Historic: Tower of Pisa
| Name |
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| born on | 17 August 1173 (greg.) | ||
| Place | Pisa, Italy, 43n43, 10e23 | ||
| Timezone | LMT m10e23 (is local mean time) | ||
| Data source |
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| Astrology data |   23°52' 
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Biography
Italian tower building that has been gradually leaning for more than 800 years, about 13ft off plumb by 1989. Afraid that the famous Leaning Tower was rapidly approaching the point of disaster, experts closed the building to tourists for almost 12 years in which they put some $25 million of ingenious engineering to set it a bit straighter. On 6/23/2001, the plaza beneath the tower was re-opened to the public with an estimated date of fall for entry to the tower itself, limited to 30 visitors at a time. After a $27 million realignment, the climbing tower was reopened on 12/15/2001.
Built on a sandy riverbed with a foundation too shallow to support its 192 ft, 32 million tons, the tower began it gradual lean from almost the beginning. Over the course of its 200-year construction, builders tried to compensate for the list, resulting in a slightly banana shape structure. Beginning in 1993, nearly two million bls of lead weights were placed on the north side. Engineers then sank 41 parallel tubes diagonally under the foundation, inserted a giant drill bit into each tube and turned the augers one at a time to removed small amounts of soil over a period of months. The tower now leans at 5 degrees, slightly straighter than it's critical maximum of 5.4 deg.
Source Notes
LMR quotes Time magazine 6/25/2001, p.35, "The date that construction began - Aug.9, 1173 - is part of a carving on the right of the entrance."
Categories
- Mundane : Misc. Mundane : Achievements
