BAD FRANKENHAUSEN, Germany — Compared with this town’s 625-year-old crooked church, the Leaning Tower of Pisa is a model of uprightness.
Ever since it was built out of stone in 1382, the Church of Our Beloved Ladies by the Mountain in Bad Frankenhausen has been listing gradually to the east. Undermined by a porous geological foundation, the 184-foot-tall church tower has been falling over, sometimes as much as an inch or two a year. Townspeople have been accustomed to its lopsided shadow for centuries and, until recently, the church attracted little outside attention.
Two years ago, however, someone got out a measuring tape. Over time, villagers discovered, the tip of the spire had toppled more than 14 feet from where it was supposed to be, outleaning Pisa’s more famous tower by about 6 inches.
A wave of civic pride quickly swept over Bad Frankenhausen, population 9,000.
Engineers have noticed that the speed with which the tower is falling has picked up recently, with the spire now moving 2.4 inches a year.
Local and state government officials have agreed to spend $1.5 million to try to stabilize the tower.
