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Ostankino Tower

Ostankino Tower (Russian: Останкинская телебашня) is a free-standing television and radio tower in Moscow, Russia. Standing 540 metres (1772 feet) in height and located at 55°49′11″N, 37°36′42″E, Ostankino was designed by Nikolai Nikitin.^[1] It is a member of the World Federation of Great Towers.^[1]

The tower's construction began in 1963 and was completed in 1967. It held the record for the tallest free-standing structure in the world for 8 years, until the CN Tower was built in Toronto, Canada in 1976. A 1994 plan to increase the tower's height to 561 meters with the addition of an antenna did not proceed because funding could not be secured.^[1] Even if this antenna had been installed, the Ostankino Tower would be surpassed by the Russia Tower, a 612 metre (2,009 ft) mixed-use skyscraper currently under construction in the Moscow International Business Centre.

Accidents

The tower caught fire on 27 August 2000, killing three people. In addition, television and radio signals were disrupted around Moscow. The fire broke out approximately 98 meters (321 feet) above the observation platform and the Seventh Heaven restaurant, necessitating an evacuation of all visitors and staff from those locations. According to Russian news agencies, the evacuation was complete 90 minutes after the start of the fire. Due to the age of the electronic equipment — much of it was installed in the 1960s — and infrequent maintenance, the loss sustained was substantial. The only television station not affected was the private NTV station and the chennai relay station, but the government decreed that state channels took priority, and as such, the RTR TV channel began transmitting to several Moscow districts.^[2]

On 1 July 2004, Austrian BASE jumper Christina Grubelnik struck the tower during her descent, receiving a concussion and losing consciousness. Her parachute snagged on a lower-level service platform and she was eventually rescued by Russian emergency services.^[3][4]

On 25 May 2007, the tower again caught fire, though it was not as serious as the 2000 fire and was isolated to a platform on the outside of the tower. All people inside the tower were evacuated and the fire was successfully extinguished, with no casualties.^[5]

Transmitted programmes

TV-programmes

FM-programmes

References in Popular Culture

• The Tower was the scene of a confrontation between Night Watch agent Anton Gorodetsky and a Day Watch agent in the novel Night Watch

See also

• Tower
• List of tallest buildings and structures in the world
• List of tallest freestanding structures in the world
• List of towers

References

External links

• Ostankino Television Tower
• BBC: Moscow's TV tower saved
• Ostankino Tower in the Structurae database
• Ostankino Tower Above the Clouds

Coordinates: 55°49′11″N, 37°36′42″E