Dec 10 2008
Will the Real Leaning Tower Please Stand Up?
I know I’m a bit late in catching on to the news, but I just ran across an article in National Geographic News revealing that a church in Germany has taken over the title of the world’s most tilted tower! Despite it’s fame and although it does still lean, the Leaning Tower of Pisa is no longer the world’s most tilted tower according The Guinness Book of World Records–maybe it was all those tourist photos of someone trying to push the tower up that helped straigthen the famous white landmark?
Construction on the Leaning Tower of Pisa (just called “The Tower of Pisa” back then, of course) began in 1173 and was finally finished in 1372. Soon after construction began, the poor foundation and loose soil became evident as the building began to lean. When last measured, the tower leaned at a 3.97 degree angle.
In late 2007, however, The Guiness Book of World Records announced that a small church in Suurhusen, Germany near the country’s border with the Netherlands, actually had more of a lean–this structure was tilted at an amazing 5.19 degrees! This small church, believed to have been built in the fifteenth century, was built on marshlands not sturdy enough to keep the church fully upright. Services are still conducted there although it’s difficult to know whether this announcement will have an effect on that…
