Ontheroofs is an

urban exploration Urban exploration (often shortened as UE, urbex and sometimes known as roof and tunnel hacking) is the exploration of manmade structures, usually abandoned ruins or hidden components of the manmade environment. Photography and historical inter ...

and

rooftopping Rooftopping sometimes called roofing refers to the unsecured ascent of rooftops, cranes, antennas, smokestacks, etc., usually illegally. Rooftoppers usually take photos or videos and panoramic photographs—either a selfie by themselves or with th ...

photography project conceived by Vitaliy Raskalov () and Vadim Makhorov (), from Ukraine and from Russia respectively. Their main focus of photography is the exploration of high-rise architectural structures like skyscrapers, bridges, historic sites and cathedrals. The team have been notable for their number of free-climbs up famous buildings and monuments around the world. Typically, their videos are uploaded onto

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

and showcase their ascent and descent. Raskalov and Makhorov appeared as recurring cast in the documentary series '' URBEX – Enter At Your Own Risk'', which launched globally on

Red Bull TV Red Bull TV is a global multi-platform channel owned by Red Bull GmbH, distributed digitally on connected TVs, smartphones, tablets, and on its website. The channel is available globally. Programming is in English (with optional subtitles and clos ...

on August 1, 2016.

Members

The project was conceived by Vitaliy Raskolov. Raskolov grew up in

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the seventh-most populous city in Europe. Kyi ...

, but at the age of 12, he moved to Moscow, where he would later study journalism, but drop out in 2009 to become a photographer. He met Makhorov, who is from Novosibirsk, while climbing a bridge. In 2017, Raskalov and Makhorov expanded the team to include the New-York based rooftopper Emit, known as em.1t across social media platforms.

Climbs

In 2012, the duo climbed the Mercury City Tower in Moscow. Raskalov and Makhorov received press attention in early 2014 when they climbed up the

Shanghai Tower Shanghai Tower () is a 128-story, megatall skyscraper in Lujiazui, Pudong, Shanghai.

, the second tallest building in the world. They entered the construction site of the unfinished tower during the Lunar New Year. The popularity of the video sparked a discussion on the safety and the liability of the incident. Later in 2014, they hijacked an LED billboard on the roof of a Hong Kong building, advertising their Shanghai climb on the billboard. In April 2016, a video was posted of them climbing the

Lotte World Tower The Lotte World Tower () is a 123-story Megatall skyscraper located in Sincheon-dong, Songpa, Seoul, South Korea. It opened to the public on April 3, 2017, and is currently the tallest building in South Korea and the sixth tallest in the worl ...

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 of ...

. Despite the construction site having guard dogs, security officers and monitoring drones, Raskalov and Makhorov managed to bypass the security and climb the under construction building. In 2017, Raskolov and Emit climbed the

Central Park Tower Central Park Tower is a residential supertall skyscraper at 225 West 57th Street in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, along Billionaires' Row. Designed by Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture, the building rises with ...

. Other structures climbed by Raskolov are the

Eiffel Tower The Eiffel Tower ( ; french: links=yes, tour Eiffel ) is a wrought-iron lattice tower on the Champ de Mars in Paris, France. It is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower. Locally nicknamed "' ...

, the

Great Pyramid of Giza The Great Pyramid of Giza is the biggest Egyptian pyramid and the tomb of Fourth Dynasty pharaoh Khufu. Built in the early 26th century BC during a period of around 27 years, the pyramid is the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient Worl ...

and the statue of Christ the Redeemer.

References

External links

*{{official website, ontheroofs.com Photography by genre Urban exploration Russian photographers