A blessing and an enduring architectural marvel, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, La Torre Pendente, rises from the soft ground of Tuscany as if it were both bowing and standing tall at once. Italy’s most famous cathedral bell tower is about 58 meters (189 feet) high and took nearly two centuries to complete, from 1173 to about 1372.

The tower was conceived as a proud display of medieval wealth and power, a shining companion to the nearby cathedral and baptistery. Legend holds that Galileo Galilei climbed to the top to test how objects fall, turning the height of the tower into an open-air laboratory.

Standing on the Piazza dei Miracoli and built of stone and white marble, the tower began to lean almost as soon as construction began. The soil beneath it—soft sand and silt—could not fully bear its weight. Year after year, the tilt increased, a quiet reminder that even great works depend on the ground they rest upon.

“When you come in through the West Gate and see this glistening white structure rising beside the Cathedral with its quiet symmetry, it is beautiful... breathtaking,” said engineer John Burland. The tilt only deepened its strange charm.

In recent decades, though, the lean grew dangerous. As it approached ten degrees, engineers watched the tower shift a little more each day. To protect lives and preserve history, the Italian government closed the landmark in 1989.

With the help of many engineers and scientists, a $24 million restoration project slowly stabilized the tower and reduced the lean by about fifteen inches. On this day in 2001, it reopened to visitors, preserved for generations as a passionate celebration of human imagination and cultural memory.

Writer Richard Covington reflected that if this masterpiece of “hubris in stone” can defy gravity and surprise the laws of physics, then there is still hope for the mysteries that do not quite add up. Perhaps that is what draws millions of visitors to the piazza each year, the invitation to witness a persistent miracle leaning into the sky.

The Leaning Tower of Pisa reminds us that even when we are not perfectly straight, we can still stand and shine. To those leaning on the sustaining infinite, today is indeed big with blessings.