![]() ![]() The issue was not so much the restoration of a fading or eroding work of art dating from long ago. The Leaning Tower, which all came to see and perhaps had hoped to climb, was out of bounds, encased in scaffolding-with copious explanations about how here, in the Piazza dei Miracoli, the latest miracles of modern science would finally freeze the tower’s historic tilt. In the 1990s, as tourists in the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel marvelled at the renewed brightness of Michelangelo’s ceiling, visitors to Pisa were in for a let-down. Like the figures on a rotating weather vane, one great building or gallery pops out for all to see just as another goes into hiding for a while. ![]() Michele Jamiolkowski, an engineer of Polish origin who adopted Italian nationality, coordinated an international committee to rescue the landmark between 19.Italy is crammed with historic works of art in need of restoration. 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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