Unfinished TV tower- one of the main symbols of Yekaterinburg and at the same time the highest abandoned object in the world. On March 24, by the sole decision of Kuyvashev and Kozitsyn, the object, which could be turned into a unique world-class landmark, was blown up despite the protests of the townspeople...
The history of the construction of the TV tower
The construction of a new television tower near the circus building in Sverdlovsk began at the end of 1983. Perhaps this was the most ambitious project Soviet power in this city. In addition to the tower, a park, a museum, a planetarium, and a house of pioneers were to appear here.
Active construction was carried out until 1989, then problems with financing began. However, construction continued until 1991, then it was frozen. The construction was carried out by the Spetszhelezobetonstroy trust, which previously built the Ostankino television tower. Left without funding, the builders simply left without mothballing the tower and leaving it under the influence of adverse external conditions.
Construction stopped at around 219.25 meters (according to other sources, 220.4 meters). And if we take into account the metal structures rising above, then the height of the tower is 231.7 meters.
Above, a metal antenna 141 meters high was to be installed. The design height of the structure was 361 meters. For comparison, the height of high skyscraper of the city - the towers of Iset - is 209 meters. If the TV tower had been completed, it would have become the second tallest in Russia - after the Ostankino tower in Moscow.
At a height of 188 meters, a restaurant was to be located on a rotating platform (similar to the "Seventh Heaven" in Ostankino).
After the construction of the new TV tower was completed, the 192-meter tower in the park named after Pavlik Morozov was going to be demolished. new tower would significantly expand the coverage of the signal - up to Nizhny Tagil.
The prototype of the TV tower was an ordinary reinforced concrete chimney, only higher and more voluminous, with appropriate rooms for equipment. The tower is a monolithic reinforced concrete structure with a wall thickness of 50 centimeters at the base to 30 centimeters at the top. High-strength concrete grade M400 was used (in modern classification B30). Such concrete is used in the construction of bunkers, armories, protective structures.
The thickness of the protective layer of concrete outer surface trunk is 40-70 millimeters, according to inner surface- 30-50 millimeters. The design volume of the shaft concrete is 3066 m 3 .
Concrete was brought from the reinforced concrete plant, lifted up and poured onto the reinforcement welded for the fortress. The work platform was raised by a mine lift inside the tower.
Inside the tower's shaft is a hollow cylinder with a diameter of 15 meters at the bottom and 7 meters at the top. There are numerous window openings along the entire height of the trunk. various shapes and sizes.
At elevations from 199.6 to 208.9 meters, a mounting opening measuring 9.3x5.72 meters was left in the tower shaft on the southwestern side. Through it (with the help of a beam crane installed inside the TV tower), it was planned to mount the elevator shaft, elevator equipment and the elevators themselves. After that, the hole would be concreted.
At the level of 231.7 meters, a platform with a diameter of 12 meters was built on the shaft, with a fence.
Over the entire height of the reinforced concrete shaft of the tower, the metal structures of the mine hoist were mounted. When the tower was abandoned, the extremals, eager to conquer the tower, climbed up on them. The mine lift is mounted up to the level of 239.7 meters.
Outside, along the entire height of the tower, a running ladder was mounted. Over time, it rusted, in some places moved away from the trunk. After her accident lower part stairs were cut.
After graduation construction works appearance The tower did not change, except that, at the request of the prosecutor's office, high-altitude red lights were installed for flight safety, and over time, the huge inscription "Kisa" that appeared at the top was erased for the sake of the Russian tricolor.
Unfinished for thrill-seekers
A huge abandoned building near the circus soon began to attract extreme and just informal people. Risking their lives, they climbed to the very top along the internal structures and external stairs. Some even spent the night on the tower with tents. There were many who climbed the tower dozens and hundreds of times. Sometimes paratroopers jumped from here.
TV tower restoration projects
The construction of the tower at that time was carried out in a new way. standard project. In addition to Sverdlovsk in Russia, similar towers were supposed to appear in Perm and Vladivostok, but the crisis prevented. But the towers this project were built in Tallinn (Estonia) and Vilnius (Lithuania), only the platform at the top was different. Looking at them, you can understand what the TV tower in Sverdlovsk-Yekaterinburg would be like.
