The restoration of the famous Shukhov Tower on Shabolovka should begin soon, no matter how restoration has not been carried out since its construction, and on March 19, 2014 it turned 92 years old. While it is not known exactly where the restoration will be carried out, it is proposed to restore it on site or disassemble and reassemble it in a new place, it will be the All-Russian Exhibition Center or the city of Samara. Personally, I think that the tower should remain in its place; after all, it is one of the main symbols of Moscow, because no one will move the Moscow Kremlin or the Ostankino TV tower to another place for the sake of restoration...
The Shukhov Tower is a unique hyperboloid structure; only 8 of them out of more than 200 have survived throughout Russia: on Shabolovka, in the city of Petushki, in Dzerzhinsk (Nizhny Novgorod region), in Krasnodar, the village of Polibino (Lipetsk region), etc. Of these Only two high-rise multi-section hyperboloid structures have survived: on Shabolovka and Dzerzhinsk. 
The first project of the tower on Shabolovka was developed by V. G. Shukhov in 1919 with an estimated height of 350 meters. But due to metal shortages during the Civil War, the design development was implemented according to the second project in the form of a structure with a height of 148.3 meters. On March 14, 1920, construction began on the radio tower on Shabolovka. Work on the construction of the structure was repeatedly interrupted due to lack of materials. An accident occurred while lifting the fourth section. From the diary of V. G. Shukhov: “June 29, 1921. When lifting the fourth section, the third broke. The fourth fell and damaged the second and first at seven o’clock in the evening.” At the beginning of March 1922, the installation of supporting structures was completed. On March 19, 1922, radio broadcasts began from the unique antenna tower. The construction of the largest tower in Russia at that time caused general delight. With the installation of two traverses and a flagpole, the height of the Radio Tower reached 160 meters. The height of the base above sea level is 131 meters.
Regular television broadcasts (four times a week) from the Shukhov Radio Tower began on March 10, 1939. On this day, the Moscow television center on Shabolovka broadcast a documentary film about the opening of the 18th Congress of the CPSU. Subsequently, the programs were broadcast 4 times a week for 2 hours. In the spring of 1939, more than 100 TK-1 televisions received broadcasts in Moscow. For many years, the image of the Shukhov Radio Tower was the emblem of Soviet television and the screensaver of many television programs, including the famous “Blue Light”. In the 1960s, the Shukhov Radio Tower was used as a movie screensaver, which was shown before the start of television programs. The musical theme of the movie screensaver is the song “Soviet Moscow”, with music by A. Titov and poetry by S. Vasiliev.
The Shukhov Radio Tower has an elegant mesh design, which ensures minimal wind load, which is the main danger for tall structures. The shape of the tower sections is single-sheet hyperboloids of revolution, made of straight beams resting their ends on ring bases. The openwork steel structure combines strength and lightness: three times less metal was used per unit height of the Shukhov Radio Tower than per unit height of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. The Shukhov Radio Tower project, with a height of 350 meters, had an estimated weight of only 2,200 tons, and the Eiffel Tower, with a height of 324 meters, weighs more than 10,000 tons.
The round conical body of the tower consists of 6 sections, each 25 meters high. The lower section is installed on a concrete foundation with a diameter of 40 meters and a depth of 3 meters. The tower elements are fastened with rivets. The construction of the tower was carried out without scaffolding or cranes. The upper sections were assembled in turn inside the lower ones and were lifted onto each other using blocks and winches. Over its long history, the Shukhov Radio Tower served as a support for antennas of large radio and television stations.
In 1941, the tower was subjected to a severe test: a mail plane from Kyiv, as a result of a malfunction, touched a thick cable that was stretched at an angle from the top of the tower to the ground. There it was wound onto a winch mounted on a concrete base. The cable remained after the construction of the tower, hung for several years, did not bother anyone and no one used it. The plane's wing touched the cable, the winch was torn out of the ground, the tower received a strong blow, and the plane, having received serious damage, fell in the courtyard of a residential building nearby. The examination showed that the tower withstood the blow with dignity and did not even need repairs.
