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inscription to be found on the wall to the right of the entrance door records the date in which building work on the Tower commenced. It reads: A.D. MCLXXIV. CAMPANILE HOC FUIT FUNDATUM MENSE AUGUSTI (in the month of August, A.D. 1174, this bell tower was founded). This evidence is confirmed in certain documents and in the contemporary chronicles of Bernardo Maragone, an eye-witness of the facts. Nowhere, however, is the name of the architect recorded. This has led to a long debate, still in progress today, regarding the identity of the architect of the building, who, being a personality of great education and importance, has been recognised in various individuals known to have worked in Piazza dei Miracoli in the twelfth century. An antique tradition founded by the Aretine historian Giorgio Vasari has tended to identify the architect of the Tower with Bonanno Pisano.
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Western Europe
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