The Leaning Tower of Pisa has garnered fame thanks to its pronounced, gravity defying tilt.
Italy's Leaning Tower of Pisa has garnered fame thanks to its pronounced, gravity-defying tilt.
But unbeknownst to most tourists who flock to the monument, a stabilization program has been underway for the last three decades.
Each year, a report reveals how much the tower has righted itself over the course of 12 months.
It is a necessary intervention for safety reasons, but would the world lose interest if the structure was fully straightened?
Why does the Tower of Pisa lean?
Known only as the Torre di Pisa in Italian – without reference to the infamous tilt – the tower began to lean due to unstable foundations.
It was built as the freestanding bell tower for the adjacent Pisa Cathedral and construction lasted two centuries, from 1173 to 1372.
As soon as building began in the 12th century, the structure started to lean as the soft soil could not support its weight.
The slant continued to worsen throughout construction in the 14th century.
At points, the shaky soil was actually a blessing in disguise. The tower has survived four major earthquakes since its construction thanks to the ability of the flimsy foundations to absorb shocks.
Is the Leaning Tower of Pisa dangerous?
Visitors standing in the shadow of the Leaning Tower of Pisa are in no imminent danger.
“Considering it is an 850-year-old patient with a tilt of around five meters and a subsidence of over three meters, the state of health of the Leaning Tower of Pisa is excellent,” a spokesperson from preservation organization Opera Primaziale della Pisana told the ANSA.
Visitors standing in the shadow of the Leaning Tower of Pisa are in no imminent danger.
But the famous tilt was once considered perilous. In the 1990s, it was deemed prudent to begin a stabilization project.
The monument was closed to visitors, and in 1993, civil engineer Michele Jamiolkowski convened an international board to intervene.
How is the Leaning Tower of Pisa’s tilt being corrected?
The committee concluded that modifications to the fragile foundations could exacerbate problems so common solutions like cement injections had to be rejected.
Instead, they opted for a costly soil extraction project. The engineers removed earth from the higher side of the tower’s foundation and used steel cables to pull it upright.
The team also realized that the water table beneath the structure was uneven, causing it to slant further during winter rains.
They installed drains to extract some of the water and level out the foundations.
How much has the Leaning Tower of Pisa straightened?
Each year, the tower undergoes a tilt check-up. Measurements for 2022 show that the building has righted itself by an additional four centimeters since 2001.
An assessment in 2005 declared the monument safe for the next 300 years.
Some engineers have predicted the tower will straighten out completely in the future. That won’t be for a while, though, so you’ve still got plenty of time to pose for Italy’s most iconic photo.
