OSTANKINO TOWER

Description

Essentials about the Ostankino Tower in brief

If you want to enjoy the best and widest view of Moscow, you have to make your way to the Ostankino TV Tower. Located about eight kilometers north of the city center, the TV Tower is a superlative structure. With a height of 537 meters, it is the tallest structure in Europe and was also the tallest free-standing structure in the world from its completion in 1967 until 1975 (in 1976 it was surpassed by the 553-meter CN Tower in Toronto). Even today, the Ostankino TV Tower is one of the tallest structures of its kind in the world (surpassed only by the Tokyo Sky Tree, the Canton Tower and the CN Tower). From its observation platforms at a height of 340 meters, one can enjoy a magnificent view over the metropolis of Moscow with its millions of inhabitants.

The history of the Ostankino Tower

The Ostankino TV Tower was designed by the Russian civil engineer and architect Nikolai Vasilyevich Nikitin. Construction began in 1963 and the mega-structure was completed in just four years. In August 2000, the TV tower was the scene of a tragedy. During a fire at a height of 450 meters, four people fell to their deaths in an elevator. The tower suffered such severe structural damage in the fire disaster that demolition was even considered. Due to the subsequent renovation work, the viewing platform and the tower restaurant were closed for several years. However, the TV tower has been open to the public again since 2009.

The architecture of the Ostankino Tower

The Ostankino TV Tower stands on a ring foundation 74 meters in diameter, which projects 3.5 meters into the earth. Its tower base consists of a 63-meter-high truncated cone with ten trapezoidal recesses. Above it are portholes of varying sizes. The unusual stilt-like base of the tower borrows its form from the plant world; tree trunks rise similarly into the sky.

The diameter of the tower shaft tapers from 18 to 8.10 meters. The concrete part is 385 meters high. Connected to it is a steel mast as an antenna support. Ring platforms for directional radio antennas and wind measuring equipment as well as individual floors for transmission purposes project out at different heights. The actual tower basket is located at a height of 325 to 360 meters and has eight stories. From its basic cylindrical shape, a likewise cylindrical floor protrudes from the center. Despite its height of over 500 meters and its weight of more than 50,000 tons, the Ostankino Television Tower is an extremely delicate appearance and almost looks like a fine needle rising into the Moscow city sky.

The viewing platforms of the Ostankino Tower

However, the main reason for visiting the TV Tower for most people will not be its successful architecture, but its viewing platforms. They are reached after a barely one-minute ride in a high-speed elevator. The Ostankino TV Tower has two viewing platforms: An open one at 340 meters (which is accessible only from May to October) and a closed one at 337 meters.

On fair weather days, you can see up to 20 kilometers from the viewing platforms. Those with a head for heights can also look down the more than 300 meters through a glass floor. The tour of the tower and the viewing platform, during which one learns technical and historical details about the TV tower, takes place as a guided excursion. If you wish, you can then enjoy a meal in the three-story restaurant complex located below the viewing platforms. It consists of a bistro, a café and a revolving restaurant with the significant name “7th heaven”, which offers the possibility to look at Moscow from different angles while eating.