Shukhov invented a method for constructing mesh hyperboloid towers. The world's first hyperboloid tower was built by Shukhov at the All-Russian Art and Industrial Exhibition in Nizhny Novgorod in 1896. V. G. Shukhov used the principle of constructing hyperboloid towers in hundreds of structures: water towers, power line supports, masts of warships.
Hyperboloid towers are still in demand today. In 1963, in the port of Kobe in Japan, the 108-meter hyperboloid Shukhov tower Kobe Port Tower was built according to the company’s design. In 1968, a hyperboloid tower 100 meters high was built in the Czech Republic according to the design of architect Karel Hubacek. In 2003, the hyperboloid tower was built in Zurich. The authors of the tower are architects Daniel Roth and Alexander Kohm Daniel Roth, Alexander Kohm. The famous architect Mikhail Posokhin proposed using Shukhov’s ideas of hyperboloid structures when designing new skyscrapers in the Moscow City business center. The 600-meter hyperboloid mesh Shukhov tower was built in Guangzhou in China by ARUP in 2005-2009. It was planned to be 610 meters high, but the height was reduced due to the nearby airport.
The global significance of the Shukhov Radio Tower is confirmed by the exhibition of its models at prestigious architectural exhibitions in Europe in recent years. At the exhibition "Engineering Art" at the Pompidou Center in Paris, the image of the Shukhov Radio Tower was used as a logo. The exhibition catalog contains a multi-page description of the Shukhov Radio Tower. At the exhibition “The best designs and structures in the architecture of the 20th century” in Munich in 2003, a gilded six-meter model of the Shukhov Radio Tower was installed. The designs of Vladimir Grigorievich Shukhov are described in detail in many European books on the history of architecture.
Now the Shukhov Radio Tower is recognized by international experts as one of the highest achievements of engineering art. At the international scientific conference “Heritage at Risk. Preservation of 20th Century Architecture and World Heritage,” held in April 2006 in Moscow with the participation of more than 160 specialists from 30 countries, in its declaration named the Shukhov Radio Tower among seven architectural masterpieces of the Russian avant-garde recommended for inclusion in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
90 years ago, a radio transmitting tower was put into operation in Moscow - the creation of engineer Vladimir Grigorievich Shukhov.
In Moscow, on Shabolovka Street, there is a metal antenna tower of an original design, made in the form of a load-bearing steel mesh shell. This tower is called Shukhovskaya in honor of its creator - the Russian engineer, architect, and scientist, academician Vladimir Grigorievich Shukhov. The Shukhov radio tower was built in 1920-1922.
The decree on the construction of the tower was adopted in 1919, since the Khodynka radio station, built in 1914, could no longer cope with the constantly growing volume of radiograms from the capital.
Engineer Vladimir Shukhov, who invented a method for constructing mesh hyperboloid towers, proposed a design for a tower in the form of a single-cavity hyperboloid of revolution. Similar designs had been familiar to him since 1886, when he created a 25-meter mesh tower for the All-Russian Industrial and Art Exhibition in Nizhny Novgorod. He used the principle of hyperboloid towers in hundreds of structures: water towers, power line supports, masts of warships.
According to the original design, the Shukhov radio tower on Shabolovka reached 350 meters and weighed only 2,200 tons (the Eiffel Tower, at a height of 305 meters, weighs 7,300 tons). The tower was to consist of nine hyperbolic spatial sections, installed on top of each other and firmly connected to each other into a single high-rise system.
But Shukhov’s initial plans could not be realized. In the difficult conditions of the civil war and blockade, the construction of such a high tower turned out to be difficult to accomplish - there was not enough metal and funds. Shukhov was forced to develop a second design for a tower with a height of 148.5 meters and
with an estimated weight of 240 tons, which is almost 10 times less than the original design. For the construction of the tower, metal was allocated from the reserve reserves of the military department.
The Shukhov Tower has an original elegant mesh design, which ensures minimal wind load, which is the main danger for tall structures. The shape of the tower sections is single-sheet hyperboloids of revolution, made of straight beams resting their ends on ring bases. The openwork steel structure combines strength and lightness. Despite its openwork and weightlessness, the tower turned out to be surprisingly durable. In 1939, a single-engine plane crashed into a thick cable stretched at an angle from the top of the tower to the ground. The tower received a strong blow, but an examination showed that it did not even require repairs.
