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An elaborate engineering project kept the tower from tipping.
The Leaning Tower of Pisa is one of the most recognized tourist attractions in the world. But for all the trinket shops and gag photos of friends and family “holding it up,” it's a rare visitor who notices two large pulley anchors at neighboring Palazzo dell'Opera. The bright white contraptions are leftovers from the elaborate engineering project carried out in the late 1990s and early 2000s to stabilize the iconic tower. For all its tilt, after decades of discussions on how to keep the whole thing from reaching the tipping point, a plan was finally hatched to pull it back to a less extreme angle using a complex system of screw augers, lead weights, and guy ropes.
