Its architect and engineer tried to correct this by making the remaining stories shorter on the uphill side – but to no avail. It kept leaning more and more.
The lean, first noted when three of the tower’s eight stories had been built, resulted from the foundation stones being laid on soft ground consisting of clay, fine sand and shells.
The next stories were built slightly taller on the short side of the tower in an attempt to compensate for the lean. However, the weight of the extra floors caused the edifice to sink further and lean more.