Il Tirreno Giornale (PISA, Italia, Thursday 13 December 2001 )
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The Tower, Museum, and Amphitheater Less Than 2 Days to the Re-Opening by Luciano Donzella PISA. The last touches before the "grand day": confirmed for Saturday morning, the reopening to the public of the leaning Tower. The Pisan Work of the Primaziale has established that the first guided visits will be for Italian and foreign journalists, summoned for the occasion. But if the reopening closes an along journey, it opens new sceneries also, and it is a point of departure for interventions of restoration, maintenance, and modifications, that like the eduardian examinations, never finish for a wonder of the world. As the masonry materials of the bell tower are already a definite operation of the restoration, other interventions are in planning, thanks to one of the saviors of the Tower, the Belgian architect Jean Barthélemy, who is a part of the committee of experienced craftsman of the rescue operation, and who has set out new work using the latest information technology. Now that the future of the Tower is insured, Barthélemy glimpses a new possibility. Certainly that of conducting the exterior repairs. And to the build building of a museum to increase the attraction and interest of tourists. The museum of the Tower could be realized on the lower floors of the tower, in a way to introduce the visitor to a more complete undertanding. In this phase the Belgian researcher, in collaboration with his planning society Aura, is sorting a series of plans for this objective, and is busy in different studies to examine the feasability and the aesthetical consequences of future interventions. Particularly, Jean Barthélemy is supporting the idea to open a museum in the first floor of the building and of transform the "basin" of the nineteenth century, although damaged during the recent work, into an oval amphitheater of marble, that finally would allow one to admire the base of the Tower. As Barthélemy explains. "The Tower at the moment is not very esthetically pleasant. The work that has been undertaken has partly distorted the harmonic integration of the Tower in its environment. Today it depends on us to restore its ancient brillinace. Naturally, a decision on the subject is not simple. That's why it is so important to examine the diverse proposals with much attention. With current technology like Autocad, and skilled digital mapping, planners can hypothesize different scenarios. It is possible then arouse the interest of the public through 3D visualization with the program "Studio Viz". The strength of the visualization is simply breathtaking. We have gotten a realistic image immediately of what the construction will look like at the end of the work, that naturally simplifies the decision process. We have, besides, avoided the rise of ugly surprises in advanced of the realization of the plan. The visualization not only simplifies the job of planning, but offers a better artistic liberty, that, in the end, is what an architect most needs". Meanwhile immediately after the reopening, the complex operation of restoration of the marbles of the bell tower will begin, as illustrated in the course of a recent day of studies on "The Tower of Pisa: a workyard of study and a plan of restoration of the exterior". The problems that torment the Tower, relieved by these years of work, are substantial. The chemcal-physical investigations on the materials have revealed a level of serious breakdown of the marbles with obvious separation of fragments and black incrustation. From these studies, the plan of restoration that foresees a financial expense of 4 million 854,690 Euro (equal to 9 billion, 400 million of lire; $ 4.5 million US) in five years. Translated by Gary Feuerstein, 21 December 2001, from the Il Tirreno article Building Homepage
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