Shanghai wants the world to know it’s not taking second place to anyone in the Leaning Tower business, and they have numbers to make their case.
Alright, they admit, the Shanghai tower, at right above, is only about 20 meters high compared with 55 for Pisa. But Pisa’s tower is a youngster, started in 1173 and finished in 1372; Shanghai’s was built in 1079, all in a single year.
Pisa’s tower started to lean during construction; it’s never been straight. Shanghai’s tower had a couple of hundred upstanding years before a “series of damaging events” destroyed the building the tower was a part of, and left only the tower standing…er, leaning.
And when it comes to leaning, Shanghai claims honors, too. Pisa’s tower reached its maximum lean, 5.5 degrees in the 1990s; restoration work since then has pulled it back to 3.9 degrees and stopped the motion (they’re pretty sure.) Shanghai’s tower leans at an angle of 7.1 degrees, a change of more than half a degree in the past 30 years. It is believed the lean is caused by one side of the tower resting on bedrock and the other on stone ballast.
According to Li Kongsan, a cultural heritage official in Shanghai, the leaning is under control and the tower is in good structural shape, the the exterior is cracking, and will undergo repairs later this year.
And for those who are so inclined, HERE is a link to a Gumbo blog on leaning towers, not only in Italy but many other places, including another in China.
