This Medieval City Was Packed with Skyscrapers

Bright Side

Did you know that medieval Bologna, Italy, was once packed with towering skyscrapers? Back in the 12th and 13th centuries, the city had nearly 100 tall, narrow towers built by wealthy families as both status symbols and defensive structures. These towers dominated the skyline, with the tallest reaching over 300 feet high! Today, only about 20 towers remain, with the iconic Asinelli and Garisenda towers standing as symbols of Bologna's rich history.  And it's far from being the only place from the past with amazing secrets that will boil your brain even today. Let's dive into a journey through time - are you ready?  Animation is created by Bright Side. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Music from TheSoul Sound: https://thesoul-sound.com/   Check our Bright Side podcast on Spotify and leave a positive review! https://open.spotify.com/show/0hUkPxD34jRLrMrJux4VxV   Subscribe to Bright Side: https://goo.gl/rQTJZz ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Our Social Media: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brightside Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightside.official TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@brightside.official?lang=en   Stock materials (photos, footages and other): https://www.depositphotos.com https://www.shutterstock.com https://www.eastnews.ru ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  For more videos and articles visit: http://www.brightside.me  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This video is made for entertainment purposes. We do not make any warranties about the completeness, safety and reliability. Any action you take upon the information in this video is strictly at your own risk, and we will not be liable for any damages or losses. It is the viewer's responsibility to use judgement, care and precaution if you plan to replicate.

Transcript

00:00Back in the 12th and 13th centuries, Bologna used to look like modern-day Manhattan.

00:06No one knows exactly how many towers resembling skyscrapers it used to have, but the most

00:11likely number is at least a hundred.

00:14The tallest of them was around the same height as Big Ben.

00:17When the towers were built, Bologna was one of the largest cities in Europe.

00:22Construction projects were massive and ambitious.

00:26They built cathedrals and town halls, and the richest noble families also erected towers,

00:31possibly as a symbol of status and wealth.

00:35There was no place in the city center to build grand castles, so they had to go up with the

00:40construction.

00:41They didn't actually live in those towers, but in smaller structures next to them.

00:46The towers served for defensive purposes.

00:50It took between three and ten years of work to build one tower, and it was a really tedious

00:55process.

00:56Each of them had a steady foundation deep underground and a base made of big blocks

01:02of selenite stone.

01:04The rest of the tower was becoming thinner and lighter the higher it went.

01:08In the 13th century, they demolished many of the towers, and others just collapsed by

01:13themselves.

01:14Some of them were later reused as city towers, shops, or residential buildings.

01:19Now you can see only 22 towers still standing in the center of Bologna.

01:24Two of them have become the unofficial symbol of the city, mentioned in every guidebook.

01:31Another historical surprise coming from Italy is that gladiators weren't only male.

01:37Gladiatrix were rare, but they did exist.

01:39There is evidence that several women took part in Rome's public games.

01:44In ancient texts, these women were often called ludia, or mulieris, but not ladies.

01:52Some scholars think it means that it was mostly lower-class women in the arena.

01:57The term gladiatrix wasn't used in ancient times.

02:00It was first coined in the 1800s.

02:03Women who chose to become gladiators seemed to do so for independence, fame, financial

02:08rewards, and probably debt remission.

02:11They were most likely honored like male gladiators.

02:15All this was a bit tricky to accept in Roman society at that time, and women's roles

02:20in it.

02:21At the beginning of the current era, the Roman Senate passed a law prohibiting free-born

02:25women under 20 from taking part in arena games.

02:29Emperor Septimus Severus banned all women from the arena in the year 200 of the current

02:34era.

02:35He was probably afraid that women might want to compete in the Olympic Games.

02:40It would seriously mess up the existing social order.

02:45Pineapples were once the equivalent of designer bags and watches today, a symbol of wealth

02:50and status in Britain.

02:52You can still see them at the top of the western towers of St. Paul's Cathedral, one of the

02:56most famous landmarks of London.

02:59Explorers who came back from the Americas described pineapples with so much enthusiasm

03:04that everyone was dreaming about trying the King of Fruits, as it was called.

03:10Pineapples need very high temperatures and years to mature.

03:14And despite the cold and rainy climate of England and Scotland, you could see pineapples

03:19growing in any wealthy country house garden by the end of the 18th century.

03:24They even installed special greenhouses, called pineries, with heating systems.

03:29A single pineapple was worth up to 80 pounds, which is about 15,000 bucks today.

