German church Steeple snatches the most tilted tower record

Nov 10: Guinness Book of World Records made another entry in its highly distinguished records; a 15 th century church Steeple in Germany became the most tilted tower in the world.

The confirmation of the church’s entry came on Thursday; the Steeple grabbed this special position from the Leaning Tower of Pisa, which was earlier the most tilted tower in the world.

This 27-metre-high tower in the northern village of Suurhusen tilts at an angle of 5.19 degrees, much greater angle as compared to 3.97 degrees of the Pisa tower.

The elated pastor of Church Frank Wessels said, “We have always known it, but now it's official”.

Tjabbo van Lessen a local historian said that the church was built in marshy land in 1450 on foundation of oak tree trunks which were preserved by the water in the ground, the wood decomposed with time as a result the tower tilted to such an extent.

The Steeple was closed for safety reason in the year 1975 but reopened later after it was made safe.

The village Suurhusen might have never come to notice if the Steeple would not have fetched this distinction, with 1200 residents near Germany’s border with the Netherlands, this news has opened new vistas to get all the tourist attraction.

Olaf Kuchenbecker, manager of the German edition of the Guinness World Records book, presented the certificate of the church’s accomplishment in a small ceremony.

He said,” Your church tower may not be quite as famous as the one in Pisa, but your tower is definitely the most tilted in the world. The Steeple tilts at an angle of 5.17 degrees, while the Pisa tower tilts at just 3.97 degrees. When you lay photos of the two next to each other you can see it relatively clearly”.

He told the villagers that the new records will appear in the next autumn edition of the Guinness Book of World Records.

The church tower's tilt angle is greater than Pisa's tower, but it has less than half of Pisa’s height which till now has kept itself visibly erect in the history of record books.