 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心它有可能在恐怖襲擊中倒塌。 首批旨在保護斜塔及其附近的中世紀教堂和洗禮堂的安全門已經安裝完畢。 在去年由安全部門領導們列出的受到威脅的紀念物和建筑物清單中，比薩斜塔的排名靠前。 這項花費25萬歐元的工程將再安裝兩扇大鐵門和一套閉路電視系統。 但托斯卡納地區藝術和文化遺產負責人安東尼奧·保盧奇似乎對此不以為然。 他說：“如果基地組織想要攻擊斜塔的話，他們會直接撞擊斜塔。在塔前安裝兩扇安全門無法阻止他們的攻擊。” 據報道，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之一，但是斜塔沒有遭到襲擊。 在一次旨在破壞意大利文化遺產的規模空前的襲擊中，“科薩·諾斯特拉”(美國黑手黨犯罪集團的秘密代號)在佛羅倫薩的烏菲爾美術館和羅馬的兩個教堂附近安放了炸彈。 2003年12月，意大利情報部門透露，比薩斜塔已進入伊斯蘭恐怖集團的視野。 襲擊被認為不太可能發生，但是意大利當局還是決定在斜塔前設置路障，保護其免受可能發生的汽車炸彈襲擊。 這座建于13世紀的斜塔是意大利最受歡迎的旅游景點之一。 1990年，斜塔停止向公眾開放，專家們說它有倒塌的危險。 耗費上百萬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，至少在兩百年內不會倒塌。 baptistery:洗禮堂
unprecedented:空前的
（中國日報網站譯）
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Updated: 2004-06-29 01:00
