The Leaning Tower of Pisa has slowly started defying its name, losing four centimeters of its tilt over the past 17 years.

Axar.az reports citing Interfax.

The movement, roughly 1.5 inches, comes after extensive consolidation work done between 1993 and 2001, which was required to reverse its slump and keep the tower upright.

It means the building in Tuscany, which attracts thousands of tourists every day, is back to the tilt it had at the beginning of the 19th century, according to professor Salvatore Settis, who leads the surveillance group of the monument.

Construction of the tower started in 1173 in the then-seafaring republic of Pisa, but the sandy soil meant it quickly began tilting

The operation forced the closure of the Tower to visitors for nearly a decade. It was reopened in late 2001.