# What's the latest on the Leaning Tower of Pisa? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 5, 2003, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-latest-on-the-leaning-tower-of-pisa/152818 "2003-02-05T00:13:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BrandonR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@BrandonR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrandonR)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2003, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-latest-on-the-leaning-tower-of-pisa/152818/1 "2003-02-05T00:13:02Z")
The last I ever heard about the Leaning Tower of Pisa was that it began to lean too much and efforts were made to straighten it out a bit… Did they ever accomplish that task? Are they still working on it? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2003, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-latest-on-the-leaning-tower-of-pisa/152818/2 "2003-02-05T00:18:48Z")
Yes, I believe it was stabilised by removing cores of earth from beneath the side that was higher, the holes left by the removal of the cores slowly collapsed and the tower settled back to a slightly more vertical position; safe for a couple of hundred years apparently. They were able to remove the huge lead counterweights as a result. ---
**Author:** ![BrandonR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@BrandonR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrandonR)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2003, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-latest-on-the-leaning-tower-of-pisa/152818/3 "2003-02-05T00:31:49Z")
Does it still lean quite a bit? ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2003, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-latest-on-the-leaning-tower-of-pisa/152818/4 "2003-02-05T01:04:54Z")
From the looks of the diagrams for the work it appeared to lean about 22 degrees. The work (which was successful) only reversed this by a degree and a half. should the tower begin to move again at its previous rate (which was about 1.5 mm per day), it will take 300 years before adjustment is again needed.\* The highly optimistic answer is that the thing has been stablilized and movement will cease. \*Civil Engineering magazine, March 2002 ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2003, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-latest-on-the-leaning-tower-of-pisa/152818/5 "2003-02-05T01:43:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by BrandonR \* > \*\*Does it still lean quite a bit? \*\* I was in Pisa a couple years ago (before this process was completed and the counterweights were still intact) – our tour guide was very clear that the Pisans know what side their bread is buttered on. The tower will always be the leaning tower unless and until it one day becomes the fallen tower. –Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2003, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-latest-on-the-leaning-tower-of-pisa/152818/6 "2003-02-05T01:44:34Z")
Small angles can look bigger than they are. More like about 6 degrees, and they corrected it by about half a degree. At 22 degrees, it would have fallen over. > [@](#): > > The target reduction of inclination for the tower had been half a degree, an amount not visible to the casual observer but sufficient to stabilize the foundations and reduce the stresses in the masonry by a significant amount. By December 2001 a total reduction (including the effects of the lead counterweights) of 1,830 seconds of arc had taken place. This reduction in inclination is equivalent to a northward movement of the seventh level of about 442 mm. The tower has now been returned to the angle of inclination it exhibited in the 1830s, around the time that Gherardesca dug the catino and before the dramatic lurch south From [http://www.pubs.asce.org/ceonline/ceonline02/0302feat.html](http://www.pubs.asce.org/ceonline/ceonline02/0302feat.html) Elsewhere in the article they mention a tilt of 5 degrees measured in 1817, and other sources give the angle of tilt in the early 1990’s as 6 degrees. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2003, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-latest-on-the-leaning-tower-of-pisa/152818/7 "2003-02-05T03:28:56Z")
I understand it now also has a lazy eye. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![RiverRunner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/977dab/32.png) [@RiverRunner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RiverRunner)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2003, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-latest-on-the-leaning-tower-of-pisa/152818/8 "2003-02-05T15:21:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by yojimboguy \* > \*\*I understand it now also has a lazy eye. 🙂 \*\* In that case, it should be spelled like this: The Leaning Tower of P_i_sa. 😃 RR ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2003, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-latest-on-the-leaning-tower-of-pisa/152818/9 "2003-02-05T15:43:30Z")
Are people allowed in it? ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2003, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-latest-on-the-leaning-tower-of-pisa/152818/10 "2003-02-05T15:47:11Z")
Well, in 300 years, we should have tractor beams and force fields, so we’re good to go. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2003, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-latest-on-the-leaning-tower-of-pisa/152818/11 "2003-02-05T15:54:05Z")
I read that it was recently reopened to the public after the restoration work was declared a success. **BrandonR** : In fact, it will always lean, no matter what adjustments are made. It started leaning before its construction was finished, so upper floors were built at an angle to the lower floors, giving it a kind of banana-shape. ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2003, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-latest-on-the-leaning-tower-of-pisa/152818/12 "2003-02-05T16:07:32Z")
Not to sidetrack this too far, but since people are allowed, aren’t there conditions? I can’t imagine them letting people run around the top floors, wouldn’t that tip that thing back over or something? ---
**Author:** ![rhinostylee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bc79bd/32.png) [@rhinostylee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rhinostylee)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2003, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-latest-on-the-leaning-tower-of-pisa/152818/13 "2003-02-05T18:29:11Z")
The Leaning Tower of Pizza actually tilted 22 degrees. That is, until I ate it. It was Candian Bacon. Mmmmmm, canadian bacon. I know, I know. I’m at work, for crying out loud! As the day goes on, the humor gets worse. ---
**Author:** ![mipiace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb9ed0/32.png) [@mipiace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mipiace)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2003, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-latest-on-the-leaning-tower-of-pisa/152818/14 "2003-02-05T19:44:19Z")
Not to sidetrack this too far, but since people are allowed, aren’t there conditions? I can’t imagine them letting people run around the top floors, wouldn’t that tip that thing back over or something? World Eater - Italian standards of safety are much different than American’s. I haven’t been since it opened back up but…I doubt there are any restrictions. They expect you to use common sense and hopefully no one gets hurt. 02-05-2003 10:07 AM ---
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2003, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-latest-on-the-leaning-tower-of-pisa/152818/15 "2003-02-05T20:51:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by NinetyWt \* > **should the tower begin to move again at its previous rate (which was about 1.5 mm per day), it will take 300 years before adjustment is again needed.** Surely this can’t be right? At 1.5mm per day, it would shift over 54cm in a year. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2003, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-latest-on-the-leaning-tower-of-pisa/152818/16 "2003-02-05T21:35:49Z")
You’re right, **Ianzin** , that was my typo. It should have said "1.5 mm per **year**. BTW the article says it was reopened to the public on December 15, 2001. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2003, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-latest-on-the-leaning-tower-of-pisa/152818/17 "2003-02-05T21:51:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sublight \* > **BrandonR** : In fact, it will always lean, no matter what adjustments are made. It started leaning before its construction was finished, so upper floors were built at an angle to the lower floors, giving it a kind of banana-shape. \*\* My understanding was that the technique used for the recent soil stabilization would have allowed the final angle to be anything they chose, including vertical - but that would have crippled the local tourism industry. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2003, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-latest-on-the-leaning-tower-of-pisa/152818/18 "2003-02-05T22:16:28Z")
The instablitiy of the foundation kept the amount of work done to the minimum needed to stablize the tower. **Sublight** is correct: > [@](#): > > The axis of the tower is not straight; rather it bows northward. In an attempt to correct the lean, tapered blocks of masonry have been used…to bend the axis of the tower … between … 1173 and 1178.