the towers - minarets, according to modern historians. Maybe this is one of their appointments, but I think not the original.

The Leaning Tower of Pisa is, of course, the most famous leaning tower in the world. Thanks to a mistake by the builders, this graceful but quite ordinary bell tower of the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta has gained worldwide fame. However, not everyone knows that the Leaning Tower of Pisa is far from a unique phenomenon in architecture. In Europe alone, there are several dozen so-called "falling" towers, and around the world there are more than a hundred of them.

Most often, the towers begin to deviate from the vertical axis, due to too soft soil, which unevenly settles under the weight of the structure. The second reason, often directly related to the first, is the human factor, in particular, miscalculations made during the design or already in the construction process.
Due to the peculiarities of the soil, Italy, Germany and the Netherlands are confidently leading in the number of falling towers in the Old World, but similar sights are also found in others. European countries. The most interesting falling towers of the Old Woman of Europe will be discussed in this article.

ITALY

Venetian towers

In Italy, there are quite a few a large number of falling towers, especially in Venice. Today the guests of this beautiful city have the opportunity to see as many as four towers that have a serious deviation from the vertical, although there were five of them 120 years ago.

, or the bell tower of the Cathedral of San Marco, was built in the XII century and had a height of 99 m. For several centuries, it served as a beacon for sailors, and its five bells informed the townspeople of the exact time and announced the beginning of public executions.
In the 18th century, during a thunderstorm, lightning struck the tower and a menacing crack formed on the facade. Campanilla squinted slightly, but held her ground. Due to the constant threat of its collapse, the authorities of Venice were even forced to issue a decree prohibiting noisy festive festivities in St. Mark's Square. The measures taken did not help, and in 1902 the tower suddenly collapsed. Surprisingly, the collapse of such a massive structure did not cause any casualties, moreover, even nearby buildings were not damaged. After 10 years, the tower was restored and now stands exactly. Today it is considered one of the main attractions of Venice, and anyone can climb it. observation deck to admire the magnificent city from a bird's eye view.

A similar story happened with bell tower of the Cathedral of Santo Stefano. In 1585, lightning also struck the 66-meter tower, destroying its upper section. True, there was some damage here, falling debris seriously damaged neighboring buildings, and the bells melted from the high temperature. The tower was repaired over the next two centuries, but as a result of the incompetence of the builders, even in the process of restoration, it began to sag and lean. At the beginning of the 20th century, measures were taken to strengthen its foundation. They did not bring tangible results, and the tower is still considered a dangerous object.

The rest of the falling towers of Venice escaped destruction, however, some of them only by a miracle. So, tower of Saint Martin's church on the Venetian island of Burano, it would have long since shared the fate of Campanilla, but it was prevented by the wall of a nearby building, on which it still relies.

Another dangerously rickety building in Venice is considered Tower of the Basilica of San Pietro di Castello, which received a significant deviation from the vertical axis as a result of frequent floods.

And finally, the last leaning tower of Venice belongs to a small Orthodox Churches of San Giorgio dei Grechi. Unlike the others, it stands quite firmly on its foundations, is not considered dangerous for tourists and even serves as a reliable guide for those who get lost in the labyrinth of narrow Venetian streets and canals.

The swinging towers in Bologna

Construction Fashion high towers originated in Italy during the Middle Ages, this allowed noble families to have impressive and also well-fortified housing. The inhabitants of Bologna were especially fond of such construction; by the 13th century, there were more than a hundred towers in the city.
Two of them, located in the very heart of the city, have earned themselves worldwide fame not because of their beauty and grace, but again because of the banal mistake of the builders. Both of them have a significant, clearly visible to the naked eye, deviation from the vertical axis. The 97-meter Asinelli Tower is tilted at 1.2 m, and its younger sister, the 48-meter Garisenda, has an even greater slope of 3 meters.
After these structures were no longer considered residential, a prison worked in the Asinelli tower for several centuries, and in the 18th century, the scientist Giovanni Guglielmo studied the properties of gravity here. In the 20th century, the tower was used as an observation tower and even as a television antenna. Today, these two towers are considered the symbol of Bologna, and, according to experts, sudden destruction does not threaten them.

