Images of the Pisa Campanile, Baptistry, and Campo Santo. Digital Imaging Project: Art historical images of European and North American architecture and sculpture from classical Greek to Post-modern. Scanned from slides taken on site by Mary Ann Sullivan, Bluffton College.

Pisa Campanile (Leaning Tower)

begun 1174

This famous bell tower, the so-called Leaning Tower of Pisa, inclines 21 feet out of plumb at the top--the result of uneven settling of the foundation. The cylindrical campanile is 52 feet across with blind arcades on the first register (like the cathedral), 6 open arcaded galleries, and a belfry at the top with a narrower diameter. A staircase spirals to the top (although I believe that today visitors are not allowed to climb the 180 feet to the top).

Pisa Baptistry
begun 1153

This cylindrical baptistry is 116 feet in diameter and about 180 feet high. The lower register of blind arcades repeats the pattern of the cathedral and campanile. Designed later, however, it represents a transition from Romanesque to Gothic style--the second and fourth tiers have pointed, not round arches.

See views of the interior of the Baptistry.
See the Baptistry pulpit by Nicola Pisano.

Campo Santo
1278-83

By legend, this cemetery was built where the Crusaders placed the soil they had brought from the Holy Land. The cemetery is enclosed by a rectangular loggia of marble. Gothic tracery decorates this open porch. The walls of this porch were later decorated with 14th century frescoes by the Pisa painter Francesco Traini which depicted the triumph of death.

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Copyright © Mary Ann Sullivan. I have photographed (on site), scanned, and manipulated all the images on these pages. Please feel free to use them for personal or educational purposes. They are not available for commercial purposes.

Page created by Mary Ann Sullivan

This famous bell tower, the so-called Leaning Tower of Pisa, inclines 21 feet out of plumb at the top--the result of uneven settling of the foundation. The cylindrical campanile is 52 feet across with blind arcades on the first register (like the cathedral), 6 open arcaded galleries, and a belfry at the top with a narrower diameter. A staircase spirals to the top (although I believe that today visitors are not allowed to climb the 180 feet to the top).


Pisa Baptistry begun 1153
This cylindrical baptistry is 116 feet in diameter and about 180 feet high. The lower register of blind arcades repeats the pattern of the cathedral and campanile. Designed later, however, it represents a transition from Romanesque to Gothic style--the second and fourth tiers have pointed, not round arches.

See views of the interior of the Baptistry. See the Baptistry pulpit by Nicola Pisano.

Campo Santo 1278-83
By legend, this cemetery was built where the Crusaders placed the soil they had brought from the Holy Land. The cemetery is enclosed by a rectangular loggia of marble. Gothic tracery decorates this open porch. The walls of this porch were later decorated with 14th century frescoes by the Pisa painter Francesco Traini which depicted the triumph of death.