Avala Tower - Wikipedia
The Avala Tower (Serbian Cyrillic: Авалски торањ , romanized: Avalski toranj ) is a 204.68 m (672 ft) tall telecommunications tower located on Mount Avala, in Belgrade, Serbia. The original tower was finished in 1965, but was destroyed on 29 April 1999, during the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia. The tower's reconstruction commenced on 21 December 2006 and it was officially opened on 21 April 2010.[ 2]
The tower was designed by architects Uglješa Bogunović and Slobodan Janjić, and engineer Milan Krstić. Contractor was the "Rad" construction company. Construction started on 14 October 1961 and was completed four years later, in 1965.[ 3] The tower weighed 4,000 tonnes (3,900 long tons; 4,400 short tons). Between 102 m (335 ft) and 135 m (443 ft), there was an enclosed observation deck, entered at 122 m (400 ft) and reached via two quick elevators. It was the only tower in the world to have an equilateral triangle as its cross section, and one of very few towers not perched directly into the ground, but standing on its legs. The legs formed a tripod, the symbol of Serbian tripod chair (tronožac).[ 3] It is one of the small number of towers to be constructed in that manner.
The tower was surmounted by an antenna, which was at first used for black and white television transmission. In 1971 the antenna was replaced by a new one for color TV transmission and the emitting of the TV Belgrade's Second program in color began on 31 December 1971. Also, the first digital terrestrial television in Serbia was emitted from the tower.[ 3]
