Fernsehturm Stuttgart ( en, Stuttgart TV Tower) is a

telecommunications tower Radio masts and towers are typically tall structures designed to support antennas for telecommunications and broadcasting, including television. There are two main types: guyed and self-supporting structures. They are among the tallest human-made ...

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

, Germany. It was the first telecommunications tower in the world constructed from

reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete (RC), also called reinforced cement concrete (RCC) and ferroconcrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having hig ...

, and it is the prototype for many such towers worldwide. Although controversial at first, it quickly became a well known

landmark A landmark is a recognizable natural or artificial feature used for navigation, a feature that stands out from its near environment and is often visible from long distances. In modern use, the term can also be applied to smaller structures or f ...

of Stuttgart and a tourist attraction.

Location

The tower is located on the hill '' Hoher Bopser'' (elevation 483 meters) in the southern Stuttgart borough of Degerloch. From the observation decks there is a view of Stuttgart, from the forests and vineyards in and around Stuttgart to the

Swabian Jura The Swabian Jura (german: Schwäbische Alb , more rarely ), sometimes also named Swabian Alps in English, is a mountain range in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, extending from southwest to northeast and in width. It is named after the region of ...

and the

Black Forest The Black Forest (german: Schwarzwald ) is a large forested mountain range in the state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany, bounded by the Rhine Valley to the west and south and close to the borders with France and Switzerland. It is t ...

History

The tower's construction was controversial – critics opposed the new building method and its costs; a simple 200-meter antenna array would have cost just 200,000 DM. Construction began on 10 January 1954 and continued for 20 months. This made it the first telecom tower in the world built with reinforced concrete. The construction cost was 4.2 million DM. Revenues from visitors reached that sum within five years. The tower was placed in service on 5 February 1956 by Süddeutscher Rundfunk (today

Südwestrundfunk Südwestrundfunk (SWR; ''Southwest Broadcasting'') is a regional public broadcasting corporation serving the southwest of Germany , specifically the federal states of Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate. The corporation has main offices ...

– SWR). It was part of the German state visit of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom in May 1965. The tower reached its current height of after the antenna was extended from October 1965 to December 1965.

Specifications

* Engineer:

Fritz Leonhardt Fritz Leonhardt (12 July 1909 – 30 December 1999) was a German structural engineer who made major contributions to 20th-century bridge engineering, especially in the development of cable-stayed bridges. His book ''Bridges: Aesthetics and Design ...

* Altitude: Foot of tower above sea level * Overall height to the antenna point: * Height of upper observation deck: * Height of lower observation deck: * Diameter of foundation: * Total weight of tower: approximately 3,000 tons * Weight of foundation: approximately 1,500 tons * Speed of elevators: * Panorama Café on a platform of the tower basket * Maximum diameter of tower basket:

Broadcasting

The tower is still known as ''Fernsehturm'' but today only broadcasts several public

FM radio FM broadcasting is a method of radio broadcasting using frequency modulation (FM). Invented in 1933 by American engineer Edwin Armstrong, wide-band FM is used worldwide to provide high fidelity sound over broadcast radio. FM broadcasting is cap ...

stations. Transmission of the ARD TV network's analogue service stopped in 2006. The digital television services have moved to nearby ''

Fernmeldeturm Stuttgart The Stuttgarter Fernmeldeturm (Stuttgart Telecommunication Tower) is a reinforced concrete tower for radio relay, FM, and TV transmitting services at Stuttgart-Frauenkopf in Germany (Geographical coordinates: ). Unlike the Stuttgart TV tower, it ...

'', which also broadcasts private FM radio stations in the area.

Air traffic warning lights

The tower carries beside the conventional red air traffic warning lights three rotating xenon lamps similar to those used on lighthouses just above the observation deck.

Public access

On 27 March 2013 the tower was closed to the public because of a review of fire safety regulations. The tower was reopened on 30 January 2016 with a refurbished entrance, shop area and new, optimised fire safety precautions.

Gallery

Stuttgart TV tower at night.jpg, Fernsehturm Stuttgart after dark Fernsehturm stuttgart plaque.jpg, Commemorative plaque at the tower's base Fundamentfuss-Stuttgarter-Fernsehturm.png, Foundation of Fernsehturm Stuttgart Informationstafel Fernsehturm Stuttgart26082018.png, Stations transmitted from the tower Stuttgarter Fernsehturm en.svg, Tower basket Fernsehturm Stuttgart and Full Moon Summer 2013 06.jpg, The tower in 2013, without interior illumination due to the closure to the general public. StuttgartTVTowerObservationDeck.jpg, Observation deck

Sky Tower (Auckland) The Sky Tower is a telecommunications and observation tower in Auckland, New Zealand. Located at the corner of Victoria and Federal Streets within the city's CBD, it is tall, as measured from ground level to the top of the mast,Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

Fernsehturm Berlin The Berliner Fernsehturm or Fernsehturm Berlin ( en, Berlin Television Tower) is a television tower in central Berlin, Germany. Located in the Marien quarter (''Marienviertel''), close to Alexanderplatz in the locality and district of Mitte, ...

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Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

* Ostankino Tower,

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

References

External links

TV tower Stuttgart

Satellite Image
{{Authority control Buildings and structures in Stuttgart Communication towers in Germany Observation towers in Baden-Württemberg Radio masts and towers in Germany Towers completed in 1956 Tourist attractions in Stuttgart Observation towers Restaurant towers 1956 establishments in West Germany