The Vilnius TV Tower ( lt, Vilniaus televizijos bokštas) is a high

tower A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...

in the

Karoliniškės Karoliniškės is a microdistrict and eldership of Vilnius, Lithuania. Construction of this district started in 1971. Karoliniškės covers about 3.7 km² in area. There is about 1.015 km² of the slop area along the Neris River, and about 0.11 ...

microdistrict Microdistrict, or microraion (russian: микрорайо́н, ''mikrorajón''), is a residential complex—a primary structural element of the residential area construction in the Soviet Union and in some post-Soviet and former Socialist st ...

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

. It is the tallest structure in Lithuania, and it belongs to the SC Lithuanian Radio and Television Centre ( lt, AB Lietuvos radijo ir televizijos centras).

Design and construction

The tower was designed by V. Obydov and the engineering section by K. Balėnas. The construction of the tower started on 31 May 1974 and finished on December 30, 1980. The construction was funded by the 11th Five Year Plan of the Soviet Union, which had earmarked funds for strategic investment in the then Lithuanian SSR. The weight of the whole structure is estimated at . The structure is composed of a concrete base, a long hollow

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 ...

pipe, a reinforced concrete saucer, and a long steel spike. Radio transmitters are housed in the lower part of the concrete tower with antennas attached to the steel spike. The observation deck from the ground houses the cafe "Paukščių takas" ( en, Milky Way), offers a picturesque view of the city and its surroundings, and sports a rotating platform that revolves once every 45 minutes. High-speed elevators reach the cafe from ground level in 40 seconds. On clear days, visibility can extend as far as Elektrėnai, a city approximately west, where power plants produced much of the electricity for Vilnius in Soviet times.

Museum

The TV tower played a major role in the events of 13 January 1991, when 14 unarmed civilians lost their lives and 700 were injured opposing the Soviet military seizure of the tower. A small museum dedicated to the January 1991 battle is housed on the ground floor, and various markers in the surrounding area indicate places where Lithuanian citizens died while trying to maintain the blockade against Soviet troops.

Decoration

Since

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

, the tower has been decorated to look like a

Christmas tree A Christmas tree is a decorated tree, usually an evergreen conifer, such as a spruce, pine or fir, or an artificial tree of similar appearance, associated with the celebration of Christmas. The custom was further developed in early modern ...

each Christmas season. During the

2006 World Basketball Championship The 2006 FIBA World Championship was the 15th FIBA World Championship, the international basketball world championship for men's national teams. The tournament was hosted by Japan and held from 19 August to 3 September 2006. It was co-organised b ...

it was decorated with a large basketball net. Vilnius TV Tower becam
the biggest basketball hoop in the world
during the 2011 FIBA European Basketball Championship. The hoop was 35 metres in diameter with a 40 metre-high net, assembled at a height of 170 metres. The lighting of the giant hoop took 2,560 metres of lighting cable and 545 bulbs. Bungee jumps are available to the public from the roof of the observation deck. Since 2019 tower decorations had changed.

LED lighting An LED lamp or LED light bulb is an electric light that produces light using light-emitting diodes (LEDs). LED lamps are significantly more energy-efficient than equivalent incandescent lamps and can be significantly more efficient than mos ...

was installed and the tower has been glowing bright blue color in the dark. During national celebrations, the tower changes its color according

lithuanian flag The national flag of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos vėliava) consists of a horizontal tricolour of yellow, green, and red. It was adopted on 25 April 1918 during Lithuania's first period of independence (in the 20th century) from 1918 to 1940, which ...

colors - yellow, green and red, dimming into each other and glowing for 2 minutes in one color.

References

External links

The Vilnius TV tower official website

SC Lithuanian Radio and Television Centre official website
* {{Supertall Buildings and structures in Vilnius Towers built in the Soviet Union Towers in Lithuania Television in Lithuania Towers completed in 1980 Towers with revolving restaurants Radio masts and towers in Europe Observation towers