http://www.boston.com/dailynews/135/world/Suspenders_removed_ahead_of_re:.shtml

Suspenders removed ahead of reopening for Leaning Tower of Pisa

By Associated Press, 5/15/2001 18:39

PISA, Italy (AP) Workers began removing two sets of steel suspenders attached to the Leaning Tower of Pisa on Tuesday, in one of the final phases of a bold plan to partially straighten the famously tilted monument.

The 340-foot-long cables had been secured to the tower in 1998 as a precaution in case it needed to be yanked back up while the soil under its foundation was being excavated. Anchored to giant winches dug into the ground about 100 yards from the tower, the suspenders haven't been needed.

Removal of the suspenders will be completed in time for an inauguration ceremony of the newly straightened tower scheduled for June 16, said Paolo Heiniger, who oversees the project.

The tower was closed to the public more than a decade ago, when officials feared it was beginning to lean so much that it might topple over. Work to stop the tower's increasing tilt has taken far longer than planned, but officials expect it to be open to tourists in the fall.

When work began the tower leaned 6 degrees, or 13 feet, off the perpendicular on its south side. By removing a small amount of soil, the tower has settled better and now leans about 16 inches less nearly the tilt it had 300 years ago.

The decrease in lean isn't enough for the naked eye to detect but sufficient to stabilize the monument, experts have said.

In the past weeks, workers have also removed about 800 tons of lead counterweights placed at the base of the tower to stabilize it while work was underway.

The tower started leaning when the soil beneath it started shifting shortly after work to construct it began in 1173.

-- Anonymous, May 16, 2001