TV tower in Tallinn. Photo from Bookingcar.su
TV tower in Vilnius. Photo from votpusk.ru
Even in the form of unfinished, according to many Yekaterinburgers, the tower adorned the city. This is the dominant that the eye clings to. The tower was also visible in the vicinity of the city, for example, from Devil's Settlement (long before high-rise buildings and skyscrapers began to appear in the city).
Thanks to the tower, the view from Plotinka downstream of the Iset River resembled a panorama in the city of Washington (USA) with a monument to George Washington. At one time, this photo comparison was widely distributed on the Internet.
From time to time, the regional authorities voiced plans to restore the facility. In 2007, an investor was found who expressed his readiness to invest about 500 million rubles in the completion of the tower, and build business centers nearby to recoup the costs, but the financial crisis of 2008 prevented it.
The unfinished tower was listed on the balance sheet of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise "RTRS". In 2012, by decision of Governor Kuyvashev, the Sverdlovsk Region bought the unfinished TV tower, paying 500 million rubles from the regional budget.
The following year, 2013, the regional authorities held a competition for best project reconstruction of the unfinished TV tower. The winner was the company "NAI BECAR Ural" with the project "Green Hill Park". According to the project, it was planned to build a registry office on the tower and observation deck, and in the lower part - hotels, shops and entertainment centers.
The second place in the competition went to the Global Lighthouse project, which proposed to turn the tower into a scientific and educational center. And the third - "Star of the Urals" with floating rings using the principle of magnetic levitation.
In total, more than 70 projects were submitted to the competition. Some proposed to install a statue of St. Catherine at the top (for example, instead of a temple on a pond). There was also a proposal to turn the tower into a "dandelion" - to create a huge art object. According to the idea of the authors of the project from the TigerTiger agency, there should be an observation deck at the top of the tower, and there could be exhibition or office space at the bottom. AT dark time days the stem of the "dandelion" would be highlighted in green and the top is white.
In 2017, it became known about the creation of a VR project by the Tengo Interactive studio about the Yekaterinburg TV tower. The project was named The Tower VR. Wearing a helmet virtual reality, it will be possible to play a game by visiting the famous TV tower and climbing up. A video with renderings of the project has been posted on the studio's YouTube channel. It can be seen that the tower is reproduced in great detail. To do this, the company's employees carried out careful photography inside and outside the tower. You can read more about this project on the vc.ru website.
Demolition of Yekaterinburg TV tower
On February 22, 2017, the authorities put the tower and the area around it up for auction. The starting price was set at 652.8 million rubles. Interest in the auction was shown by the Atomstroykompleks company, which planned the construction of 120 thousand square meters. m. of housing and commercial real estate. The tower was planned to be reconstructed by installing a long spire, due to which its height would increase to 361 meters. They wanted to build an observation deck on the tower. However, after deliberation, Atomstroykompleks refused to purchase the unfinished project. The auction did not take place.
At the same time, the owner of the UMMC, billionaire Andrey Kozitsyn, showed interest in the site. As a result, in 2017, the Sverdlovsk authorities handed over the unfinished TV tower, bought from the federal authorities for half a billion budget rubles, free of charge, to the UMMC company in exchange for a promise to demolish the TV tower and build another ice arena in its place (literally a few blocks away is the Ice Palace of Sports " Uralets" and Datsyuk Arena). The new ice arena will have to accommodate 15,000 people. At the same time, the corresponding infrastructure (in particular, extensive parking) is not provided. According to experts, during the days of major events, the transport collapse in this part of the city will be ensured.
Photo by Nadezhda Shimalina
In November 2017, the Sverdlovsk organization of the Union of Architects of Russia sent a letter to the head of the UMMC Andrey Kozitsyn with a request to reconsider the decision to demolish the TV tower and build an ice arena in this place.
Some townspeople compare the demolition of the TV tower with the destruction of the Ipatiev house, believing that in the future the descendants will commemorate Kuyvashev and Kozitsyn with unkind words for the destruction of one of the symbols of the city.
