Vilnius TV Tower
Wednesday, 7th November 2007 by James Turnbull
The Vilnius TV Tower is the tallest structure in its home country of Lithuania and yet another member of the famous World Federation of Great Towers to add to our collection.
At 326.5m tall, Vilnius TV Tower doesn't break any records within the federation.
However, come December, the tower will transform itself into the tallest artificial Christmas tree in the world, a title which it has held each year since 2000.
As with all federation towers Vilnius features a observation deck, but this one is unique in that it also serves as the starting point for bungee jumps off the tower.
For locals the tower has now become a symbol for freedom and independence. In 1991 Soviet forces attempting to squash Lithuania's claim to independence stormed the Vilnius TV Tower, which was being surrounded by unarmed civilians, killing 14 and injuring over 700.
More on Wikipedia and in your pocket.
Thanks to Adrian & Gediminas
The Gerbrandy Tower in The Netherlands ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerbrandy_Tower ) is 366.8m tall, and is also Christmas Tree, so Vilnuis isn’t the biggest 😉
I’m surprised you haven’t listed the Berlin Fernsehturm yet:
https://www.googlesightseeing.com/maps?p=&c=&t=k&hl=en&ll=52.521036,13.409779&z=18
In this photo, it looks like it’s been decorated to look like a soccer ball!
We actually featured it over 2 years ago Glenn! https://www.googlesightseeing.com/2005/07/28/fernsehturm-berlin/
Although the resolution has increased significantly since then…
The Florianturm in Dortmund, Germany has been a starting point for bungee jumps as well: “In 2000 a catwalk for bungee-jumping was opened on the upper platform. It was closed in 2003 after a fatal accident but has not yet been uninstalled.”
Said catwalk is visible on this pic: http://static.zooomr.com/images/2958149_508f8fbe25_b.jpg
I guess i didn’t see notice the Fernsehturm on GSS because it’s not in your “World Federation of Great Towers” collection. It should be! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Federation_of_Great_Towers
one more comment about the Berlin Fernsehturm & I’ll shut up — evidently the new GM photo shows the tower with its ball decorated as a football for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Here’s a photo from below: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:BerlinFernsehturmFootball.jpg
cool!
@ Glenn, that is pretty cool they could do the same with Nelson’s balls for 2018
https://www.googlesightseeing.com/maps?p=&c=&t=k&hl=en&ll=51.507716,-0.127872&z=19
It’s coming home… it’s coming home… it’s coming… football’s coming home. Well it maybe coming home.
You can also bungee jump from the Sky Tower in Auckland.
@ Mrb, are those all people in that GM view of Trafalgar Square? Is it always that crowded?
Glenn, that’s the 29th of January 2006, and we’re seeing several thousand Chinese celebrating the first day of the Year of the Dog. We posted about it this time last year.
Its pretty busy the rest of the year with tourists too.
Vilnius TV tower is nearly exact copy of Tallinn TV tower in Estonia.
Aulo – the construction of the Vilnius tower started in 1974, whereas for Tallinn it was 1975. So… It’s all the same Soviet inheritance anyway. So 1 TV tower design for the whole country 🙂
then soviet storm the Vilnius TV tower, it was horible, because in all city were riding soviet tanks, and in caise that my house were about 6km from tower my parent were hearing the shoots. But now is everything all right, and now TV tover one of the simbol Lithuanian freedom, and in christmas it is our christmas tree, that a pity that no one putting down th presents there 😀