A German town is divided over the future of a church tower that has developed a list greater than that of the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
The 183-foot tower in the eastern spa town of Bad Frankenhausen now leans 15 feet from the perpendicular, giving it an alarming and visible tilt. Pisa tower’s list is just 14 feet.
On Monday Bad Frankenhausen council voted to buy the tottering 600-year-old tower from the Protestant Church of Central Germany for 85 pence by nine votes to seven after a fractious public meeting. The church had said it would demolish the disused building because it could no longer afford the costly maintenance bills.
Efforts to stop the tower falling over started in 2007 but failed, and now each year the edifice lists over by an additional six centimetres.
To shore up the tower could cost at least GBP 680,000: money which many in the town believe could be better spent elsewhere. Karl-Josef Ringleb, a Christian Democrat councillor, said the town lacked the financial resources to make the tower safe and that it had “already swallowed up thousands of euros”.
But others disagree, arguing the town had the money and that the investment would be offset by tourists coming to see the “Leaning Towner of Bad Frankenhausen”.