The round conical body of the tower consists of 6 sections, each 25 meters high. The lower section is installed on a concrete foundation with a diameter of 40 meters and a depth of 3 meters.
The lower sections have more powerful cross-sections of the frame elements. The average diameter of the lower support ring is 40.3 meters, and the upper one is reduced to 32.3 meters. The inclined rectilinear frame posts are formed by 48 mutually intersecting paired elements. The tower elements are fastened with rivets.
The construction of the tower was carried out without scaffolding or cranes. The upper sections were assembled in turn inside the lower ones and were lifted onto each other using blocks and winches.
On March 19, 1922, the unique antenna tower began broadcasting radio programs that were received in remote cities and on the outskirts of Russia, as well as by many European radio stations. In 1927, the Shukhov Tower began working with a 40-kilowatt radio broadcast transmitter installed on Shabolovka, created by the Nizhny Novgorod Radio Laboratory under the leadership of radio engineer and scientist Mikhail Bonch-Bruevich. The station was named "New Comintern".
The first steps of domestic electronic television are also associated with the Shukhov Tower. In 1936, when they began to create the Moscow Television Center, it was decided to install a transmitting television antenna on it. To connect the television feeder (transmission line) to the antenna, a metal truss was additionally installed along the entire height of the structure, and at the levels of 141.7 meters, 144.3 meters and 148.4 meters of the tower, three horizontal technical platforms were built for the installation of technological equipment.
Technical buildings were built next to the tower, technological equipment was installed, and the necessary cable lines were laid to the transmitting turnstile antenna located at the very top of the tower.
At the end of 1937, experimental television broadcasts began from the Shukhov Tower, and in March 1939 the Moscow Television Center began regular work.
For many years, the image of the Shukhov Tower was the emblem of Soviet television and the screensaver of many television programs, including the famous “Blue Light”.
In the 1960s, the main broadcasting load was moved to the new Ostankino tower.
In 1991, the top of the Shukhov Tower was dismantled and a superstructure with transmitting antennas of 3 new radio broadcast transmitters operating in the FM band, new to Russia, was installed at the top using a helicopter.
Due to the installation of additional structural elements, the height of the tower increased to 160 meters.
In 2000, after the fire at the Ostankino TV tower, Shabolovka supported the broadcast of the main TV channels for a year and a half.
The Shukhov Tower on Shabolovka is recognized by architects all over the world as an outstanding, unique masterpiece of engineering art. The global significance of the Shukhov Tower is confirmed by the exhibition of its models at prestigious architectural exhibitions in Europe in recent years. At the exhibition "Engineering Art" at the Pompidou Center in Paris, the image of the Shukhov Tower was used as a logo. At the exhibition "The best designs and structures in the architecture of the 20th century" in Munich in 2003, a gilded six-meter model of the Shukhov Tower was installed. The designs of Vladimir Shukhov are described in detail in many European books on the history of architecture. At the international scientific conference "Heritage at Risk. Preservation of 20th-century architecture and World Heritage", held in Moscow in April 2006 with the participation of 170 specialists from 30 countries, the Shukhov Tower was recognized as a masterpiece of the Russian architectural avant-garde and a world heritage site.
The Shukhov Tower is protected by the state and, along with seven other objects located in Russia, is recommended for inclusion in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
The radio tower is federal property and is used under the right of economic management by the Federal State Unitary Enterprise "Russian Television Broadcasting Network".
Currently, the radio tower is not actually used - only cellular repeaters are installed on it. for many years.
For a long time no restoration work was carried out on it. Based on the results of the survey, in 1971 work was carried out to strengthen the tower structures, including concreting the support units. Initially, the base of the tower was movable, but during the strengthening it was concreted, thereby violating the Shukhov kinematic principle of construction. The essence of this principle was the presence of a certain amount of mobility and self-compensation to external loads. In addition, concreting the support units caused accelerated corrosion of the metal at the base of the tower. They tried to give additional strength to the tower using welded elements, which were attached to the supporting riveted mesh shell with bolts. International experts called this method barbaric in relation to an architectural masterpiece.
