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(PISA, Italia, Thursday September 7 11:40 AM ET) REUTERS News Agency, Yahoo News By Mike Collett-White |
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LONDON (Reuters) - Revolutionary engineering techniques have taken some of the lean out of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, but tourists need not fear -- the world-famous structure will keep most of its trademark tilt.
Professor John Burland, one of the 14-member committee of experts working to save the bell tower from collapse, told reporters on Thursday that sophisticated soil extraction methods were over half way to making it completely safe. "We are hoping to reduce the inclination of the tower by one half of one degree,'' he told the British Association for the Advancement of Science conference. "It is leaning five and a half degrees. It means bringing the top of the tower back 45 centimeters. We have brought it back a little over half of that -- about 23 centimeters,'' he said, quoting fresh results this week. |
 Revolutionary engineering techniques have taken some of the lean out of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, but tourists need not fear -- the world-famous structure will keep most of its trademark tilt. Using sophisticated soil extraction methods the scientists at the current righting rate of about 1.5 millimeters a day, could have Pisa's tower, shown in June 2000, ready to be climbed again by visitors in 2001. (Reuters) |
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"It's too early to be triumphant, but it's looking good,'' he said of the project, estimated to cost a total of around 15 million pounds ($21.56 million).
Once the operation is complete, one of the best-known symbols of Italy, started in 1173, will be back to the angle it was in 1838 when an architect, described as ``mad'' by Burland, dug a walkway around the belfry causing it to lurch. He said that at the current righting rate of about 1.5 millimeters a day, Pisa's tower could be ready to be climbed again by visitors in 2001. The tower was opened briefly to the general public in June for the first time in 10 years. New Techniques Right Two Famous Towers A special drill which caused no vibrations was developed to extract soil from the higher side of the 58-meter structure, causing subsidence at the ground's surface. Burland said that a mirror technique to that used in Pisa helped to stabilize another famous landmark, London's Big Ben clock tower which soars above Parliament Square. Construction of the new Jubilee underground train line close to the clock's foundations caused it to shift ``somewhat more than we expected,'' prompting Burland and his team to inject a cement mix on one side to reduce the tilt. "There would have been cracking damage to the Palace of Westminster, but there was no risk of the tower falling,'' Burland said. "One wag had it that Members of Parliament have always had the time but now they had the inclination too,'' he quipped. The mammoth bell tower has a historical lean of around 220 millimeters which is just visible to the naked eye. Big Ben also sways between seven and nine millimeters, to the west in the summer and to the east in the winter, Burland said, adding that the movement was due to ``seasonal thermal effects.'' ($1-.6957 Pound) |
