Grosser Feldberg Telecommunication Tower

Perhaps the only one of its kind in the entire world, the telecommunication tower on Grosser Feldberg, the highest mountain in the Taunus region of Germany, has a pinnacle built of wood without using any metallic part.

Built in 1937 as a 53 meter tall reinforced concrete structure, the telecommunication tower was made into a television tower for the Rhine Main Area two years later. During World War II, the tower was repurposed as a radar station before it was heavily damaged by bombs and burned to the ground.

In 1950, the tower was rebuilt. At a total height of more than 69 meters, the upper part of the structure had to be built entirely of wood because it employs multiple directional antennas that would have interfered with each other.

Now a protected monument, the Grosser Feldberg Telecommunication Tower is used as a facility for both FM radio and TV broadcasting. It is also used for directional radio services and once held a massive UHF broadcasting antenna that has since gone obsolete.