Bungsberg telecommunications tower

The Bungsberg telecommunications tower stands on the highest hill in Schleswig-Holstein, the 168-metre Bungsberg. It is a 179-metre concrete structure built for radio, television and mobile signals. A public viewing deck sits forty metres up, reached by an internal staircase. The tower weighs about 6,000 tonnes and its base is 8.4 metres wide. Nearby is an older observation tower, the Elisabethenturm, built in 1861 and later raised to 22 metres. The Elisabethenturm remains standing but has been closed since the telecommunications tower opened. The telecommunications tower carries the second and third German TV programmes along with private stations. Deutsche Telekom owns the tower and uses it for directional radio links and mobile telephony. Close by, the NDR operates a separate transmission site with a 231-metre guyed mast, the tallest structure in the state. This mast replaced an earlier steel-tube mast in 2004 and is used for FM radio and the first programme of NDR. Visitors reach the hill by road and find the telecommunications tower’s observation deck open to the public. The deck offers wide views across Schleswig-Holstein’s landscape. The older Elisabethenturm stands a short distance away, its iron framework still visible. The NDR mast rises nearby, its lattice structure contrasting with the telecommunications tower’s solid concrete form. The site combines modern broadcasting with a piece of 19th-century history.