Fernsehturm - Alexanderplatz, Berlin

Architect	Hermann Henselmann
Date Built	1965 - 1969
Location	Alexanderplatz
Description
The Fernsehturm is Berlin's television tower located behind the Alexanderplatz Station beside Karl-Liebknecht Strasse. Walter Ulbricht, the leader of the governing East German Socialist Unity Party, sanctioned the construction of a TV tower in the style of the one in West Germany, at Stuttgart. In addition to its function as a transmission tower, it was clearly designed to be a statement of the power of East Germany and a highly visible symbol throughout Berlin. The Stuttgart tower was built in 1956 and stands 216.8 metres high. Berlin's Fernsehturm is 368 metres high with an observation deck that is 204 meters above Alexanderplatz. It also features a restaurant that rotates around the tower once every 30 minutes. The tower shaft tapers from 16 metres in diameter at the base, to 9 metres below the sphere, and is divided into five stages by mezzanine floors. The sphere itself was meant to resemble the Soviet Sputnik.