Kyiv TV Tower: Interesting Facts

The Kyiv TV Tower at a Glance

The Kyiv TV Tower is a freestanding steel lattice structure 385 meters tall. It is often described as the tallest lattice tower in the world.

The tower was built on the site of an old cemetery, to a design by the V. N. Shymanovskyi Ukrainian Research and Design Institute of Steel Structures in Kyiv. Construction lasted from 1968 to 1973. Its steel structure weighs 2,700 tonnes and is made entirely of steel tubes of various diameters. The lower part (the base) consists of four inclined lattice legs supporting a prismatic lattice section. A vertical tube 4 meters in diameter runs up the center; it serves as the elevator shaft and smoothly turns into the antenna section. The tower has two elevators: one goes up to the 200-meter mark, the other to 329 meters. There are two technical floors, at 80 and 200 meters.

Interesting Facts

• A unique feature of the design is that no bolts or rivets were used to join the tubular elements on site: all joints were made by electric welding. The tower was also built with a unique "growing" method, without cranes or helicopters. All the steel was manufactured in Ukraine, and the design, assembly and construction were carried out entirely by local engineers.
• The tower is taller than the Eiffel Tower, yet weighs about three times less.
• It is the tallest structure in Ukraine.
• It is the tallest lattice structure in the world.