Avala Tower, Television tower on Mount Avala, Serbia.
Avala Tower is a television tower situated on Mount Avala and rises above the surrounding landscape with its triangular concrete form. The structure houses an observation deck that opens views to Belgrade and its surroundings, plus dining and shopping facilities within the building.
Designed by Uglješa Bogunović, Slobodan Janjić and engineer Milan Krstić, the tower was built from 1961 to 1965 with an equilateral-triangle cross-section and tripod legs. It was destroyed on 29 April 1999 by two laser-guided bombs during the NATO bombing. Rebuilding began in December 2006 and the tower reopened on 21 April 2010, two metres taller at 204.68 m.
The tower's name comes from Mount Avala, and its triangular cross-section echoes the Serbian tripod chair, the tronožac. After the 1999 destruction, the Journalists' Association of Serbia proposed rebuilding it in 2002, and fundraising events included a tennis match between Ana Ivanović and Novak Djoković and a concert by Ceca Ražnatović. Cement prints of donors, including those two players, are displayed at the base.
Two lifts run up the tower shaft to the gondola, where the restaurant is at 119 m and the lookout at 122 m. The tower does not operate when wind speed exceeds 13 m/s. A separate lift for parents with children and disabled visitors was added by 2017. Access to the tower is via a ramp 4.20 m wide.
The tower's cross-section is an equilateral triangle, chosen to echo the Serbian tripod chair, the tronožac. Its three legs rest on foundation blocks sunk 1.4 m into the rock, and the structure swayed up to a metre in the košava wind. Until the World Trade Center fell in 2001, it was the tallest destroyed building in the world.
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