Il Tirreno Giornale (PISA, Italia, Wednesday 16 May 2001)
|
100 METER LONG CONNECTING RODS The Operation Confirms that All is Going Well |
 The Phase of Dismantlement of the steel cables that embrace the Tower (Foto di Fabio Muzzi) |
|
PISA. News under the Leaning Tower. The four steel cables, "suspenders" that were installed in December 1998, are being dismantled, the operation starting yesterday morning. The connecting rods were to be used only in case the Tower, during the last phase of the subexcavation, that has reduced the inclination of the bell tower by 40 centimeters, gave signs of yelding, but it has revealed itself to be only a precaution. The 4 cables of steel one hundred meters long each weighs around four tons.
"The operation", says engineer Paolo Heinger, manager of the yard, "has no other comment than to confirm the excellent course of the work on the famous bell tower that will end within the next month. The symbolic redelivery of the bell tower keys by part of the Committee will take place June 16. The "suspenders" are the second intervention (the thousand tons of lead ingots have been removed from the base) that returns the image that the area had before the closing of the bell tower happened on 7 January 1990. Satisfaction for removal of the steel cables has been expressed by the president of the Work of the Pisan Primaziale, Pierfrancesco Paini. "With these interventions", Pacini says, "the date of reopening of the Tower to visitors draws near and, for guided tours, that should happen next autumn". Translated by Gary Feuerstein, 30 June 2001, from the Il Tirreno article
Building Homepage
|