Innovations entailed a deterioration in the technical condition of the structure, and there was a threat of physical loss of structures that were in dire need of repair and restoration work.
In 2003, a resolution of the State Duma of the Russian Federation was adopted on the legacy of Vladimir Shukhov. Especially to preserve achievements in the field of engineering science and architecture, the Shukhov Tower Foundation was established, the director of which is Shukhov’s great-grandson. The foundation is concerned about the condition of the tower.
According to experts, it is in great danger - the metal is already highly susceptible to corrosion; The “legs” of the tower are concreted, which leads to an increase in the load on it and to its deformation, etc. The design of the tower is very specific, and therefore restoration is very difficult. At the same time, options for developing the area adjacent to the tower are being considered.
Architects have prepared several projects for the reconstruction of the Shukhov Tower; according to one of them, an area with recreation areas (like the Eiffel Tower), a museum, business and cultural complex may appear around the tower.
In March 2010, the famous British architect Norman Foster wrote an open letter demanding the restoration of the Shukhov Tower. The text said that the famous structure "is in disrepair and is collapsing." Foster noted that the tower needed to be restored to its original condition.
In January 2011, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin ordered allocations from the federal budget for the design and reconstruction of the facility in 2011-2013. According to the document, the state customer is the Federal Agency for Press and Mass Communications, the developer is the Federal State Unitary Enterprise "Russian Television and Radio Broadcasting Network" (RTRS).
In 2011, RTRS held a competition for the right to conclude a contract for the development of design and working documentation for the reconstruction of the tower. It was won by Quality and Reliability LLC, which for 10.5 million rubles created a project that, as of March 2012, was being approved by Glavexpertiza.
In June 2012, the tower was created to create a three-dimensional model of the structure with all the distortions that had appeared over time. According to the engineer’s great-grandson, president of the Shukhov Tower Foundation, Vladimir Shukhov, the cost of the project is two million euros. It is financed by foreign institutes dealing with problems of physics, engineering and architecture.
The material was prepared based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources.
The history of the creation of the Shukhov Tower
The fashion for the construction of hyperboloid towers was introduced by our compatriot, architect V. G. Shukhov. The first structure, which was a mesh metal structure, was presented by him back in 1896, at the All-Russian Industrial Exhibition.
Shukhov developed the project for the television tower on Shabolovka in 1919. According to the creative plan, the structure was supposed to be 350 meters high, but the initially high standard had to be lowered due to the devastation that reigned in the country after the October Revolution. During the civil war, finding the required amount of metal for the construction of a hyperboloid turned out to be an impossible task, which is why Shukhov had to change the project, reducing the size of the tower by more than half. However, this decision had virtually no effect on the speed of construction. Work on the construction of the structure, which had not yet properly begun, was interrupted several times due to a shortage of necessary materials. And in the summer of 1921, an unpleasant incident occurred at the construction site, as a result of which several already completed sections of the structure were damaged.
The Shukhov Tower was completely put into operation only in the spring of 1922. The height of the first television tower in Moscow, including the flagpole, was 160 meters.
Shukhov Tower in evening illumination
Design Features
At first glance, the fragile mesh structure of the Shukhov Tower has one invaluable advantage - the wind load on it is reduced to a minimum. For structures of such height, this factor is of great importance, since the stability of the entire structure depends on it. In addition, for a structure made entirely of metal beams, the Shukhov Tower has a record low weight. For comparison: the legendary Eiffel Tower, whose height is 324 m, weighs 8850 tons. At the same time, the version originally designed by Shukhov with a height of 350 m was supposed to have a mass of 2200 tons.
The design of the Shabolovskaya TV tower is brilliantly laconic: straight steel profiles intersecting each other are based on ring bases, creating a clear geometric grid pattern. The structure is formed by 6 sections of different diameters, 25 m each. What’s interesting: during the construction of Moscow’s main TV tower, neither scaffolding nor cranes were used. All parts of the Shukhov Tower were assembled on the ground, inside the first, widest section, and then lifted and installed using winches.
