Pisa Cathedral: Upcycling since 1064

I first heard about this interesting typographic attraction from Gerard Unger in a lecture at Reading in 2006-07. He shared some similar photos and told us how the cathedral was constructed using recycled stone from various places and how many of the stones bore inscriptions on them making for a unique facade.

Finally in 2010 I had a brief opportunity to visit Pisa. Of course for most tourists the tower is the focal point… That turned out to be quite beautiful itself, and worth seeing, but personally I was more interested in the cathedral. So while others were busy taking leaning selfies or were pretending to hold it up (or push it over), I was exploring for letters.