The Leaning Tower of Pisa is known worldwide for its precarious tilt - but now experts have revealed it's going straight.

The tower's Surveillance Group, which monitors restoration work, said the landmark is "stable and very slowly reducing its lean."

The 57m (186ft) medieval monument has been straightened by 4cm (1.5in) over the past two decades, the team said.

"It's as if it's had two centuries taken off its age," Professor Salvatore Settis explained. — BBC

The mystery of how, exactly, the pyramids were built may have come a step closer to being unravelled after a team of archaeologists made a chance discovery in an ancient Egyptian quarry.

Scientists researching ancient inscriptions happened upon a ramp with stairways and a series of what they believe to be postholes, which suggest that the job of hauling into place the huge blocks of stone used to build the monuments may have been completed more quickly than previously thought. — The Guardian

Two historic New York City theaters are getting ready to shine brightly under the Times Square spotlight once again. This week, developers behind the Times Square Theater and the Palace Theater, unveiled ambitious renovation and expansion plans for their establishments. — ny.curbed.com

With flawless blue skies and the latest landmarks of cutting edge design, postcards from across the Soviet Union were miniature propaganda posters for the success of the communist system.  

Showcasing brutalist hotels, futurist TV towers, and bold concrete tower blocks, each image is a snapshot of the transformative decades between 1960 and 1990: from the endless optimism of Khrushchev's Thaw, to the closing years of the Cold War. — calvertjournal.com

This is the era of the glass and steel airport. As if made from the same mold, shiny, glittering terminals have become a status symbol for any city with aspirations. But all of this is a world away from the remoteness of Russia's Arctic regions and the Siberian wilderness [...] built in the mid-20th century when the Soviet Union saw in air transport a way to expand the state's reach to every corner of its territory, even if that meant little more than a dirt runway and a radio shack. — cnn.com

If Michigan isn’t the first place that comes to mind when considering [the Modern era] — unlike, say, Germany or France in the 1920s — it should be. The presence of Ford in the city and Booth in the country was enough to make Michigan ground zero for the Modernist experiment [...] making the state home to perhaps the most diverse and best-preserved collection of early Modernist experiments in the world. — The New York Times

At around 12,000 years old, Göbekli Tepe in south-east Turkey has been billed as the world’s oldest temple. It is many millennia older than Stonehenge or Egypt’s great pyramids, built in the pre-pottery Neolithic period before writing or the wheel. But should Göbekli Tepe, which became a Unesco World Heritage Site in July, also be regarded as the world’s oldest piece of architecture? — The Art Newspaper

The Great Wall of China receives an average of more than 27,000 visitors every single day. This fall, eight lucky people will win a night at the Great Wall with 13,000 miles of history all to themselves.

In an effort to raise awareness for heritage site protection and cultural exchange, Airbnb is partnering with the Beijing Tourism Development Committee to host the first-ever overnight stays at the modern world wonder. — Travel+Leisure

The 378-page recommendation report filed by a group of preservationists, including preservationist Richard Schave and architect and 20th century architectural historian Alan Hess, calls on the city to protect the three most iconic structures of the Los Angeles Times complex [...] Purely from a design perspective, preserving The Times complex — once known as Times Mirror Square — is a difficult proposition. — latimes.com

America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places is an annual list that spotlights important examples of our nation’s architectural and cultural heritage that are at risk of destruction or irreparable damage. [...]

The National Trust’s 31st annual list includes a diverse mix of historic places across America facing a range of challenges and threats, from deferred maintenance to inappropriate development proposals to devastation wrought by natural disasters. — National Trust for Historic Preservation

The World Monuments Fund (WMF) received $1m from American Express to conserve eight of the 25 threatened cultural heritage sites on their watchlist. The awards range from $25,000 to $225,000 and many will be used to respond to damage inflicted by climate change. [...]

The WMF has also received funding from a private donor and the Friends of Heritage Preservation for the Alabama Civil Rights Sites. The 14 other threatened monuments on the group’s list are still seeking support. — The Art Newspaper

Officially called the “House-Monument of the Bulgarian Communist Party”, the building fell into disrepair following the collapse of the country's socialist government in 1989, but remains a popular landmark and tourist attraction. The trip comes before an expected visit by European and Bulgarian experts at the end of 2018, who will report on the building’s structural integrity with the view of opening it officially to tourists. — The Calvert Journal

Despite the 90-day hold on demolition permits for buildings determined to be historic by the city, Miller says that some city council members have used aldermanic prerogative to fast-track the eventual destruction of significant structures. But more often than not, Miller says that communities and preservation advocates simply do not have enough time to line up a buyer or produce a plan for adaptive reuse when demolition threats surface. — Chicago Magazine