Leaning Tower of Pisa leaning less after conservation work

Image source, Getty Images

The future of the world's most famous wonky tower looks better than expected, after conservation work has helped to correct its lean.

The Tower of Pisa in Italy started to lean during its construction, which began almost 850 years ago, way back in the 12th Century.

Soft ground beneath the tower meant that its foundations weren't able to properly support it, and it started to tilt.

But it became world famous because of it's 4.5 metre lean, which made it look like it was going to topple over.

Image source, Getty Images

Image caption, Tourists love to grab a snap pretending to hold the leaning tower up

Tourists from around the world visit the unusual landmark, many wanting to get a photo taken pretending to hold it up.

Now, after it's latest check-up, the local heritage agency say the tower is in excellent health and its tilt is beginning to slowly reverse.

It has lost 4cm of its lean in the past 20 years, which is more than expected.

In the 1990s the tower closed so that engineers could worked on stabilising it.

It was a project that cost 拢25million and took 11 years.

Image source, Getty Images

Image caption, The tower's tilt has made it into a famous landmark

It involved re-digging underneath the tower, and putting weights inside it to slow its gradual lopsided sink, and it helped to correct the lean by 40cm.

Now a conservation group called Opera della Primaziale Pisana regularly monitors the tower and makes sure that the conservation work continues to help it.

The latest check-up proves that all the efforts to protect the tower have continued to be successful.

One official even thinks the tower could straighten one day.