Peering up at the sky-piercing structure before you, do you know what it is? This is the Heinrich-Hertz-Turm. It is a landmark radio telecommunication tower in Hamburg. Many locals call it Telemichel. The Heinrich-Hertz-Turm is named after Heinrich Hertz. He was a famous physicist born in Hamburg.
The Heinrich-Hertz-Turm has been a symbol of Hamburg since its construction. Construction happened between 1965 and 1968. The architects Fritz Trautwein and Rafael Behn designed it. Civil engineers Jörg Schlaich, Rudolf Bergermann, and Fritz Leonhardt helped. The Deutsche Bundespost, now Deutsche Telekom’s subsidiary Deutsche Funkturm GmbH, commissioned the tower.
Standing at 279.2 meters, the Heinrich-Hertz-Turm is Hamburg’s tallest structure. The tower consists of a 204-meter steel-reinforced concrete base. At the top of it is a 45-meter steel-lattice tower. A three-segmented cylinder of about 30 meters supports various antennas.
Originally, visitors could ascend to the observation platform and revolving restaurant. They were located at 128 meters. Two high-speed elevators served these platforms. Above the restaurant at 150 meters was the operations platform. It housed the workforce and equipment. Higher up, six open platforms held microwave radio relay antennas.
Imagine enjoying coffee and cake so high up. At the opening in 1968, cake cost only one mark and coffee 95 pfennigs. Thousands lined up to ride the elevators to the 130-meter-high platform.
The tower played a crucial role in expanding television access. In November 1968, the new tower’s transmitting equipment went live. Around 50.000 more families could now watch the second and third television channels.
The Heinrich-Hertz-Turm closed to the public in January 2001 due to asbestos. There were plans to reopen it. But these plans regularly failed due to preservation requirements and high renovation costs. The restaurant will not open again because of new fire escape regulations.
Interestingly, the Heinrich-Hertz-Turm also housed a radio amateur club station “DF0HHT”. It even housed a DGPS transmitting station.
Today, the Heinrich-Hertz-Turm remains a vital infrastructure building. It supports mobile communications, landlines, television, and police radio. The city plans to submit the building application in 2025. The Heinrich-Hertz-Turm will hopefully open its observation platform at 120 meters again in the future. The Heinrich-Hertz-Turm stands as a testament to Hamburg’s innovation. It shows its commitment to progress.