View of the Shabolovskaya metro station from the height of the Shukhov Tower
The strength and endurance of Shukhov’s invention can be judged by the incident that happened to it in 1941. As a result of the malfunction, a mail plane flying in the area of the tower touched a metal cable that had been hanging from the structure since construction and was secured at its base by a winch. The structure received a powerful blow, and the plane, unable to withstand the collision, crashed in one of the neighboring courtyards. Perhaps, over time, the incident would have been forgotten, if not for an interesting fact: the commission assembled to identify the damage caused to the Shukhov Tower did not find any. Simply put, the structure was not damaged and did not need restoration at all.
From sound to picture: the history of television and radio broadcasting from the Shukhov Tower
The Shukhov Tower began broadcasting radio broadcasts immediately after its construction. But Moscow residents saw the first television programs only in 1939. Four days a week, the lucky owners of the first television sets, of which there were about a hundred in the capital at that time, could “enjoy” ideological documentaries (mainly about party congresses). With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, broadcasts from the Shukhov television center stopped, and the tower again turned into the capital's main radio transmitter.
In the year of victory over Nazi Germany, television returned to the Soviet Union, and the Shukhov TV Tower acquired the status of one of the national symbols. The image of a hyperboloid began to flash more and more often on the screens of Soviet televisions (mostly in the form of a screensaver for some television programs). For example, the legendary New Year's broadcast of the Blue Light program still begins with a demonstration of Shukhov's creation.
Shukhov TV Tower: modernity
Surprisingly, but true: the fame of the Shukhov TV Tower has spread far beyond Russia. During an international conference in 2006, the creation of the great Russian architect was included in the short list of the best objects of the Russian avant-garde. Moreover, an international commission recommended including the structure on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Unfortunately, due to an unprofessional restoration attempt carried out in the 70s of the last century, the structure partially lost its mobility and resistance to external influences. In addition, over time, the need arose for anti-corrosion treatment of tower elements.
In 2011, 135 million rubles were allocated for the restoration of the main emblem of Russian television, which turned out to be insufficient for work of this scale. The initial estimate was 350 million, which turned out to be an unaffordable amount for the federal budget, so the reconstruction was postponed indefinitely.
By 2013, the condition of the Shukhov Tower passed into pre-emergency status. A year later, Deputy Minister of Communications and Mass Communications A. Volin proposed dismantling Shukhov’s creation, allegedly due to the fact that the object threatened to arbitrarily collapse. The Deputy Minister's proposal caused negative responses among the residents of Shabolovka, as well as famous architects of the world. Angered by Volin’s “rationalization” idea, representatives of the world architectural community sent a letter of protest to the President of the Russian Federation, in which they proposed to preserve the Shukhov Tower as the most important object of world culture.
Thanks to the wide public response, the capital's authorities stopped encroaching on the Shabolov hyperboloid and even equipped it with a special supporting structure that protects the structure from destruction. Responsibility for preserving the world architectural monument was assigned to the Ministry of Communications, promising to allocate money for the reconstruction of the tower in the future.
- Television and radio broadcasts from the Shukhov Tower were stopped in 2002.
- The territory where the structure is located is considered closed, so access to the site is possible only after an officially issued permit. If there is none, then you can simply go to the fenced area and admire the legendary structure from here.
- In total, 8 towers in the Shukhov style were built on the territory of the Russian Federation.
- In 2016, the building was included in the list of World Cultural Monuments, with protected status. Shukhov Tower on the Oka River
How to get there
Shukhov Tower address: Moscow, st. Shukhova, 8.
The easiest way to get to the Shukhov TV Tower is the Moscow metro. Get off at the Shabolovskaya station, from which the legendary hyperboloid is only a few hundred meters away. A longer route (about one and a half kilometers) from the Oktyabrskaya station. When exiting the metro, go for a walk along the street. Shabolovka, using the tram line as a guide.
Not everyone knows that such an object as the Shukhov Tower actually belongs to the wonders of the modern capital of the Russian Federation.
This high-rise building is visible from different parts of the city, and from its upper part amazing landscapes of Moscow open up.
general description
It should be noted that the Shukhov Tower in Moscow has several more names. In narrow, most often professional, circles it is called the Shukhov Radio Tower, Shukhov TV Tower or Shabolovskaya
In general, this innovative hyperboloid structure, equipped with a load-bearing steel shell, was built according to a special project developed by Academician V. G. Shukhov. The grandiose construction lasted two whole years, from 1920 to 1922 of the last century.