GERMANY

The Guinness record for the largest deviation from the axis (5.19 degrees at a height of 24.7 m) belongs to the bell tower of the church in the town of Zuurhusen, which is located near the city of Emden in Germany. The church itself was built in the 13th century, and the bell tower was added to it only two and a half centuries later. The tower was built on a wooden foundation and, of course, over time, the wood began to deteriorate and the tower began to lean. In 1975, the entrance to the bell tower was closed due to real threat its collapse, then urgent measures began to be taken to strengthen the foundation. The building has been stabilized, but the church is now collecting donations for further repairs.

Church in Bad Frankenhausen-Kyffhäuser

The Late Gothic Upper Church in the German town of Bad Frankenhausen-Kyffhäuser is now in a state of neglect. But a beautiful spire still continues to rise above the roofs of the houses, having a deviation from the vertical axis by 4.45 m, which is more than leaning tower of pisa. Let's hope that the church will eventually be restored, and its falling tower will not be allowed to fall at all. The townspeople are already raising funds for large-scale restoration work, especially since there is a healing mineral spring under the church.

Metzgerturm tower in Ulm

It is also called the "leaning tower of Ulm". Previously, the tower was part of the fortress wall of the city and played the role of a gate. It was built of brick in 1345. With a height of 36 m, the angle of deviation of the tower from the axis is about two meters. The tilt angle is now 3.3 degrees.
There is an interesting urban legend about the reason for the tilt of the tower. Once in Ulm there was a lean year, and in order not to suffer losses, local butchers began to add sawdust to their products. The price of low-quality meat products remained the same as in former times. Having found out about this, the townspeople started a riot, and the frightened butchers locked themselves from the angry townspeople in the gate tower. Then the inhabitants of Ulm turned to the burgomaster with a demand to severely punish the swindlers. And so, at the moment when the judicial representative entered the tower to announce the verdict to the butchers, fat merchants crowded in fear in one of the corners of the tower. The solid structure could not bear the weight of the well-fed burghers and leaned over. Since then, this tower has been called the "butcher's tower".

NETHERLANDS

The swampy soil of the Netherlands has always been a big problem for builders, and not all of them managed to cope with their task with honor.

In the 16th century, residents of the small Dutch town of Leewarden decided to build big church with a tall tower that would eclipse the bell tower of St. Martin's Church in neighboring city Groningen. However, the ambitious plans of the provincials were not destined to come true. From the very beginning of the construction of the new church, something went wrong and the building began to tilt menacingly. The work was frozen, and soon, due to the threat of collapse, the already almost rebuilt cathedral was dismantled, leaving only its tilted tower as a warning to posterity. The clock and two bells remained on the tower, today it is considered the main attraction of Leerwarden.

Old church in Delft

Beautiful clock tower The old church in the Dutch city of Delft deviates from the vertical axis by almost 3 meters. It is said that the masonry could not bear the weight of the huge bell and still continues to heel under its weight.
The cathedral itself is considered one of the main attractions of the city. The famous Dutch artist Jan Vermeer and the natural scientist Leeuwenhoek are buried in it.

Another similar attraction is located in the town of Bedum. The tower of the church of St. Walfrid is tilted more than 2.5 meters from the vertical. If this tower were equal in height to the Leaning Tower of Pisa, then its deviation would be 6 cm, which is two centimeters more than that of the famous Italian.

UK AND IRELAND

Finally, another region of Europe where falling towers are found in abundance is the British Isles.

