European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - May 3, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Pisa before the fail 77� leaning town Ofelta slips at a Fate Ozona to two Millimetres per year. Saving the spire of St. Stephen s by Roland pr1nz associated press he spire of is. Stephen s Cash dial. Vienna s most famous landmark is falling Down and a fund raising Campaign similar to ins one Lor the statue of Liberty in tha 1 idled Stales is under Way to save it. Masier builder Kurt Stoegerer says Industrial Poi Ulion is eating away at the Chalky Sands Lone of the 450-foot, 5lh Century Spiro and other parts of the roman Catholic Cathedral. Scaffolding has been put up on one Side of Iha Cathedral to protect pedestrians from pieces breaking Oil and falling from he spire. A Truee Pound piece of a Gargoyle Tell March 2 bul caused no damage or injury. In a ires fall of 80 feet this piece of Slone reaches a weigh equivalent to 1,650  Stoegerer told reporters. He said Hal prompted the immediate removal of several Loose fragments irom the spire. Mayor Helmut Zhuk archbishop Hans Hermann Groer of Vienna and two other Bishops pined Stoegerer a i a nows conference to promo to the Nalion witly Lund raising Campaign. Zilk who was in new York when the statue of Liberty was reopened last july compared the u s. Nationwide Effort to the task now facing Aust nans it a a National  to have Lens Blague of Liberty emerge in new splendor As a Symbol Olifee America he said. When the Cathedral s master builder went Public with concern Over the critical slate of the edifice Las fall i decided to launch a Simitar Ellort he said. Older austins still remember when viennese blood in the so ets weeping after is. Stephen s Cathedral was burned and badly damaged in he waning Days of world War ii. Stoegerer said pollution damage has become so bad thai at the present Pace there is no Hope of restoring the Cathedral fast enough to Stop the facades trom crumbling he estimated to needs 11.6 million a year Lor Iho next 33 years to Wake Complete repairs and restorations. The current annual budget of $800,000 for is Stephens which comes largely from 1he roman Catholic Church has been used to repair War related damage Zilk has announced that the City of Vienna will set aside the equivalent of $480.coo 3 year for to Cathedral Funa. An offer the Vienna archdiocese pledges in match Banks insurance companies and other sponsors have also promised to help and a Bank account has been opened Tor Pii Vale donations. Marketing experts working free of charge arc scheduled to Appeal to the pubic in newspaper advertisement and television lil is. Bunij raising concurs. Open air events and galas Are also . By Joh Tagliabue new York times he problem is no one really knows Why this Tower does t  said Giuseppe Toniolo the White haired keeper of Pisa s famed leaning Tower one Al Italy s most visited tourist Sites. 1 from an engineering Point of View it s an Enigma Tonitto Sard gazing at re through finely traced gothic windows. Of 100 people you will ask Here 90 will Tell you if they Don t  will slay on its feel he said. It s enough in they Don t touch  Nlaly s 45ih postwar government collapsed recently and one consequence was to crags of a plan to prevent a More venerable italian institution the leaning Tower of Pisa from tailing. Over the centuries. Pisano like to Point of the lower has shown const desobry More stability than the nation s government which come and go in rapid succession. But in january Italy approved a two to three year project Locust $25 million to s30 million to Hall the glacial till of the boo year old Tower the problem being thai the 14,000-ton Marble Tower continues to slip southward from Ihn  Al a rate of one to iwo Millimetres a year. In 1965, after a drop in Pisa s Waier table caused the till id accelerate a special Law transferred control of the lower from Pisa to Rome the idea according to Engineer Lamberto Porlino at Rome s ministry of Public works is of Creale an immense reinforced Concrete wheel just below the Gro fid surface around he Tower connected by Concrete spokes to its Marble foundation. The wheel will lest on slender piles reaching Down 175 Leel to firm layers of Sand stabilizing the underground wheel and hence the Tower which would protrude from it like a finely columned Axle. No Date has been set for the groundbreaking of is project during which he Low w would Wear an array of steel struts that Porlino said1 would support it much the Way a child s Walker keeps a toddler from stumbling. Some Pisano like Toniolo. Remain sceptical. Toniolo 77, a retired radiologist was appointed by Pisa s archbishop As 1he 96th Holder of an office that was founded in 1089, essentially to oversee the craftsmen building the lower and adjacent Cathedral. He said most Pisano now believed the Tower to be immeasurably More stable than any government in Rome. When there s an earthquake in Italy the Tower sways he said Tilting a gaunt Arm from he Elbow to demonstrate the pen Dular movement. When the Libecci blows 80,100 Kilometres an  he went on. Describing the fierce wird that sweeps Pisa from the Mediterranean i sways but in never tips Over. It returns to its starting Point the Arm halted abruptly outstretched fingers pointing to the ceiling Al a slight tilt. The Tower has been through so Many Vicissitudes he said seder no behind a desk under a gilded plaque i Sling his predecessors including Bonanno Pisano. Who began work on the Tower in 1174. In world War a Pisa was a rail Center and american bombers destroyed parts of the cily beyond the Arno. The whole City Shook bul the Tower was not  work was interrupted 100 years after Bonanno began when the tuscan City s Sandy soil failed to support the Tower s bulk. It was completed when Tommaso Pisano capped in with a Belfry containing one Bell for each of the seven tones of the scale despite an incline that is roughly 14 feet off the perpendicular bequeathing an anomaly that 800.000 or so Lou Nils come to see each year. Engineers like Porlino who headed engineering efforts to save Venice from Iho Walers of the Lagoon before he came to Rome Are likewise impressed by the Tower s solidity bul i hey know extreme caution is needed. A by Corn Panson. Was simple Sorl Iho said scanning a blueprint of the wheel vaguely eve ohm a Star wars space Stahon. If you Pul a fit Ono in the water there and it did t work you took it out. Here when you slip the lower collapses. And who is going to Pul it together again Page 18 the stars and stripes sunday. May 3, 1987