Colonius, Television tower in Neustadt-Nord, Cologne, Germany.
Colonius is a concrete television tower in Neustadt-Nord, Cologne, Germany, rising 266 meters above the city. The cylindrical shaft supports technical equipment at the top and several closed levels that once welcomed the public.
Work began in January 1978 and finished in 1981, when Cologne reinforced its role as an important media center in postwar Germany. In 2004, a helicopter carried a radio antenna to the top, increasing the structure from just under 253 meters to 266 meters.
The tower's name is not a blend of city names; it is simply the official designation. Its two-storey visitor area, with a cafeteria and a rotating restaurant, has had no leaseholder since 1994, and the viewing platform closed in 1999 for fire safety reasons. In 2008, for the Plan 08 architecture festival, a lighting installation turned the tower into a temporary sculpture.
You can see the tower from surrounding streets, though it now serves only as a transmission facility for digital television and radio. The upper levels remain closed to visitors, as the observation deck and rotating restaurant have not reopened since the 1990s.
During construction, workers poured roughly 5,000 cubic meters of concrete into the shaft, which tapers slightly toward the top. The closed observation level sits at 166 meters and once offered a complete view over the Rhineland.
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