Berliner Fernsehturm

The selling point of Berlin. Visible throughout the city, and the trademark of the city. Often you’ll find the ‘i’ in Berlin styled as the Fernsehturm. It might not be beautiful, but it’s in the hearts of many Berliners. It marks home. For the tourists there’s a decent view from the globe on top, although weather conditions may reduce the view. Last time I was there you had to get up early to avoid the queue, but they’ve recently won an award for their entry system: visitors can receive an sms shortly before they’re allowed to enter, so you can wander around freely until then.

The television tower has been built in former Eastern Berlin, in a way that their people could get a glimpse of the western part of the town, and western Berliners would always see this masterpiece of communist engineering. The original design was by Hermann Henselmann and the sphere should resemble a Sputnik space-craft. It was operational by October 1969 and still is the tallest structure in Germany with 368 meters in total height. The original elevators took 42 seconds to get to the top, although they have now been replaced by newer, faster elevators, taking two seconds less to reach the viewing platform at 204 meters. The tower is frequented by over a million people every year.

Fernsehturm
Panoramastraße 1A, Mitte