Rousse TV Tower

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The Rousse TV Tower as seen from the city

The Rousse TV Tower

The Rousse TV Tower is a 204-meter^[1] high TV tower built of reinforced concrete at Rousse, Bulgaria. Originally, the structure was constructed as a 206-meter-high TV tower with a cafe/restaurant on top and was the tallest one on the Balkan peninsula until 2001^[2]. In the 1990s an additional antenna was added bringing the height to 210 meters. And, in March 2007, the antenna was reconstructed bringing its height to 204 meters.

The Rousse TV Tower was built on the Leventa hill, a.k.a. Sarabair, in 1986 and was launched on 7 May 1987 (under communist rule). Authors of the project were Stilyan Titkov, Evlogi Tsvetkov, Ivan Yantahtov and V. Vasilev. The newly-built tower started broadcasting both Bulgarian Television and Soviet Television, as well as the three stations of Bulgarian National Radio — Horizon, Hristo Botev, and Orpheus (Bulgarian: Хоризонт, Христо Ботев и Орфей). Higher frequencies were coming into use during the following years, and the process of shutting down old transmitters was completed on 15 Aug 2004.

The tower has an observation deck open for tourists at a height of 107 meters, which offers an excellent panoramic view of Rousse, the Danube river, the neighboring city of Giurgiu, Romania, and as far as the Carpathian Mountains.