Heinrich-Hertz-Turm

The Heinrich-Hertz-Turm (named after the German physicist Heinrich Hertz) is a radio telecommunication tower and a famous landmark of Hamburg, Germany.

Designed by architects Fritz Trautwein and Fritz Leonhardt, in co-operation with civil engineers Jörg Schlaich and Rudolf Bergermann, it was built 1965–1968 for the then Deutsche Bundespost (German Federal Telecommunications Agency) near Planten un Blomen (Hamburg's city parc) and the St. Pauli district. With an overall height of 915 ft (279 m) it is Hamburg's tallest building; it comprises a 892 ft (204 m) steel-enforced concrete lower section, topped by a 164? ft (50 m) steel-lattice tower, which supports various antennas.

There are 8 concentric platform stacked one above the other; starting at 420 ft (128 m) with the viewing platform (providing a magnificent view of the entire city and the harbour), one story up is the restaurant (which rotates full circle within an hour), served by two high-speed elevators. Above that at 492 ft (150 m) are the operations platform housing the workforce and equipment, and further up 6 equally spaced, smaller open platforms, populated with high-gain directional antennas ("parabolic mirrors").

When the observation platform and restaurant were closed (due to financial reasons), former stuntman Jochen Schweitzer had a bunjee-jumping platform installed (his bunjee-centre is operative during the summer months).

The tower has been home to the VFDB Hamburg section's radio amateur club station "DF0HHT". It also housed a DGPS transmitting station serving the city of Hamburg's Surveying Agency.

A plaque on the tower's wall reads: "Heinrich Hertz — Dem Sohn der Stadt Hamburg" honouring the city's famous son.

• http://www.structurae.net/structures/data/index.cfm?ID=s0000118

See also: List of towers