Photo by Nadezhda Shimalina
He opposed the demolition of the TV tower and former governor Sverdlovsk region Edward Rossel:
“There remains to complete 165 meters of metal structures. This needs to be done, to paint the TV tower, to mount the equipment. You can do good there. Cultural Center- a new point of attraction for citizens, for youth" he told reporters.
But the current governor Kuyvashev, who came to the Urals from Tyumen region, welcomed the demolition of one of the symbols of a city alien to him.
“The tower is definitely not a monument. And not a symbol of some historical event. This is a symbol of mismanagement. We searched different forms use of a television tower. And I must state that there are no investors to implement any idea. This is a purely economic issue. It's ridiculous to call it some kind of symbol. It is bad that we cannot bring this territory into circulation. That is why the decision was made to demolish it. And even during the discussion on my Instagram, the majority supported", - Kuyvashev said at his press conference.
It is worth noting that under the leadership of Kuyvashev, who talks about the tower as a symbol of mismanagement, the debts of the Sverdlovsk region have grown to sky-high heights. So, according to the data at the beginning of 2018, the debt of the region is more than 75 billion rubles. This is twice as much as the entire annual budget of the capital of the Urals.
In January 2018 began active work demolition of the tower. They were in a hurry to finish the World Cup, four matches of which will be held in Yekaterinburg. By order of the UMMC, the demolition was carried out by a company with the uncomplicated name "Special Explosive Works" from Magnitogorsk ( Chelyabinsk region). The same company demolished an elevator for Kozitsyn near the Makarovsky bridge. The cost of the tower's demolition has not been disclosed.
This is how the demolition process was described in the project documentation. At the first stage, the lower lining at the base of the tower is dismantled. However, preparing Earthworks, which should become a kind of "pillow" when the structure falls.
The dismantling of the tower shaft will take place in two stages. Boreholes will be drilled and cuttings made at 70 and 10 meters. The gas generator of impulsive action "Enamat" will be laid in the boreholes. It was planned to stretch a net on top of the TV tower - a kind of "funeral stocking". However, a few days before the demolition, this rag, which was supposed to protect against the scattering of concrete fragments, was torn to shreds by the wind.
Scheme of drilling holes for the bookmark "Enamata" at a height of 70 meters.
The tallest abandoned building in the world July 15th, 2017
We have already discussed with you how that building in Russia, but the truth was that it was demolished several years ago. And now this is what is claimed to be the tallest ABANDONED and unfinished building in the world. Or is there something higher? Have I missed something?
Look here...
Photo 2. 
At the end of 1983, according to the decision of the Sverdlovsk city executive committee, the construction of a television tower began on March 8 Street near the city circus. It was a new type soviet project implemented earlier in Vilnius and Tallinn. Its design height was 361 meters, it was planned to transfer all the city's television and radio transmission capacities there to cover the entire Sverdlovsk with a television signal. Also there was supposed to be a restaurant, like the "Seventh Heaven" on the Ostankino television tower.
The construction using a monolithic concrete technology unique for that time was carried out by the Spetszhelezobetonstroy trust, which had previously built the Vilnius, Ostankino, Tallinn and other TV towers. Extra strong concrete grade 400 was used. Construction was actively carried out until 1989, after which interruptions in funding began. However, the construction was not frozen and continued, but with great difficulty up until 1991.
According to some reports, [source not specified 520 days] 11 million rubles were allocated for the construction, but only about 2 million were spent.
Photo 3. 
In 1991, Russia began economic crisis, and funding for the construction of the TV tower stopped. It was completed only to the mark of 219.25 m (according to other sources, 220.4 m). Since then, no work has been carried out on this site and the tower has been abandoned. the only constructive change over the years, there was the installation of high-altitude red lights for flight safety at the request of the prosecutor's office in the mid-2000s.
The tower is the most high structure In Ekaterinburg. There are projects for its reconstruction, but so far none of them has been accepted for implementation.
In the 1990s, the tower was a popular destination for suicides, adventurers, rock climbers and basers. By 2005, three cases of suicide were officially recorded, while rumor ascribes more than two dozen cases of suicide to the tower. And in the 2000s, it was chosen by base jumpers. After that, all possible passages to the tower for climbing up were welded.
Photo 4. 
