How Engineers Straightened the Leaning Tower of Pisa



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The lean isn’t just a fascinating oddity; it is integral to the historical character of the tower. It’s a big part of why we care. Unlike the millions of photos of tourists pretending to hold the Pisa tower up, the contractors, restoration experts, and engineers actually did it (for the next few centuries, at least).

Sources: The script is primarily based on the papers linked below.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13556207.2002.10785324
https://associazionegeotecnica.it/articoli_rig/electro-osmosis-to-stabilise-the-leaning-tower-of-pisa/
https://www.issmge.org/publications/publication/the-leaning-tower-of-pisa-end-of-an-odyssey

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Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6fBPdu8w9U
Video by Grady Hillhouse
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24 thoughts on “How Engineers Straightened the Leaning Tower of Pisa”

  1. I visited Pisa with my family in the mid-1970s when it was still possible to climb to the top of the bell tower. When we got up there, we found a Japanese tourist had folded up a paper airplane and sailed it off the edge while we watched, lol. I have to say at the time it felt like sacrilege, but now it’s a fun memory.😂

    Reply
  2. A superb video, I recall an excellent and longer, more detailed documentary on BBC back when this was all being worked on which blew me away somewhat.

    I rather like the generations of original builders correcting the lean by building it wonky in the other direction, if only they’d known that if later generations were to straighten it, it would look bent in he other direction.

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  3. When someone starts saying 1-2 million years you know they're full of 💩. The tower of Pisa existed before the great flood. The flood waters pushed it in its lean. The fact that not even modern buildings can hold together like the Pisa tower at that lean is a testament its construction is superior to what we have.

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  4. Foolish opening comment , ‘millions of years ago’ There is zero evidence in science for deep time and the religious philosophy of evolutionism. So don’t make it part of your narration, I come here for science not pseudoscience

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  5. engineers didn't "straighten" the tower, they stabilized it and reduced the tilt from 5 to 3.5 degrees. if it was straightened it wouldn't be called the leaning tower of pisa any more would it

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  6. I just realized something. Why doesn't the Millennium tower in San Francisco try something like this to try and fix their own leaning building? I'm not an engineer but I figure something of similar lean can use a similar method to fix it slowly over time.

    Reply

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