The Kiev TV Tower (Ukrainian: Телевізійна вежа, Televiziyna vezha) is a 385-meter (1,263-foot) lattice steel tower built in 1973 in Kiev, Ukraine, for radio and television broadcasting. It is the tallest freestanding lattice steel construction in the world. The tower is not open to the public.
Construction began in 1968 and finished in 1973. Made of steel pipe of various diameters and thicknesses, the structure weighs 2,700 metric tons. The central pipe, or core, where the elevator is located, is 4 meters in diameter and made of pipe that is 12 mm thick. It sits on a four-legged base that is about 100 meters tall. Atop the base is an enclosed level which houses microwave transmitting and receiving equipment. At about 200 meters is a second enclosed level that houses television and FM transmitters, as well as a control and maintenance shop. This second level is the elevator's terminus.
The tower is unique in that no mechanical fasteners are used in the structure: every joint, pipe and fixture is attached by welding.
The tower was first designed for Moscow, then the Soviet capital. But Moscow authorities preferred a more "solid" type of tower which was eventually built (see Ostankino Tower). Later, when Kiev needed its own tower, the project was reintroduced. The Soviet government ordered the engineers to shorten the tower by almost 30%, so as not to be as tall as the Moscow one.
