Even today, it is not possible to specify the exact year in which the Leaning Tower was built or why it was built. There is speculation that it is a remnant of the former castle, or that it is given the role of the town gate of the time. Yet another hypothesis is that the tower served from the beginning as a bell tower – in fact, this was the case from the 15th century until the Second World War.
In 1507, the tower was connected to St Anne’s Church. Originally, its interior could only be accessed by a ladder or external stairs. The tower was connected to the church by means of a covered porch, which was removed at the end of the 16th century due to the fact that, as a result of tilting, the tower structure had cracked, which threatened to collapse completely. To this day, it is not known why the tower is leaning. It is thought that tectonic upheaval or wetting of the ground may have been the cause.
There is also a legend associated with the Leaning Tower that explains its leaning. In 1858, after a major fire in the city, supposedly an expert report was made. The report indicated that the tower had been crooked from the very beginning, which was supposed to be evidenced by an inscription made by the builder, which in polish read as follows: “My name is Johannes Gleiß, I built this crooked tower with diligence”. Unfortunately, after a fire consumed part of the structure and the tower had to be rebuilt, the inscription was destroyed.
Today, the leaning from the vertical is 2.14 m. By contrast, it is worth mentioning that in 1977 it was 1.98 m. After reconstruction, the height of the building is 34 m. Today, this mysterious and highly original structure serves as a lookout point.