03:35Of course, people would hardly eat this expensive beauty, but send it as a gift or display on

03:40a dining table until it would rot.

03:43Folks who couldn't afford to buy a pineapple would sometimes rent one to show off wealth

03:47at a party.

03:48The King of Fruits became a part of various designs and tableware for the rich.

03:54Stone pineapples on gateposts and the pineapple atop the Wimbledon Trophy are living memories

03:59of that time.

04:01Around 1820, there were so many pineapples imported from abroad that they started losing

04:06their luxury status.

04:09A hundred million years ago, there were giant crocodiles living in the Sahara Desert.

04:15In the 1990s, paleontologists found fossilized skeletons of primitive crocodiles, including

04:21the so-called supercroc.

04:24They discovered several partial skeletons from 110 million years ago.

04:29This prehistoric giant with a head as large as an adult human was about 40 feet long.

04:36That's about two times as tall as a giraffe.

04:39The croc thrived both in water and on land as part of a diverse ecosystem of ancient

04:45North Africa.

04:46The expeditions to the Sahara found a whole lost world of ancient crocodiles, with some

04:52species that resembled modern animals.

04:55One of them was the dog croc.

04:57With its tall legs and keen sense of smell, it moved through the surroundings much like

05:02a dog.

05:04Another fascinating find was the duck croc, a three-foot-long crocodile with duck-billed

05:08platypus-like features.

05:10It was adapted for life on land rather than water.

05:14And then there was also the rat croc, a small, two-foot-long crocodile.

05:19This species had front teeth, perfect for digging up insects.

05:24These prehistoric creatures were more agile, active, and probably more intelligent than

05:28today's crocs, who are passive hunters.

05:33If noise-canceling headphones had been invented in the 19th century, they would have come

05:37in really handy.

05:39On the 27th of August, 1883, the island of Krakatoa in Indonesia experienced a catastrophic

05:47eruption.

05:48It produced what is believed to be the loudest sound ever recorded.

05:54As Krakatoa collapsed, it triggered tsunamis with waves reaching 151 feet that traveled

06:01as far as South Africa.

06:03Krakatoa was an uninhabited volcanic island that had interrupted for two centuries before

06:09this terrible day.

06:11The eruption took the lives of over 30,000 people and caused extreme fluctuations in

06:16air pressure, perceived as sound.

06:19A barometer at a gasworks a hundred miles from Krakatoa recorded 172 decibels.

06:26An average human can withstand up to 130 decibels of sound without getting in serious trouble.

06:32This intense pressure ruptured the eardrums of sailors on the British ship, Norham Castle,

06:37which was 40 miles away from Krakatoa.

06:41The sound wave from it circled the globe, and people could still hear it even 3,000

06:46miles away where it resembled cannon fire.

06:50The late 1800s were a golden era for grand mustaches.

06:55But there was one problem.

06:56You couldn't enjoy a cup of tea with this kind of facial hairstyle.

07:00The heat from the tea would melt mustache wax and make the ends droop.

07:04One gentleman had to struggle because of it until the invention of the mustache cup.

07:10Harvey Adams, a British potter, likely invented the mustache cup in the 1870s.

07:15He patented a butterfly-shaped ledge inside the cup with a hole to sip through.

07:20Thanks to it, the mustache didn't get wet.

07:23These cups quickly became a hit, first in the UK and then across Europe.

07:28In the United States, they were sold at stores like Sears and Marshall Fields, now part of

07:32Macy's.

07:33Mustache cups came in various shapes and sizes.

07:36Some, like farmer's cups, could hold up to a pint of tea.

07:40Others were smaller porcelain pieces shaped like conch shells or decorated with the owner's

07:45name.

07:46They often came with matching saucers.

07:52Lord Byron, one of the greatest British poets, kept numerous dogs and cats and a whole bunch

07:58of exotic animals.

07:59There was a monkey, a crocodile, a fox, peacocks, a bear, and several badgers.

08:05When Byron attended Trinity College, Cambridge, college rules prohibited keeping dogs on the

08:10grounds.

08:11He got really angry and decided to go around the rules.

08:15Byron brought a tame bear as his pet.

08:19The college authorities argued with him, but since the statutes did not specifically mention

08:23bears, they had no legal grounds to remove either the bear or its owner.

08:28Byron walked the bear on a chain, talked to it, and even considered applying for the

08:33bear to become a student at the college.

08:36We still don't know how and where Byron got the bear, but when he left Cambridge, he took

08:40the bear with him to his estate in London.

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