 The leaning tower of Pisa has defied gravity for more than 800 yearss - but now Italian authorities are afraid it might be knocked down in a terror attack.
The first of several gates aimed at protecting the tower as well as the adjacent medieval cathedral andbaptisteryhas been put into place. The tower scores high on a list of monuments and buildings at risk, drawn up by security chiefs last year. The 250,000-euro project will install two more iron gates and a CCTV system. But the regional superintendent for the artistic and historical heritage of Tuscany, Antonio Paolucci, did not seem to impressed. "If al-Qaeda want to carry out an attack, they will go ahead with it. It won't be two things put up in front of it [the tower] that will stop them," he said. The leaning tower was reportedly one of the targets of a string of bombings carried out by the Sicilian Mafia in 1993 though it was not hit. In anunprecedentedattack on Italy's cultural heritage, Cosa Nostra planted bombs at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence as well as near two churches in Rome. But in December 2003, Italian intelligence revealed that the tower was in the sights of Islamist terror groups. The attack was not deemed very likely, but authorities decided to put up barriers that would protect the monuments from a possible car bomb attack. The 13th-Century tower is one of Italy's top tourist attractions. It was closed in 1990 when experts said it risked toppling over. The million euro restoration works corrected the lean by 45 centimetres, guaranteeing the tower's survival for two more centuries at least - provided it does not become a terrorist target. (Agencies)
| 比薩斜塔和地心引力抗衡了800多年，但是目前意大利官方擔(dān)心它有可能在恐怖襲擊中倒塌。 首批旨在保護(hù)斜塔及其附近的中世紀(jì)教堂和洗禮堂的安全門(mén)已經(jīng)安裝完畢。 在去年由安全部門(mén)領(lǐng)導(dǎo)們列出的受到威脅的紀(jì)念物和建筑物清單中，比薩斜塔的排名靠前。 這項(xiàng)花費(fèi)25萬(wàn)歐元的工程將再安裝兩扇大鐵門(mén)和一套閉路電視系統(tǒng)。 但托斯卡納地區(qū)藝術(shù)和文化遺產(chǎn)負(fù)責(zé)人安東尼奧·保盧奇似乎對(duì)此不以為然。 他說(shuō)：“如果基地組織想要攻擊斜塔的話，他們會(huì)直接撞擊斜塔。在塔前安裝兩扇安全門(mén)無(wú)法阻止他們的攻擊?！?/p> 據(jù)報(bào)道，在1993年西西里黑手黨制造的一連串爆炸事件中，比薩斜塔是攻擊目標(biāo)之一，但是斜塔沒(méi)有遭到襲擊。 在一次旨在破壞意大利文化遺產(chǎn)的規(guī)?？涨暗囊u擊中，“科薩·諾斯特拉”(美國(guó)黑手黨犯罪集團(tuán)的秘密代號(hào))在佛羅倫薩的烏菲爾美術(shù)館和羅馬的兩個(gè)教堂附近安放了炸彈。 2003年12月，意大利情報(bào)部門(mén)透露，比薩斜塔已進(jìn)入伊斯蘭恐怖集團(tuán)的視野。 襲擊被認(rèn)為不太可能發(fā)生，但是意大利當(dāng)局還是決定在斜塔前設(shè)置路障，保護(hù)其免受可能發(fā)生的汽車(chē)炸彈襲擊。 這座建于13世紀(jì)的斜塔是意大利最受歡迎的旅游景點(diǎn)之一。 1990年，斜塔停止向公眾開(kāi)放，專家們說(shuō)它有倒塌的危險(xiǎn)。 耗費(fèi)上百萬(wàn)歐元的修建工程將斜塔的傾斜度修正了45厘米，保證斜塔只要不是恐怖襲擊的目標(biāo)，至少在兩百年內(nèi)不會(huì)倒塌。 baptistery:洗禮堂
unprecedented:空前的
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Updated: 2004-06-29 01:00