In 2003, the tower was given to the Federal State Unitary Enterprise RTRS for a communications facility. In 2007, an investor was found who was ready to invest about 500 million rubles in the completion of the tower, and to equip a zone of business centers around it in order to recoup the costs, but the financial crisis of 2008 brought down these plans.
Representatives of RTRS said that it is cheaper to build a new television broadcasting facility 300 meters high than to equip necessary systems already built tower (a 300-meter TV tower made of metal structures will be built on Uktus).
In July 2012, Prime Minister of Russia Dmitry Medvedev instructed to transfer the tower to the ownership of the region
Photo 5. 
On April 4, 2013, D. Medvedev signed a decree according to which the unfinished TV tower was excluded from the list of federal strategic facilities and transferred to the ownership of the Sverdlovsk Region. A competition was announced for the project of reconstruction of the tower and the surrounding area with the creation recreation area. The deadline for the competition, which was scheduled to end in July, was extended until the end of September 2013. By this time, the technical expertise of the submitted projects should have passed, including the Global Lighthouse (scientific and educational center), Green Hill Park (the tower - the object of the "bionic architectural form”), “Star of the Urals” (an object based on the movement of floating rings using the principle of magnetic levitation) and others. The winner was the Green Hill Park project with a registry office, attractions, a cinema and an exhibition area. However, no investor was found to implement it.
Photo 6. 
Projects for the creation of an Orthodox church on the basis of the tower were also presented.
Surrounding the tower is expected land plot, going straight to the Iset River, will be turned into a recreational area.
In February 2016, a decision was made to conserve the TV tower in anticipation of the 2018 FIFA World Cup. In September 2016, the TV tower was included in the privatization plan. In January 2017, the authorities in again announced their intention to sell the tower
Photo 7. 
The tower is said to have a slight lean due to a design error that was not noticed during construction. However, it doesn't pose a tower-fall threat and it won't fall in the near future.
Photo 8. 
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sources
Thirty years ago, a concrete skyscraper appeared in the center of Sverdlovsk, which was supposed to become the second tallest tower in Russia after Ostankino. Similar towers according to a standard project with a revolving restaurant at the top, they were built in Vilnius and Tallinn in those years. But the project stopped halfway in the late 80s: the spire was never raised to the 200-meter concrete frame, the money ran out, and the state-builder was gone. The symbol of Yekaterinburg has turned into an abandoned long-term construction and a monument to Soviet ambitions.
At the top, it was proposed to open a registry office or install a figure of St. Catherine, base jumpers jumped from the tower and decided to take their own lives. But only now things have moved from dead center- in January, construction equipment appeared under the TV tower, and the governor announced that a concrete pipe surrounded by wasteland will be demolished. The unequivocal decision upset the townspeople, and a nostalgic telegram channel even appeared near the tower, where those who wish recall stories about the high-rise and offer options alternative to demolition. The Village tracked down Walter Reingold, who oversaw the construction of the tower decades ago, and asked him to talk about the past of the legendary unfinished building.
Names: TV Tower, Death Tower, Stone Flower, Trumpet
Address: st. Stepan Razin, 15
Planned height: 361 meters
Actual Height: 220 meters
Start of construction: 1983
Termination of works: 1991
Start
“It was the most significant and ambitious project of the Soviet government in Sverdlovsk. In the reception room of the chief architect for a long time there was a three-meter model of a TV tower made of plastic and wood, ”recalls Sergei Skrobov, curator of the Yekaterinburg Museum of History. The tower was supposed to become part of a well-maintained quarter on the Iset embankment. Between the streets of Dekabristov and Kuibyshev, on the site of a pre-revolutionary residential wooden quarter, urban planners conceived beautiful area with a large park. A circus with an openwork dome, a museum of nature with a planetarium, the Palace of Pioneers, spread out directly above the river, and a TV tower with a restaurant and an observation deck at the top - the complex was supposed to become the main resting place for Soviet citizens.
The circus was built in the early 80s, and it quickly became calling card Sverdlovsk. Then, in 1983, the construction of the TV tower officially began. The townspeople saw the frame only by the end of the decade, when the foundation was ready and the pipe crawled up to a 200-meter height. The main part was built very quickly - in six months. The tower was built from heavy-duty concrete and using the monolithic casting method, that is, the pipe-lays went up step by step without stopping.
