Experts claim that the famous tower in Pisa will stand for at least another 200 years, and may even remain in a (nearly) vertical position forever, thanks to a restoration project that saved the tower from collapse.
Since its construction on unstable ground in 1174, the tower has regularly leaned further and further to the south. Its tilt even influenced how it was built, as architects attempted to “compensate” for the structure by tilting it to the north, resulting in a banana-like shape.
Several careless construction projects accelerated the gradual leaning of the tower over the last few centuries. In 1990, it reached its sharpest angle of inclination at 5.5 degrees. According to all calculations, the tower was supposed to collapse when it reached a tilt of 5.44 degrees, but fortunately, the computer model’s predictions did not come true, and engineers came up with a reconstruction project.
The restoration work, carried out from 1999 to 2001, stabilized the tower. Engineers placed weight on the tower’s north side while removing some of the ground underneath it, causing it to slowly sink back.
Now, the Leaning Tower of Pisa is leaning at only 3.99 degrees. Engineers claim that even with strong earthquakes or other unforeseeable disasters, it will still remain in place and stand for at least several hundred years.
