I hear there's a new slant on the leaning tower

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A.� Yes. The Leaning Tower of Pisa has re-opened to the public after being closed for 11 years for a �20 million rescue operation to stop it from toppling over. The tower's seven bells rang as Paolo Fontanelli, Mayor of Pisa, curator Pierfrancesco Pacini and Archbishop Alessandro Plotti, accompanied by dozens of tourists, crossed the threshold of the site, which had been closed to the public since 7 January, 1990. < xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

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Q.� So it was leaning too much

A.� Yes. The 800-year-old bell tower - set in Campo dei Miracoli, or Field of Miracles, in Tuscany - was closed after its tilt became so severe that the entire building was threatened. By 1997, the top of the tower, 185ft high, was almost 14ft (4.1 degrees) off the vertical.

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Q.� How was this fixed

A.� Engineers reduced its incline with steel cables and removed more than 70 tons of soil from the north side of its base to allow it to sink on that side. Professor John Burland, of Imperial College, London, one of the international committee set up to oversee the rescue programme, said the tower should now be safe for another 300 years.

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Q.� Why does it lean

A.� Because it was built on marshy ground. Work was suspended during its construction in 1173 when it was only 5ft high. It was not completed until about 1360. Prof Burland added: 'The stabilisation of the tower has proved to be an immensely difficult challenge to civil engineers. The tower is founded on weak, highly compressible soils and its inclination has been increasing inexorably over the years, to the point at which it was in a state of leaning instability.'

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Q.� And is the first attempt to prevent a collapse

A.� No. Numerous attempts have been made. By the early 1990s, plastic-coated steel wires were wrapped around the south side of the second floor to prevent the ancient stone walls from buckling, but this could not prevent further movement. In 1993, lead ingots weighing 300 tons were stacked on the north side to prevent the tower from moving again.

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Two years later, work began on building new underground foundations. But this plan nearly resulted in the tower collapsing, so more weights were added to the base.

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In 1998, it was decided to use drilling equipment to extract soil from under the north side, allowing it to sink. It was a slow process. The latest work has left the tower much straighter - but still far from upright.

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Q.� It's still possible to visit the tower

A.� Yes. Visits will now be in groups of only 30, led by two guides and will last a maximum of 40 minutes. Before the renovation, the tower welcomed about 800,000 visitors a year. But the tower (Torre Pendente) isn't the only thing to see if you are visiting the Campo dei Miracoli. Don't miss the magnificent Romanesque Duomo (cathedral) and Battistero (baptistry).

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'The Leaning Tower is not just some cranky Disneyland tourist attraction. It is an architectural gem and would be one of the most important monuments of medieval Europe even if it were not leaning,' Prof Burland said.

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Steve Cunningham