Swisscom-Sendeturm St. Chrischona, Telecommunication tower in Basel-Stadt, Switzerland
The Swisscom-Sendeturm St. Chrischona is a transmission tower in Basel-Stadt that stands 250 meters tall. It features a concrete base supporting a steel antenna structure that broadcasts radio and television signals across northwestern Switzerland.
St. Chrischona has hosted transmitters since 23 April 1954, when a 30 m steel lattice mast began carrying Swiss television to the Basel area, one of the country's three oldest broadcast sites. That mast ran until 28 December 1959; from 29 June 1961 a 136 m tower moved from Beromünster took over. The PTT launched an architecture competition in 1973/74, and the present tower was built from July 1980 to December 1983, entering service on 2 August 1984.
The tower's name comes from the St. Chrischona hill, a Basel landmark; the site has broadcast Swiss television since 23 April 1954, when only 76 television sets existed in the Basel area. Today it carries Swiss Radio DRS and Southwest German Radio (SWR) programmes, including SWR1 to SWR4 and Radio Basel 1. Guided visits can be booked, though the tower is otherwise closed to the public.
The tower is located on the St. Chrischona hill and can be seen from surrounding hiking trails. Public access to the base is not permitted, though distant viewpoints offer good photo opportunities.
During foundation work in 1979, a fragment of a mammoth tusk was unearthed at the site. The tower's three inclined support legs, unusual for Swiss television towers, let it withstand hurricane-force winds of up to 220 km/h with an oscillation of only about 40 cm.
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