Solving the mystery of Pisa's Leaning Tower

Oooh, thanks for the link SW!! I didn't know all of that about the Tower. Nibs

Have never understood the attraction of the Tower... "It’s practically a bog and only long breaks during the period of construction (1173 to 1370) - which allowed the underlying earth to compact itself and gradually adapt to the belfry’s weight - stopped it toppling over immediately." 200yrs to build an eyesore, fgs. Tis a monument to bad planning.

Indeed a fantastic read. Never knew about its history before.

Wow, thanks for that link SW! I didn't know all of that about the Tower. What an incredible article ... and tower itself. ‘The pressure was immense, a modern wonder of the world was at stake - but I never doubted the logic of soil extraction,’ says Burland, cool as you like. Thank goodness for this man huh!

I visited Pisa in the summer of 1996 when I was stationed in nearby Livorno. It was closed at that time, but the streets were still packed with people. I couldn't go into the Basillica, because they did not allow cameras and I was not about to hand mine over. It had the cables and the lead ingots mounted on it when I saw it. And it is not only leaning, but the ground level of the Tower is sunk like four feet down into the ground. It has a little porch that runs around it at the first floor and then a wall that goes up four feet or so to ground level.