Moscow Guide
The northern suburbs
The TV Centre and Tower
Address: Across the road from the Church of the Trinity
A large ornamental pond and vistas of concrete surround the glassy Ostankino Television Centre, a complex of studios at the base of a TV Tower (Telibashnya) whose 35,000 tonnes of ferroconcrete taper from 50m in diameter at the base, to a needle-like shaft 540m high – making it the tallest freestanding structure in Europe. Heralded as proof of Soviet technological prowess when it was constructed in 1967, the TV Tower became yet another symbol of Russia's decline when it caught fire in August 2000. Fire-fighting efforts were hindered by the discovery that the central part of the tower was not linked to the automatic fire extinguisher system, as the architects' plans had specified. As a result, Russia was briefly without a national television system, and the choice of channels for Muscovites was severely restricted for months. It also deprived tourists of the bird's-eye view of the VVTs and Moscow from 337m up, formerly provided by an observation deck and the revolving restaurant Seventh Heaven. Prior to its "towering inferno" notoriety, Ostankino was best known abroad for its role in the 1993 battle between Yeltsin and parliament.