It was never intended to. That is why one of architecture’s big blunders is one of the world’s biggest tourist attractions. They both came about because of the tower’s foundations – or the lack of them. The tower is fifty-five metres tall but the foundations work began, the ground beneath started to give way. That was in 1173. The ground has been giving way slowly ever since. By the time building work finished, parts of the upper structure had been changed from the plans to counteract the leaning. That was in the late fourteenth century, and the changes must have helped. For over six hundred years Pisa’s famous landmark has been teetering on the brink of collapse. The reason it has not smashed to the ground is that it still has not passed its centre of gravity. Bits of masonry fall off now and then, and recently the tower has been closed to the public.
Now historians and engineers are scratching their heads wondering if they can stop the leaning and preserve the tower for another eight hundred years or more.
Picture Credit : Google
