 I'm sure that
you've all heard about the leaning tower of Pisa. And what do you know about it? It's
leaning to one side... That's right. And what else? Can't think of anything? Same here...
What makes this tower more famous than any other thing in Italy? Did you know that this
tower is not an independent structure? It's just the bell tower of the nearby cathedral.
The only reason the cathedral is not as famous as its tower is because the cathedral was
done by a successful architect. What a contradiction! I'd like to own a time machine just
to let that unlucky architect hear about this.
- Hey, Signor Architetto, I'm coming from the future. You see that tower? It'll lean to
one side in the future.
- I know, its architect is not a hardworking man.
- And the people of my age will find the bell tower and its architect more interesting
than yourself and your cathedral. What do you think?
- Umm... Well... Go home.
Yes, the tower of Pisa is famous because of its architectural failure. Thousands of people
go to the town of Pisa each year in order to take a picture of this "monument to
incapability." Booklets about the tower include sentences like "I'd rather see
it collapse than see it be put right," and this is an excellent summary of what
people feel about such a failure: They love to watch it getting closer to disappearance.
Because it's worth seeing as long as it's an "unsuccessful tower."
I didn't write all these things in order to give you information about some tower in
Italy. I'd just like to make you see that a series of failures gives a tower all its fame.
In fact, most famous structures seem to lack something important. Remember the Great Wall,
which lacks usefulness. And la Sagrada Familia, the most famous building in Spain: it's
been incomplete since the day its construction began in 1882. What about the Pyramids? I'm
sure they would lose all interest for us the moment we found a logical purpose for them.
On that day, people would quit writing novels about Ramses. Even the WTC Towers became
much more famous than before the moment they lost their existence!
Why do we reward deficiencies? Who knows? All I can say is, there somehow seems to be an
important link between fame and incompleteness.
İsmail O. Postalcıoğlu (POLS/II)
orhan@ug.bcc.bilkent.edu.tr
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