![]() ![]() Its height, after 800 years of tilting and sinking into the soil, is about 184 feet. It's only one of many that've gone askew in various ways. The Leaning Tower, like many other old Tuscan towers, sits on soft soil. In fact one failure, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, is a marvel to see. The Gothic buildings that stand are a remarkable legacy. Medieval architects outreached themselves. The University of Houston's College of Engineering presents this series about the machines that make our civilization run, and the people whose ingenuity created them. Michele Jamiolkowski, an engineer of Polish origin who adopted Italian nationality, coordinated an international committee to rescue the landmark between 19.Today, we visit the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Thanks to this system, we recovered half a degree of lean," he said. "We removed soil by drilling very carefully. "We installed a number of tubes underground, on the side that the Tower leans away from," said Cela, technical director at the OPA, which looks after Pisa's main monuments. The tower was closed to the public in January 1990 for 11 years over safety fears, as its tilt reached 4.5 meters (15 feet) from the vertical, threatening to turn it into a pile of rubble. The medieval bell tower, a symbol of the power of the maritime republic of Pisa in the Middle Ages, has leaned to one side ever since building started in 1173 on ground that proved a little too soft. Fortunately for the millions of tourists who come here every year, the 57-metre (186-feet) tower remains beautifully askance. The gravitationally-challenged landmark is leaning less after years of ambitious engineering work.
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