Church of Our Lady and All Saints in Chesterfield

The Church of Our Lady in Chesterfield boasts one of the most unusual spiers in the history of world architecture. However, its unusual shape cannot serve as evidence of the genius of the creator, rather, on the contrary, it is a vivid illustration of his unprofessionalism. The temple was built at a time when Europe was just coming to life after a terrible plague. The construction site lacked not only specialists, but even ordinary workers. As a result of incorrect calculations and the use of poor wood, the frame of the spire could not withstand the weight of the roof and was significantly deformed. Now it is not only deviated by 3 meters from the vertical, but also twisted in a spiral by 45 degrees.

Caerphilly Castle in Wales

The ancient Caerphilly Castle was built in the second half of the 13th century. and built, indeed, for centuries. For my long history he survived many wars and sieges. But the most tragic for the castle was the siege during civil war XVII century. Cromwell ordered not only to capture the castle, but to completely wipe it off the face of the earth. The besiegers decided on sabotage, and under the walls ancient castle explosives were planted. The resulting explosion was terrible, but its only result was a serious tilt of one of the towers of the fortress. For several centuries now, its slope has been 3 m with a total height of 20 m - an awesome degree. But the tower is still standing, and the fact that it has not yet collapsed once again testifies to the highest skill of the builders of the castle, who managed to build a really solid and impregnable structure.

The exact purpose of hundreds of strange round towers in Ireland is still unknown. They were erected in the XI-XIII centuries, most often near religious buildings - churches or monasteries. The highest of them is the 34-meter tower of the monastery of Kilmacdoo in County Galway. This tower stands out among others not only in height, but also in a very noticeable deviation from the vertical axis. Despite the slope, the tower looks like it was built just yesterday. It looks especially impressive against the backdrop of the monastery itself, which has been in ruins for many centuries. According to experts, further collapse of the tower does not threaten.

Surprisingly, the well-known Big Ben can also be attributed to the number of falling towers. Its deviation from the vertical axis is about 0.3 degrees or 43 cm. At first glance, it is negligible, but the concern is that the slope is gradually increasing. The alleged culprits of this circumstance are called active underground work and the activity of the London Underground. It is known that the list appeared quite recently, between November 2002 and August 2003. True, until the time when the slope main tower England will become visible to the naked eye for many more years. According to experts, this can happen only after 4 thousand years.

Everyone knows the Leaning Tower of Pisa. But do you know what a miracle like a tilted building can be seen in almost every country? And sometimes, as, for example, in China, Italy or Russia, there are several of them. But PR is a great force. the tower, the photo of which is replicated so that everyone, even an avid stay-at-home, has seen it, overshadows all other inclined buildings. And not only that: this masterpiece of medieval architecture with such a dangerous flaw began to be copied. People like to tickle their nerves and live in buildings that supposedly fall. That is why buildings are now being erected, in the design of which the angle of inclination is specially laid down. 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 Spanish city Zaragoza, could not stand the fight against gravity, but many are still standing and even fixed their angle of inclination tightly.

Why do they fall?

There can be many reasons for a building to deviate from the vertical axis. Architects, starting construction, must not only outline the design of the structure, but also explore the soil at the site of its construction. Sandy or swampy soils sag over time from the severity of the building, which can cause it to roll. This is what caused the Leaning Tower of Pisa to fall. The building itself of multi-colored marble is perfect. The building resembles a frozen stone lace. However, it began to roll even during its construction. Gradually, the angle of inclination became menacing. But now the restorers were able to solve this problem. They completely secured the soil under the base of the tower and stopped its fall. Earthquakes often destroy buildings or ... tilt them. Movement tectonic plates can also cause tall towers to roll. This process is not as fast as an earthquake, but over the years the angle of inclination becomes more and more noticeable. Now, if you look closely at London's Big Ben, you can see that it is almost half a meter shifted to the northwest. There are also such “falling” buildings that appeared not as a result of an engineering miscalculation, but, on the contrary, as a result of ingenious foresight. There are many such towers in China. The architects, taking into account the wind rose and the soil, specifically gave the buildings such an angle of inclination so that they were more stable.