During its operation, the structure belonged to the Ministry of Communications. Now, since 2001, the Shukhov Tower is at the disposal of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise "RTRS".
Today it is not used for its intended purpose and serves as a location for cellular transmitters.
How to get to the city attractions?
The Shukhov Tower, photos of which are increasingly appearing in magazines and brochures dedicated to interesting places in the Russian capital, is located in Moscow, on the street. Shabolovka.
Curious tourists will definitely not get lost, because finding the object is quite easy. To do this, you will need to get to the Shabolovskaya metro station and walk about 300 meters.
As a last resort, you can ask passers-by or residents of the neighborhood where the Shukhov Tower is located, and they will be happy to guide you to your destination.
Structural features
From a technical point of view, the Shukhov Tower consists of separate sections, each of which was assembled by specialists on the ground and then hoisted up with winches. After this, already at a height, the parts of the structure were connected to each other with special, especially strong rivets.
According to the original design, the height of the Shukhov Tower should have been quite impressive, about 350 m. However, circumstances forced us to redraw the plan. The country was experiencing a catastrophic shortage of metal, so 160 m was the maximum length available at that time.
Brief history of the Shukhov Tower
In 1919, when a military danger was brewing for the USSR, in order to ensure constant and reliable communication between Moscow and the outskirts of the republic and several Western states, V.I. Lenin signed a decree on the urgent construction of a radio tower.
By this time, Shukhov was already working on several similar projects. It was decided that this design should be taken as the basis for the future technological miracle (at that time, of course).
The Shukhov Tower on Shabolovka was supposed to surpass the world-famous Eiffel Tower. First of all, it was three times lighter than the French design: 2200 tons versus 7300 tons. However, the economic collapse did not allow the specialist’s dream to come true. In the Union at that time, as already mentioned, there was a catastrophic shortage of steel, so, after consulting, we settled on a 150 m high tower.
In October 1919, the Shukhov Tower, the address of which is well known to both Muscovites and guests of the capital, found its foundation.
In general, it should be noted that Shukhov’s project was ideal for a country devastated by civil war and revolution. The design of the tower was thought out to the smallest detail, but still quite simple. Simplicity and practicality were felt literally in every detail, and all the details did not require special development and were mainly rivets and profiles.
Despite this, the Shukhov Tower in Moscow (photos of those times can be seen in the city’s museums) was not built as quickly as we would like. The workers complained that the boards and planks always arrived very late, and the metal was released very reluctantly.
To further reduce the cost of assembling the object, the architect came up with the idea of assembling sections 25 m high and weighing up to 300 pounds on the ground, and then lifting them up with cables and winches. He was personally present at every climb. And gradually the Shukhov Tower in Moscow began to take shape.
Shukhov, despite personal problems, devoted himself entirely to the construction. At the end of the summer of 1919, his son died, in March 1920 - his mother. In June 1921, the following shock occurred: while lifting the fourth section, the third broke. One of the cables broke and the fourth section fell, damaging the first two that made up the base of the tower. Fortunately, no casualties were avoided, but from that day on Shukhov began interrogations, trials and commissions. As a result, he was awarded the so-called “conditional execution”, which could have become quite real if the tower had not been completed by the specified deadline.
The familiar Shukhov Tower, a photo of which can be examined in more detail both in textbooks intended for architectural faculties and in tourist brochures dedicated to Moscow, began work in 1923.
People of the older generation will note that for quite a long time it served as the “calling card” of television throughout the USSR. Test television broadcasting from this facility was first carried out in 1937, and two years later, in 1939, regular broadcasts were already carried out from there.
The design gradually lost its significance. The opening of the more modern and powerful Ostankino Tower in 1967 played a decisive role in this.
What the tower looks like today
But still, the Shukhov Tower on Shabolovka still played an important role in the lives of Russians. How? The fact is that after the fire in 2000, for a year and a half, this particular facility supported the broadcasting of the main channels.
Today, architects around the world have recognized it as a unique and outstanding masterpiece of engineering.
