The Kiev TV Tower is a metal spatial lattice free-standing high-rise structure with a height of 385 meters. This is the tallest lattice structure in the world. The tower was built on the site of an old Jewish cemetery according to the design of the UkrNIIproektstalkonstruktsiya institute (they also designed Paton Bridge, Ukraine Palace, station complex of Kiev-Pasazhyrsky station) named after Vitaly Shimanovsky (corresponding member of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor , whose name is associated with a number of progressive steps in the field of design). Construction of the television tower lasted from 1968 to 1973. The weight of the tower’s metal structures is 2700 tons. The tower consists entirely of steel pipes of various diameters. The lower part of the tower consists of four inclined lattice supports that support the prismatic lattice part. In the central part of the tower there is a vertical pipe with a diameter of 4 meters. It serves as an elevator shaft and smoothly transitions into the antenna part. The tower has 2 elevators, one of which operates up to 200 meters, the other – 329 meters. At 80 and 200 meters there are two technical rooms. The first director of the Kyiv TV tower from 1972 to 2004 was Valerian Sidorenko. Under his leadership, 19 analogue television transmitters, 1 digital television transmitter of the DVB-T standard and 28 radio transmitters were put into operation.
This is interesting!
1. A unique feature of the design is that no bolts or rivets were used for the assembly connection of the tubular elements of the tower; all assembly connections are made by electric welding. All metal structures were manufactured in the Ukrainian SSR; design, installation and construction work were also carried out by Soviet engineers.
2. The tower is 60 meters higher than the Eiffel Tower, but weighs 3 times less.
3. The tallest building in Ukraine, as well as the tallest lattice and all-metal free-standing structure in the world.
But how did television work before 1968? Before the Kyiv TV tower there was another transmitter. In 1951, a television center opened at the address Khreshchatik, 26, and the first Kiev television tower was located nearby. It was a structure 180 meters high and having a triangle shape in plan. The TV tower initially broadcast only one channel and only outside working hours. In 1959, the development of daytime broadcasting began, and in 1962, when another antenna was installed, the broadcast of black and white programs began on two channels. It soon became clear that the tower could not cope with the increasing loads: the signal from it extended a maximum of 50-60 kilometers, and the coverage area was planned to be increased; television was soon to become color, the number of channels and frequencies was sooner or later to increase, which, in turn, required the installation of a large amount of equipment on a tower that was not designed for this. Among other things, maintaining such a structure in the very center of Kiev was simply dangerous: in winter, icicles falling from a great height could hit passers-by in neighboring yards, and if the equipment fell, the consequences could be even worse. As a result, it was decided to build a new transmission complex in a new location – and this is how the current Kiev TV tower on Dorogozhichi appeared.
Where is the Kiev TV tower?
Orangereinaya street, 10