The most falling tower

Where is this record holder? This is by no means the Leaning Tower of Pisa. The world-famous Italian building has a tilt angle of only 5.2 degrees. But the Huzhu tower, which is located in the Tian Ma mountains in the Chinese province of Songjiang near Shanghai, tilted 6.63 degrees. In addition, this seven-story stone structure, nineteen meters high over Cham, is a hundred years older than its Pisan rival. It was erected under Emperor Yuanfeng, around 1079. The tower was originally conceived as an inclined one. Strong southeasterly winds often blow in this place. The tower is tilted in the opposite direction so that air currents support it. They say that if the building were made strictly vertical, it would have collapsed long ago. With the same calculation, in 1621, the Guilun Dragon Tower was erected on Jiang-sin Island in the middle of the Yujian River. Its top is deviated from the base by more than a meter.

Modest record holder

If the main criterion is 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 leaning tower takes the lead. The country of China, Liaoning Province, Suizhong County - these are its coordinates. The angle of incidence - as much as twelve degrees - is two and a half times greater than that of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. However, the Chinese structure is small. It consists of three floors and has only ten meters in height (against 90 m at the Leaning Tower of Pisa). Therefore, the deviation of the top from the base is small.

The oldest leaning tower

It is also located in China. This is the Huqiu Tower. The octagonal seven-story black brick building was erected under Xiande (Later Zhou Dynasty) around 959. The reason for the tilt in this case (from this most often falling towers appear) is the lack of architects. Soft soils sank over time, and now the Chinese restorers have a big problem: how to stop the fall of the ancient landmark. The situation became dangerous: the old brick began to crumble. In 1981, the degree of subsidence was stabilized. The angle of inclination was also fixed. It is 2.47 degrees. In this case, the top is separated from the base by 2.32 meters.

Falling towers in Russia

In our country, you can also often find tilted (sometimes at a rather dangerous angle) buildings. The most famous is the Nevyansk Tower. It is located in the district center of the same name. Sverdlovsk region. This is an eighteenth century monument. However, glory Nevyansk tower brought not a noticeable angle of inclination, but a unique auditory room. It has excellent acoustics. There, in the Urals, there is also a bell tower at the cathedral in the city of Usolye. In Kazan, in the local Kremlin, the top of the Syuyumbike tower deviated from the base by almost two meters. And, finally, in Solikamsk, at the Exaltation of the Cross Cathedral, there is also a “falling” bell tower. Interestingly, Russian folk thought never attributes the reasons for the tilt of buildings to the movement of tectonic plates, subsidence of soils or engineering miscalculations. The devils are always to blame, the death of the Kazan princess (Syuyumbike) or the nostalgia of the architect Athanasius for his native Tula (Nevyansk).

Pisa, Bologna, Venice, Rome

The famous bell tower cathedral in Pisa is not the only leaning tower in Italy. And even in this city there is another sloping structure. This is the bell tower of the monastery church of the Barefoot Order. Once upon a time, medieval cities had secular tower houses where noble families lived. Two such buildings remained in Bologna - the Torre degli Asinelli (a hundred meters high) and the Torre Garisenda half as low as it. Both stand on Rizzoli Street and are the symbol of Bologna. There are also two leaning towers in Venice. The first is located on This is the bell tower of the church of San Martino. The second is located in the Kastelo area. This is the bell tower of the Greek Orthodox Church of San Giorgio dei Grechi. The earthquake of 1348 turned the previously straight Militia tower (erected under the Pope into a falling one.

Crooked Towers of Poland

Marshy terrain, strong steady winds, plus construction flaws have given rise to tumbling towers in this country. True, they are modestly called "curves". The most famous of them is Kshiva Vezha in Torun. She is part of medieval cities. Raised in the thirteenth century. Since then, it has deviated from the vertical by one and a half meters. Another "Kshiva Vezha" is located in the town of Zombkowice-Slańsk, which is near the church (1413). Due to the displacement of tectonic plates at the end of the 16th century, the tower began to roll. Now its slope is two meters. The tower houses the Frankenstein Museum. in Wroclaw to oldest building St. Idzi's church in the city is adjoined by the crooked Kapitula tower.

