LAKIHEGY BROADCASTING TOWER
Since its commissioning in 1933, the broadcasting tower with its height of 314 metres has been Hungary’s highest structure.
Following its renovation in 2006, this industrial monument has been functioning as a backup national transmitter for the national transmitter at Solt. The steel lattice structure in the shape of an elongated octahedron was constructed as a rework of plans originating from the USA, to match the sandy soil conditions of Csepel Island, under the direction of engineer Károly Massányi, in the Hungarian Royal State Iron, Steel and Machinery Factory. It broadcast the Hungarian Radio’s Bp1 until 1944, when it was blown up in WWII. Following its reconstruction in 1946, it became a protected industrial monument in 1985.
It weighs 280 tons, held in place by 8 tensioning cables, each 220 metres long, arranged in a 178-metre radius circle. Its width at the base is a meagre 65 cm, being 14.65 metres wide at the centre, narrowing back to 1.39 metre at the top. The entire mass of the steel structure is supported by two inverted porcelain truncated cones and steel hemispheres embedded on them. The porcelain truncated cones are hollow with 9 cm thick walls, and also provide the necessary insulation besides supporting the tower’s weight.
Szigetszentmiklós, Lakihegy district