The world fame and importance of a strategic object called the Shukhov Tower, photos of which can be viewed in great detail, are also confirmed by awards from various exhibitions. Its models have taken part in almost all prestigious European exhibitions in recent years.
For example, the image of a radio tower was used as a logo in Paris, at the Pompidou Center, at the exhibition "The Art of Engineering". And in 2003 in Munich, at an event called “The best designs and structures in the architecture of the 20th century,” a gilded prototype of the Shukhov Tower, 6 m high, was installed. In addition, many European books on the history of architecture describe this structure in detail.
In 2006, at a planetary-scale scientific conference “Preservation of 20th Century Architecture,” in which 170 experts from 30 countries took part, the Shukhov Tower was recognized as a Russian architectural masterpiece and
According to data provided by the website for the protection of the Active Citizen object, the Shukhov Tower is currently protected by the state, recommended for inclusion in the UNESCO World Heritage List, but access to it is closed.
Work carried out already in the 21st century
British architect N. Foster wrote a letter in March 2010 demanding that the tower be completely reconstructed to its original state, citing the fact that it was in disrepair and was collapsing.
Today, architects have several options for restoring the site. One of them proposes to create a recreation area around it (in the likeness of the Eiffel Tower). Business, museum and cultural complexes are expected to be located here.
In 2011, V. Putin ordered the allocation of 135 million rubles from the Federation budget during 2011-2013. for design and reconstruction of the facility.
In June 2012, the tower was inspected by an unmanned helicopter. With its help, they created a three-dimensional model of a Moscow landmark with distortions applied to it that appeared over time.
In the same year, the competition for the privilege of concluding a contract aimed at developing working and design documentation for the reconstruction of the tower was won by Quality and Reliability LLC, which created a global reconstruction project for more than ten and a half million rubles.
The manager of the Shukhov Tower Foundation and the great-grandson of the brilliant engineer said that the project worth 2 million euros was paid for by foreign institutes that deal with problems of architecture, engineering and physics.
The need for restoration
During its entire operation, the engineering structure has never undergone major repairs. Back in 1992, the need for urgent repairs was determined. The Shukhov Tower Foundation proposed several options for restoring this unique structure.
The main idea is to turn the closed area adjacent to the tower into a tourist area, building parks, ponds, museums and a concert venue.
It is also proposed to move the structure to one of the following areas:
- VDNH;
- Kaluga outpost area.
There are quite a lot of people who oppose the transfer, among them representatives of the Active Citizen resource also play a special role. “The Shukhov Tower must be located in its historical place, otherwise it will simply destroy a world masterpiece,” they believe.
Transfer plans: pros and cons
In 2014, the Ministry of Communications and Mass Communications reported that the tower had moved from a pre-emergency state to a state of sequential destruction.
Representatives of government authorities proposed to dismantle the object completely and restore it in another place.
But 38 leading foreign experts and architects, as well as residents of the Shabolovka district, spoke out against the transfer and dismantling of the country’s architectural heritage.
Under public pressure, the Government decided not to dismantle the tower and ordered the Ministry of Communications to take emergency measures at its own expense to protect the facility.
What is the Shukhov Tower Foundation?
The head of the fund of the same name is the great-grandson of the famous engineer, Vladimir Fedorovich Shukhov. Today he proposes a comprehensive reconstruction of the area near the tower. According to European experience in the restoration of unique architectural structures, it is necessary to create appropriate infrastructure in the adjacent area and ensure the correct visual presentation of the object. Thus, it is quite possible to attract serious investments.
The Shukhov Tower Foundation advocates the creation at the base of the building of a kind of center of science, art and culture, which will include the V. G. Shukhov Museum, a business center and a complex
The organization at the international level invites both institutes and companies, as well as architects and experts, to cooperate.
Shukhovskaya is actually a unique hyperboloid structure, made in the image of a load-bearing metal mesh shell. Today, the tower is recognized by experts around the world as one of the most ingenious achievements of engineering.
It has a unique, elegant metal mesh design, which ensures minimal wind influence, which is the main danger for high structures. The steel structure is particularly light and durable.
The conical round body of the tower is made up of six 25-meter sections, the lower of which is placed on a special concrete foundation three meters deep. The tower parts are fastened with rivets. The tower was built without cranes, requiring only one coordinating worker at the top.