Inclined bell towers and other buildings

We can only list the falling towers scattered around the world. This old church(Oude Kerk) in the Dutch town of Delft, the Church of St. Margaret in the Romanian Medias. Due to the peculiarity of the soils of such inclined buildings, at least a dime a dozen in the UK and Ireland. You can call the Greyfriars tower in King's Lynn, Bridgnorth (Shropshire), Kilmacdu in Galway (Ireland), in Wales, Albert's clock tower in Belfast. In Germany, Ulm also has a 3.3° leaning tower. And even in the Kyiv Lavra, the Great Bell Tower tilted 62 centimeters in northeast direction, which is very noticeable with a building height of 96 meters.

85-meter clock tower, made in the Venetian and Gothic styles. Located on the campus of the university in the southern part of Mumbai, India. At one time was the most tall building in the city. The construction of the Rajabai Tower was started on March 1, 1869, designed by the English architect Sir George Gilbert Scott, and completed in November 1878.

Old Joe (Old Joe)

Old Joe or the Joseph Chamberlain Memorial Tower is located on the campus of the University of Birmingham, in the suburb of Edgbaston, UK. It is the tallest free-standing clock tower in the world. Its height is 100 meters. It was built in 1908 and named after the university's first chancellor, Joseph Chamberlain.

Peace Tower

In eighth place in the list of the most famous clock towers is the Peace Tower, officially the Victory and Peace Tower. Located in the heart of the parliament building in Ottawa, the capital of Canada. This 92.2-meter tower was built on the site of the old 55-meter Victoria Tower, which burned down in 1916, along with for the most part complex.

Zytglogge

Zytglogge - a medieval clock tower with astronomical clock located in the historical part of the city of Bern, Switzerland. It was supposedly built between 1218 and 1220 and was used in different periods as defensive tower, prisons, and also as a clock tower, which served as the official determinant of the exact time for the city. Now, perhaps, it is considered the most popular attraction in Bern.

The Spasskaya Tower (formerly the Frolovskaya Tower) is one of the 20 towers of the Moscow Kremlin overlooking Red Square. It houses the main gates of the Kremlin - Spassky, and the famous clock - chimes - is installed in the tent. The 71-meter tower was built in 1491 by the Italian architect Antonio Pietro Solari during the reign of Ivan III.

Rathaus-Glockenspiel is a popular tourist attraction located on central square Marienplatz, in the city of Munich, in southern Germany. It was built in 1908 as part of New City Hall. Every day at 11 a.m. (as well as at noon and 5 p.m. on summer time) to the sound of chimes, 32 human-sized figures stage two stories that took place in the 16th century in Munich. The show is about 12-15 minutes long.

The Old Town Hall with a height of 56.59 meters is located in historic district Czech capital Prague. The complex was founded in 1338, and over time it was gradually completed and expanded. The Old Town Hall Clock, first installed in 1410, is the third oldest astronomical clock in the world and also the oldest still in operation.

Abraj al-Beit - a complex of high-rise buildings with total area 1,500,000 sq.m., located in the city of Mecca, in the west Saudi Arabia. It is the largest building in the world by mass and also the tallest building in Saudi Arabia. Most high skyscraper- The Royal Clock Tower Hotel is 601 meters high. The diameter of the watch is 43 meters.

Philadelphia City Hall - 167-meter seat of government American city Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Second Empire style building was built between 1871 and 1901 by Scottish-born architect John MacArthur Jr.

Big Ben (Elizabeth Tower)

Big Ben is the informal name for the largest of the six bells in the Palace of Westminster in London. Big Ben is often called the clock and even the tower itself, although correct name 96.3-meter tower - "Elizabeth Tower". It was built in 1858 and opened in May 1859. Considered one of the most famous landmarks in the world. The large Westminster clock with a dial diameter of 7 meters and a total weight of 5 tons is the world's largest four-sided striking clock.

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