The Almaty Television Tower (russian: Алматинская телебашня), or simply Almaty Tower, formally the Koktobe TV Tower (russian: Телебашня «Коктобе») is a
steel
Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistan ...
television tower
Radio masts and towers are typically tall structures designed to support antennas for telecommunications and broadcasting, including television. There are two main types: guyed and self-supporting structures. They are among the tallest human-made ...
built between 1975 and 1983 in
Almaty
Almaty (; kk, Алматы; ), formerly known as Alma-Ata ( kk, Алма-Ата), is the largest city in Kazakhstan, with a population of about 2 million. It was the capital of Kazakhstan from 1929 to 1936 as an autonomous republic as part of ...
,
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...
. The tower is located on high slopes of
Kok Tobe mountain ( kk, Көктөбе means "green hill") south-east of downtown Almaty. Unlike other similar TV towers, it is not a concrete, but a steel tubular structure. It is the tallest free-standing tubular steel structure in the world.
The tower is 371.5 m (1,219 ft) tall; its 114 m metal aerial reaches 1000 meters above sea level. It has two observation decks at the height of 146 m and 252 m, which are accessible by two high-speed elevators. It is however not open to the public.
On the north-western wall of the tower, in honor of the launch of the
Soyuz T-12
Soyuz T-12 (also known as Salyut 7 EP-4) was the seventh crewed spaceflight to the Soviet space station Salyut 7. The name "Soyuz T-12" is also the name of the spacecraft used to launch and land the mission's three-person crew. The mission occurr ...
spacecraft, one of the largest mosaics in the city was installed, 20 meters long and 8 meters high. The authors of the mosaic are unknown. Image of a mosaic of satellites and astronauts. The tower contains several tunnels leading to the bomb shelter.
History
The tower was built by the architects Terziev, Savchenko, Akimov and Ostroumov.
The design of the KM stage was developed in the department of high-rise structures of the under the guidance of B. V. Ostroumov, with the participation of "Fundamentproekt" (Moscow) and the Kazakh branch of the "Central Research and Design Institute of Steel and Structures". The tower's structures were manufactured and assembled by the "Kazmontazhstroydetal" and "Kazstalmontazh" trusts of the
Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic
; kk, Қазақ Советтік Социалистік Республикасы)
*1991: Republic of Kazakhstan (russian: Республика Казахстан; kk, Қазақстан Республикасы)
, linking_name = the ...
's "Minmontazhspetsstroy".
The tower entered operation on 1 June 1984, having cost 600 million rubles. In October 1984 there was a fire in the tower: TV transmitter feeders burned due to errors in calculating the distribution of radio radiation power over the antenna panels.
Reconstruction
In March 2012, the
Ministry of Transport and Communications and the Akimat of Almaty signed an agreement on the reconstruction and modernization of the TV tower and the surrounding area, starting the following year. The plan involves opening the tower to tourists.
Monument status
On 10 November 2010, a new State List of Historical and Cultural Monuments of Local Significance in Almaty was approved, simultaneously with which all previous decisions on this subject were declared invalid. In this decree, the status of the Koktobe TV Tower as a monument of local importance was preserved. The boundaries of the protection zones were approved in 2014.
See also
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Radio masts and towers
Radio masts and towers are typically tall structures designed to support antennas for telecommunications and broadcasting, including television. There are two main types: guyed and self-supporting structures. They are among the tallest human-made ...
*
List of tallest towers in the world
Several extant building fulfill the engineering definition of a tower: "a tall human structure, always taller than it is wide, for public or regular operational access by humans, but not for living in or office work, and are ''self-supporting ...
*
List of tallest freestanding structures in the world
This is a list of tallest freestanding structures in the world past and present. To be freestanding a structure must not be supported by guy wires, the sea or other types of support. It therefore does not include guyed masts, partially guyed t ...
*
List of tallest freestanding steel structures
This is a list of tallest freestanding steel structures in the world past and present. To be a freestanding steel structure it must not be supported by guy wires, the list therefore does not include guyed masts and the main vertical and lateral st ...
*
List of tallest buildings and structures in the world
The world's tallest human-made structure is the Burj Khalifa in Dubai (of the United Arab Emirates). The building gained the official title of "tallest building in the world" and the tallest self-supported structure at its opening on January ...
References
External links
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Photograph of the Tower from The Almaty Expat site
Towers in Kazakhstan
Towers completed in 1983
Towers built in the Soviet Union
Buildings and structures in Almaty
Radio masts and towers
Observation towers
1983 establishments in Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic
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