6The bell tower collapsed once

The 323-foot (98.6-meter) campanile of St. Mark’s dates back to the 9th century… but it had to be rebuilt in 1903.

The reason? It collapsed! It had been reworked in the 16th century, and apparently not that well. It collapsed on July 14, 1902. (To be fair, it had survived several earthquakes before that!). Although it buried the Basilica’s balcony in rubble, fortunately, the church itself was saved.

 

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