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Berliner Fernsehturm

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PaulH
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5 out of 5
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Editor Pick

Berliner Fernsehturm

  • March 3, 2008
  • Rated 5 of 5 by oldscratch from New York, New York
Berliner Fernsehturm

New York has the Empire State Building, Paris has the Eiffel Tower, and Berlin has the Fernsehturm, a television tower built in 1969 in Alexanderplatz in the former East Berlin. And just as the Empire State Building and the Eiffel Tower have become icons and ultimately shorthand for their respective cities, it's hard to find a Berlin postcard, souvenir, or other bit of city-inspired graphic design that doesn't somehow feature this landmark and navigational aid.

The design of the Fernsehtrum is simple enough—depending upon your proclivity, either a disco ball or a golf ball impaled by a long narrow spike. And although I actually didn't ride the elevator up and take a tour of the tower, in my mind the structure nonetheless remains very connected to my visit. Not only was the tower dramatically viewable from our hotel room window, but seemingly every time we turned a corner or crossed a street, a new view of the tower presented itself, and I took a moment to photograph it.

One interesting bit of trivia to note about the Fernsehturm is that the mirrored windows of the ball create a cross when struck by the sun. (See the photos attached to this review.) Given that the tower was built behind the Wall in the athesistic East Germany, this peculiar feature became known as the "Pope's Revenge."

From journal A Long Weekend in Berlin

Berliner Fernsehturm

  • August 17, 2001
  • Rated 4 of 5 by PaulH from London, United Kingdom
This is a great way to see the sights of Berlin. You're about 200 metres off the ground and can do mad things like get married up there! The tower affords a brilliant view for upto 40km (apparently) and spectacular vistas at sundown and when it's dark. The rotating "Telecafe" at the top allows you to relax in comfort and have a coffee whilst making two complete rotations an hour. Surprisingly, it's not that expensive just to have a drink and a snack.

Be warned that visitors in wheelchairs cannot ascend to the top of the tower.

The former GDR saw the necessity to build a powerful transmitter in the middle of the eastern part of Berlin and in addition to this the Television Tower was meant to become an architectural and political symbol. It took only 53 months to build and on October 3, 1969 the Television Tower of Berlin was put into operation.

At the turn of the year 1995/96 the inside of the tower was renovated and the neo-60s charm of the place was completely renewed!

From journal East meets West

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