Just before the war, the structure underwent an extraordinary inspection: a mail plane caught on the support cable of the tower during its flight. The vehicle was practically shattered into pieces, and the tower only shook a little, but, fortunately, remained standing.
It is very interesting that during the very first live broadcasts, when the presenters had no right to make even the slightest mistake, they came up with a ritual “for good luck”: with the thought of a successful broadcast, walk around the tower and touch its beams at the base.
Positive reviews from tourists
The tower is undoubtedly one of the symbols of Moscow. Tourists who had the opportunity to see this famous, third most important tower in Moscow, consider it a magnificent structure, an original and very beautiful object, a real treasure of Russia.
They claim that in the dark and in clear weather, towering above the urban concrete jungle, it seems majestic.
People hope that the tower will remain in Moscow and will finally be restored.
Opponents of preserving the site
Unfortunately, there are some. Supporters of the demolition of the building insist that, in its current state, the tower disfigures the appearance of the neighborhood.
There is only one conclusion: Shukhovskaya definitely needs to be restored, and this should be done as soon as possible.
On the ancient street of Moscow, which developed along the way to the village of Shabolovo in the 18th century, there is a unique calling card of the capital - the Shukhovskaya (Shabalovskaya) television tower. Viewers remembered the address of the television center - , 37 - from the beginning of television broadcasting in the Soviet Union.
This openwork hyperboloid structure, which is a unique steel load-bearing shell, is located next to the television center.
Almost a century ago, in 1919, an outstanding architect and scientist developed his first project for the Shabolovskaya Tower. At first it was planned to build a tower 350 meters high, but during the Civil War an acute shortage of metal did not allow this project to be completed. Therefore, they began to build the tower according to the second project, which provided for its height to be 148.3 meters.
Despite the fact that there was a constant shortage of materials, construction was almost uninterrupted, it was strictly controlled by Lenin, and was finally completed in March 1922. The start date for radio broadcasts from the Shukhov Tower is March 19. Thus, in March 2012, this recognized engineering masterpiece turned ninety years old.
Already from the beginning of construction, the tower on Shabolovka aroused great delight among those who saw it. It is known that she inspired the writer Alexei Tolstoy to create the novel “The Hyperboloid of Engineer Garin.”
Single-sheet hyperboloids, which are sections of this tower, rest their ends on bases made in the form of rings. Hyperboloids were created from straight beams. The main danger of high-rise buildings, wind load, is minimal, since the tower created by Shukhov has an original mesh design.
At the same time, it is quite durable. Another characteristic feature is the fact that in comparison with the Eiffel Tower, which weighs 7,300 tons at a height of three hundred meters, it is much lighter. The metal consumption per unit height of the Shukhov Tower is three times less than that of the Eiffel Tower.
The Shukhov TV Tower was built without the use of cranes and scaffolding. The assembly of its upper sections was carried out inside the lowest section, then they were raised on top of each other. All elements of the tower were fastened with special rivets.
For the lower section, a foundation was laid, the diameter of which is 40 meters and its depth is 3 meters. In total, the tower body is assembled from six sections, each of which reaches 25 meters in height. Externally, the entire structure has the shape of an openwork cone.
The Shabalovskaya (Shukhovskaya) tower has been a support for antennas of television and radio stations all this time.
In 1939, on March 10, the Shabolovsky television center showed a documentary about the opening of the 18th Party Congress. This moment is considered the beginning of regular television broadcasts using transmitters located on the Shabolovskaya Tower. Soon the broadcast schedule was established; they were conducted for two hours, four times a week. In 1939, there were already more than a hundred working televisions in Moscow.
The Shukhov Tower also faced a very serious test. In 1939, a mail plane got caught on a cable stretching from the ground to the top of the tower. The tower survived, despite the fact that the blow was very strong, but the plane, unfortunately, crashed. A thorough examination was carried out. She showed that the tower itself does not even need repairs.
In conclusion, it should be noted that the Shukhov Tower retained its function as a transmitting center until 1995. For a very long time her image was the screensaver of many television programs and the emblem of Soviet television, and she herself is ranked among the seven masterpieces of the Russian architectural avant-garde.