Ostankino Tower

Ostankino Tower (Russian: Останкинская телебашня, Ostankinskaya telebashnya) is a free-standing television and radio tower in Moscow, Russia. Standing 540 metres (1772 ft) tall, Ostankino was designed by Nikolai Nikitin. It is a member of the World Federation of Great Towers.[1]

Construction began in 1963 and was completed in 1967. It held the record for the tallest free-standing structure in the world for eight years, until the CN Tower was built in Toronto, Canada in 1976. A 1994 plan to increase the tower's height to 561 meters by adding an antenna was not implemented for lack of funding.[1] Even if this antenna had been installed, the Ostankino Tower would be surpassed by the Russia Tower, a 612-metre (2,009 ft) mixed-use skyscraper currently under construction in the Moscow International Business Centre.