Berlin Radio Tower

Berlin Radio Tower Christophe Gateau/picture alliance via Getty Images

Berlin Radio Tower Oltmann Reuter/ullstein bild via Getty Images

Johan SWE (Atlas Obscura User)

The tower's feet made of porcelain http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Funkturm...

Looking up Berlin Radio Tower Zavijava2 (Creative Commons)

Northwestern foot of Berlin Radio Tower. One can see that the tower stands on insulators Zavijava2 (Creative Commons)

Berlin Radio Tower Zavijava2 (Creative Commons)

Berlin Radio Tower at night Zavijava2 (Creative Commons)

Berlin Radio Tower from Devil's Mountain Zavijava2 (Creative Commons)

Fred Cherrygarden (Atlas Obscura User)

Berlin Radio Tower at night Zavijava2 (Creative Commons)

Entrance area of Berlin Radio Tower. In this building you pay your entrance fee and enter the lift Zavijava2 (Creative Commons)

Support insulator at nothwestern foot of Berlin Radio Tower with a sign of the Royal Porcelain Factory Zavijava2 (Creative Commons)

Closer view of a foot of Berlin Radio Tower and its basement insulators Zavijava2 (Creative Commons)

The Berlin Radio Tower or “Berliner Funkturm” is a well-known landmark in Berlin. A 146-meter-tall lattice tower, the tower has a restaurant at a height of 51.65 meters and an open-air observation deck at 121.49 meters.

There is a unique feature of the radio tower, which is that its feet stand on large porcelain insulators, insulating it from the ground. Towers standing on insulators are not uncommon on long- and medium-wave broadcasting sites, but these towers are not normally open for tourists, as they have high voltage, and are dangerous. The Berlin Tower, which was built between 1924 and 1926—and was always intended to be open to tourists—almost had the same problem. After it was completed, it was discovered that it would be nearly impossible to get tourists on the insulated tower without endangering them.

Eventually the broadcasting element of the tower was scrapped in favor of the tourists, and the Berlin Radio Tower was turned into merely a nice place to get a meal and look out over the city, which it still is today.

Update as of August 2024: The tower reopens on August 20th, and the restaurant from mid-September.