The (Pointless) Demolition Of The Yekaterinburg TV Tower

It’s amazing what a one-off sports event will make a city do that it had never done before. When a city gets to host the Olympics, they build an entire complex to host said games, usually demolishing a decently sized area to even get the land together for this new facility – one that is likely to only get used for those games and then be abandoned, or demolished in and of itself after the events are over.

At least that makes some sense, though – you need a facility to host such a massive event, and while I think it’s in and of itself a waste in the long run, there’s at least a practical reason to it.

What I can’t stand is a situation like what happened in Yekaterinburg, Russia, in preparation for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

On March 24th, 2018, as part of “beautification” of the city ahead of the World Cup, a somewhat odd landmark was demolished – the Yekaterinburg TV Tower. The structure itself was an old, abandoned Soviet era Television transmission tower that was never actually completed. Construction was started in 1983 and the tower was at about 2/3rd of its final planned height before construction stopped in 1991 due to resource issues caused by the fall of the Soviet Union. Since then, it was used for BASE jumping and some rather odd Urban Exploration (the tower being one of the tallest abandoned structures on Earth)

This is one of those things that baffles me in the long run. Ignoring the fact that I’m somewhat biased towards old, abandoned structures, the tower was considered a landmark, and was relatively well known worldwide.

Demolition just seems like an absolute waste, even for an “abandoned” structure like this – why not somehow embrace it as a symbol of the city? Perhaps some kind of decoration? Lights? Paint? Something?!?!

Nope, instead let’s tear it down since for some reason in the past 25+ years it hasn’t been deemed something worth destroying, but now, in light of a major Football (read, Soccer for other Americans) event coming there, nope, let’s destroy a part of the cities history, something the city is famous for, because it’s “ugly.”

Of course the city has other things going for it – Yekaterinburg is a major city, but still – this tower seemed like a part of its essence, unique to it alone. If they wanted it gone so badly, why not destroy it sooner? What does it accomplish having it gone, and having now to remove all the debris from its demolition?

I just don’t get it. Sure, you might not get the idea of keeping around some abandoned, half finished TV transmission tower, but eh, it was there, why get rid of it now? It just seems like a waste to me, tearing it down because a major sporting event is being held, in part, in the city. Let’s demolish a part of history because, not everyone might like this old building that our city is oddly known for! Madness to me….