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N0KFQ > TODAY 15.12.10 20:12l 49 Lines 2131 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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Subj: Today in History - Dec 15
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From: N0KFQ@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
To : TODAY@WW
Dec 15, 2001:
Leaning Tower of Pisa reopens
On this day in 2001, Italy's Leaning Tower of Pisa reopens after
a team of experts spent 11 years and $27 million to fortify the
tower without eliminating its famous lean.
In the 12th century, construction began on the bell tower for the
cathedral of Pisa, a busy trade center on the Arno River in
western Italy, some 50 miles from Florence. While construction
was still in progress, the tower's foundation began to sink into
the soft, marshy ground, causing it to lean to one side. Its
builders tried to compensate for the lean by making the top
stories slightly taller on one side, but the extra masonry
required only made the tower sink further. By the time it was
completed in 1360, modern-day engineers say it was a miracle it
didn't fall down completely.
Though the cathedral itself and the adjoining baptistery also
leaned slightly, it was the Torre Pendente di Pisa, or Leaning
Tower of Pisa, that became the city's most famous tourist
attraction. By the 20th century, the 190-foot-high white marble
tower leaned a dramatic 15 feet off the perpendicular. In the
year before its closing in 1990, 1 million people visited the old
tower, climbing its 293 weathered steps to the top and gazing out
over the green Campo dei Miracoli (Field of Miracles) outside.
Fearing it was about to collapse, officials appointed a group of
14 archeologists, architects and soil experts to figure out how
to take some--but not all--of the famous tilt away.
Though an initial attempt in 1994 almost toppled the tower,
engineers were eventually able to reduce the lean by between 16
and 17 inches by removing earth from underneath the foundations.
When the tower reopened on December 15, 2001, engineers predicted
it would take 300 years to return to its 1990 position. Though
entrance to the tower is now limited to guided tours, hordes of
tourists can still be found outside, striking the classic
pose--standing next to the tower pretending to hold it up--as
cameras flash.
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