Fate of iconic Moscow tower hangs in balance

The future of Moscow’s Shukhov radio tower, a showpiece of Russian avant-garde architecture, remains unknown as funds committed to its restoration have been diverted to pay for another project. The Russian Television and Radio Broadcasting Network, owners of the Shukhov tower, revealed that, following legal delays, a large tranche of the 135 million roubles (£2.7m) pledged for its repair in 2010 had instead been spent on refurbishing the Ostankino Television Tower, another landmark. The RTRS estimates that the cost of restoring the Shukhov tower now stands at 373 million roubles (£7.5m).

The 150-metre structure, the first broadcasting tower in Russia, was built in the early 1920s to promulgate Communism. It is named after its creator Vladimir Shukhov, a gifted engineer who pioneered its hyperboloid design, a steel lattice structure with an inward curve. The dilapidated tower has not undergone any anti-corrosion protection in over 20 years and continues to deteriorate. World-renowned architects such as Norman Foster have campaigned to save the tower from disrepair. In a letter in 2010, Foster described the tower as “a structure of dazzling brilliance and great historic importance”. The tower served as inspiration for his own skyscraper, the “Gherkin”, which was built in the City of London in 2004.

Source: Izvestia