Uzbekistan local time |
Tashkent TV tower can be seen from almost everywhere in the city; it comes into view from behind every structure. The height of the tower is 375 meters, which is 75 meters higher than that of the famous Eiffel Tower. The weight of this “Tashkent Beauty” is 6,000 tons, which is 3,000 tons less than Eiffel’s structure. The lightness of local tower is especially noticeable if you compare the silhouettes of the two rivals. Topped with an antenna, the graceful dodecahedral stem of Tashkent TV Tower looks soaring on its three conical props. The structures of outer belts of the tower look like huge panjara-lattices, which give this construction an oriental appearance. A complex engineering project, this tower was built within a record length of time – eight years. It was put into operation in 1985. The designers and constructors of the tower were awarded State Prize for the job done. Later Tashkent TV Tower became a member of World Federation of Great Towers, yielding to only TV towers in Toronto, Moscow, New York and Tokyo.
At the top of the tower there are antennas for round-the-clock transmission of strong radio and five telecasting stations signals covering the whole territory of Uzbekistan and some neighboring regions. The tower receives a few dozens of direct ‘on-air’ and cable TV channels and provides for high-quality international satellite digital communication. Moreover, it accommodates meteorological equipment.
You will be very impressed if you get inside the tower. At a height of 100 meters, where the visitors are taken to by high-speed lifts, there is an observation deck and a restaurant called ‘Koeenot’ (‘Space’). The restaurant offers Uzbek cuisine, and it has a bar. The two halls of Koeenot, ‘Blue’ and ‘Red’, are one above the other. In an hour’s time they make full circle round the axis of the tower. From this height you can have a panoramic sight of the metropolis, which stretches far beyond the horizon, and see Tashkent’s parks and boulevards, canals and fountains, bright blue domes of Oliy Majlis Parliament and Khokimiat Mayor’s Office.
Almost at the foot of the tower glitters the blue water of the artificial lakes and pools of Tashkent’s aqua park. Behind it are the making-you-dizzy rides and entertainment attractions of ‘Tashkentland’– an Amusement Park, loved so much by both children and grown-ups. Further among the trees of an old park are the pavilions of Expocenter, the largest Uzbekistan’s exhibition complex. Nearby stand out the tall buildings of the five-star International Hotel Tashkent, National Bank of Uzbekistan and International Business-Center.
To the north of the tower you can see Yunusabad Sporting Complex with its tennis courts where important world tournaments are held. Behind it meanders its way the Bozsu Canal on the bank of which, among picturesque waterfalls, stands Shakhidlar Khotirasi – a memorial to the victims of Stalin’s regime.
Tashkent TV Tower – the tallest structure in Central Asia – admirably fits the panorama of the city, deserving to be used as its symbol. The red lights on the antenna of the tower show the direction to airborne aircrafts. It is also symbolic that the tower is destined to serve as a “lighthouse”.