RIGA TELEVISION TOWER

RIGA TELEVISION TOWER

The height of the Riga TV Tower is 368 meters. The tower is among the ten highest TV towers of the world and is the third highest TV tower in Europe. Its observation deck is situated at the height of 97 meters, from which you can see the Riga’s center, Pardaugava, the Riga Hydroelectric Power Station and, when the weather is fair, the Gulf of Riga with its ships, as well as the highest landmarks of Sigulda. The tower was built by a Georgian architect Nickuradze.

New TV tower was needed in Riga as early as in 1967 when it became clear that the old station in the former Jelgavas Theater had already worked beyond its capacity and could not be developed further.

According to the original plan, the tower had to be built and commissioned before 1985, but these plans could not be fulfilled since in 1984 it was already obvious that it would be impossible to complete the construction next year. It was decided to divide the tower’s construction into two phases. The first phase of construction was expected to be commissioned in 1985. Concerning the second, completing phase, however, there was uncertainty and the final deadline was not determined. The tower started to broadcast since 1986, but it is known that construction and installation of equipment continued for three more years until 1989.