Propping up the Tower of Pisa
Italy has terrible trouble with its tourist attractions. . The lovely city of Venice sinks, year by year, deeper into the mud of the Adriatic Sea; and the leaning Tower of Pisa is in danger of toppling right over. No-one wants to see the famous belltower, or campanile, standing perfectly upright — but how to arrest its progress towards the horizontal? The Italian Government, on advice from an international commission, now plans to spend $14.5 million over the next four years to stop the tilt, which increases by 1.25 mm a year. Weakening pressure of underground water is blamed for the tilt, and the plan is to install an electric pump to keep the pressure up. That is the officially favoured solution. Our cartoonists have other ideas, as these drawings show. The tower dates from 1173, and consists of tiers of marble columns on round arches forming open galleries — inspiration for countless wedding cakes. It is 179 ft high and leans more than 13ft from the perpendicular.
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19811120.2.90.1
Bibliographic details
Press, 20 November 1981, Page 13
Word Count
171Propping up the Tower of Pisa Press, 20 November 1981, Page 13
Using This Item
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Press. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0 New Zealand licence. This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Copyright in all Footrot Flats cartoons is owned by Diogenes Designs Ltd. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise these cartoons and make them available online as part of this digitised version of the Press. You can search, browse, and print Footrot Flats cartoons for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from Diogenes Designs Ltd for any other use.
Acknowledgements
This newspaper was digitised in partnership with Christchurch City Libraries.