Berlin Radio Tower

Brief information

The steel radio tower in the courtyard of Messe Berlin combined several roles at once: it supported an antenna, served as an aviation signal tower, and welcomed visitors to observation decks and a restaurant. Its silhouette is therefore important not only as an urban landmark, but also as a rare example of an engineering structure in which the technical function was linked from the outset with a public view over the city.

The tower was built in 1924–1926 and opened for the major German radio exhibition. This context explains why a radio mast in particular became the symbol of the place: Berlin was one of the early centers of radio in Germany, and in 1929 the world’s first television broadcast was transmitted from the tower. The technical history here is read not in a display case, but in the vertical structure itself.

What to notice first

It is worth looking at how the heavy steel tower rests on a material that looks unusually fragile: the corner supports are fixed on porcelain structures from the Royal Porcelain Manufactory, which bear a total weight of 600 tons. This detail changes the perception of the tower: beneath it are not just metal legs, but insulating engineering without which the radio mast would not have functioned as a transmitting structure.

Another important trace is the history of the damaged support. After the 1945 explosion, one support had to be replaced; to hold the tower, an 800 kg “screw” was made, and the structure was preserved on three supports. Higher up, two public functions can be compared: a retro-style restaurant at a height of 51.6 m and an observation deck at 124 m. Later structures for a freight elevator to the stage beneath the pedestrian bridge appeared around the base, so the radio tower courtyard also became a working hub of the exhibition complex.