By the end of construction, a small 192-meter TV tower in the park named after Pavlik Morozov was going to be demolished. Built in 1955, it no longer satisfied the growing demands of television - its signal barely reached Shuvakish (a village on the northwestern outskirts of Yekaterinburg), and even then intermittently. And the new one would broadcast to the whole of Sverdlovsk and nearest cities up to Nizhny Tagil. Even in the tower they were going to open a restaurant "Seventh Heaven", as in Moscow, and place the equipment of state security agencies. Because of them, the construction site was given military value, and photographs of the construction could not be published in the press.
The project was typical: exactly the same towers were built in Vilnius and Tallinn with a difference in the shape of the platform at the top. On the territory of the RSFSR, standard towers were to appear in Sverdlovsk, and also in Perm and Vladivostok. By 1991, the builders had only completed the concreting stage - they erected a concrete pipe frame with portholes and made a hole at the top so that parts of the metal spire could be raised. But with the beginning of perestroika, the object was no longer financed, and people simply left. No one cared what would happen to the tower next - they did not protect it from bad weather and cold, and the iron fittings remained sticking out of the concrete walls.
Walter and his tower
The family of 75-year-old Walter Reingold still lives in the house he inherited from his work at the TV tower. Workers used to live in a three-room apartment in Zarechny, sweatshirts hung on nails in the hallway. Now at home, nothing reminds of the collective past. There are volumes on pipe building on the bookshelf, and from the window you can see the chimney of the boiler room. The builder points to a red and white tower and says: “What a TV tower, what a pipe is one and the same. The tower is a prototype of a reinforced concrete chimney, only higher and more voluminous, it has portholes and ceilings with rooms for equipment.”
When I arrived, the tower was 20 meters high. I built another 200 meters. We worked non-stop - the essence of the monolith is in continuous concreting without joints and seams
Three decades ago, Walter went on a business trip from Kazakhstan to closed Sverdlovsk to work a little on the local TV tower, and then go to Perm and build exactly the same skyscraper there. “My wife set me a condition: enough business trips, it’s time to wash ashore. I was supposed to build an object on the Kama, but there was not enough money, and the Perm project was closed. Then the chief said, they say, stay here, and then you will build pipes in the region. He handed me the keys to the apartment, I called my wife and said that we would live in Sverdlovsk.
Reingold worked as a foreman. Every day he went upstairs, making sure that the formwork was oiled and that there were no signs of rust on the rebar. In addition, he dealt with documents, gave concrete samples for testing, controlled the quality of building materials: “If you raise the documents now, everyone will have my signature.”
“When I arrived, the tower was 20 meters high. I built another 200 meters. We worked non-stop - the essence of a monolith is continuous concreting without joints and seams,” he recalls. The construction of the reinforced concrete shaft was carried out by two teams of eight people. From morning until evening, and recent months around the clock, they climbed to a height, knitted a mesh of reinforcement, assembled formwork, poured concrete. As a result, a 200-meter trunk was erected in six months. “We did our job and passed it,” says Walter. - After that, heating engineers, fitters, elevator operators, plumbers, electricians began to work there. The next step was to build the spire.”
The builder is sure that a good place was chosen for the construction of the tower: “They planned to open an observation deck at the top, and the city center was perfect for this. During the first ascents, I liked to look at Sverdlovsk from such a height: wide avenues, houses, factories, parks. And then I quickly got used to it, and the romance was gone. It was never scary. Many people think that pipe-layers are desperate people, but in fact there is nothing special: there are fences and strict safety measures everywhere at the top.”
Exactly the same towers were built in Vilnius and Tallinn with a difference in the shape of the platform at the top. On the territory of the RSFSR, typical towers were to appear in Sverdlovsk, and also in Perm and Vladivostok
When the concrete work was over, Walter went to other city facilities, but followed the fate of the main city tower. “When we passed it, we didn’t even think that everything would end like this. I remember there were some problems with the cranes that were supposed to install the spire. And then perestroika began and everything went to hell. Nobody needed the tower,” the builder recalls.
AT last time Reingold came to the tower about ten years ago: the structures that were supposed to hold the spire at the top were rusting on the ground. What is the right thing to do with the tower, the builder cannot say unequivocally: “On the one hand, for National economy she is no longer needed. And on the other hand, she shivers inside when I think that she will be gone. Thanks to her, my wife and I ended up in this beautiful city, where my children and grandchildren grew up. I am proud that I built it, but it hurts me when I see this dead monument.”
Desolation and end
After the tower was abandoned, fires started. “Wooden scaffolding inside and change houses around were burning. The tower gained particular popularity in 1998, when queues lined up to watch the fireworks in honor of the city's anniversary,” says historian Sergey Skrobov. There are no exact statistics on how many people crashed here. In the media, numbers from a few to 50 people flicker. Local TV channels often filmed trash stories at the foot of the mountain - the iron mine easily crushed people who had broken loose, and more and more epitaphs began to appear on the walls.
urban folklore renamed TV tower to the "Tower of Death", and visitors began to tell legends about the bloody floor and ghosts on the tower. In the early 2000s, the authorities decided to stop the madness, welded up the entrance, and organized a parking lot around, where guards with dogs made sure that no one approached the tower.
Five years ago, the tower and 4.5 hectares around were transferred to the ownership of the regional authorities. They promised to hold a competition and decide what to do with the object next. The architects suggested opening a registry office at the top, building high-rise residential buildings around, making a lighthouse or a giant church inside, or simply placing a statue of St. Catherine with a cross in her hands on top. But the competition ended ingloriously.
“Further than a few pictures, where the banter is indistinguishable from a rational idea, we have not moved anywhere,” urban researcher Dmitry Moskvin says he sees no point in aestheticizing the tower. - It is impossible to treat it as a functional structure, rather, as an art object. However, in our country, even installing an ordinary street sculpture is a whole epic. This tower does not have any pronounced meaning and value for the citizens, and I believe that the dismantling of the tower is possible and acceptable.”
“The tower is definitely not a monument. And not a symbol of some historical event. This is a symbol of mismanagement. We were looking for different ways to use the TV tower. And I must state that there are no investors to implement any idea. It is bad that we cannot bring this territory into circulation. That is why the decision to demolish was made. And even during discussions on my Instagram, the majority supported him,” Governor of the Sverdlovsk Region Yevgeny Kuyvashev said at the annual press conference.
With the help of directional destruction technology, the upper part will first fold into the lower part, and then the trunk will fall towards the Iset River, onto an earth embankment. The process will take place in two stages with a difference of 1 to 5 minutes
The fact that the tower will be demolished, the authorities for the first time seriously in 2017. The tower and the land around were handed over to the Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company, so that in its place an ice palace for the Avtomobilist hockey club. Metallurgists held a competition and told how they would demolish the TV tower. With Directional Destruction Technology top part first, it will fold into the bottom, and then the trunk will fall towards the Iset River, onto an earthen embankment. The process will pass in two stages with a difference of 1 to 5 minutes. The tower will be demolished by a company from Magnitogorsk - the Special Explosive Works Society.
In mid-January to the foot of the tower technician. While some specialists on site are designing the demolition, others will install a new site fence and begin building an earthen embankment for falling debris - a damper. The city does not find weighty arguments for the preservation of the tower, but at the same time the authorities announce the start of construction of a new television tower - at Uralmash.
Since 2000, at Christmas, the tower has been decorated with garlands, and since 2015, with 36 laser beams. During the World and European Basketball Championships, a basketball hoop was put on the tower, and the TV tower also adorns the medals of the winners of the Vilnius marathons. In 2018 when Yekaterinburg TV tower disappears from the horizon, the TV tower in Vilnius is planned to be closed for reconstruction.
The third sister tower, Tallinn, was opened a year earlier than Vilnius, in 1980. The tower with 50-centimeter concrete walls reaches a height of 314 meters and weighs more than 20,000 tons. 1050 steps lead from the basement of the tower to the spire. It has been reconstructed more than once - in 1994, for example, a new antenna installed from a helicopter pierced the roof and windows of the panoramic restaurant. The last time the tower was closed for renovation for five years and re-launched in 2012.
