About the Observation Tower
Home > About the Observation Tower > About the Observation TowerThe name of the hill on which the observation tower stands is not very common - Czech word "Podvrší" means "Underhill" in English. Can a hill be called Underhill? Why not. The name was very likely derived from a forest road located nearby in south-western direction.
Our ancestors´ stories tell us that an observation tower has already stood there in the past. It was built in 1920´s and together with a nearby triangulation point served for geodetic purposes. Two ladders enabled ascent approx. 21 m above the hill whose altitude is 590 m above the sea level. The tower was demolished in 1947.
The current modern telecommunication tower was financed by Eurotel Praha, spol. s.r.o. company and was set to work in August 2001. Since its completion the tower has served mainly as a nodal point connecting radio-relay routes and their centrals as well as for propagation of digital system GSM 900 signal for mobile phones. Ing. Jan Tomčala from Teplotechna Ostrava, a.s. company designed the construction and this company was also chief provider of assembly work on the intermediate mast and the viewing platform.
The building is supported by high-quality concrete foundation 1.5 m deep and of 11 m in diameter. The foundation contains 179 m3 of concrete plus 3.6-ton steel armature supporting the intermediate mast. At the foot of the tower there is a brick building with 5 rooms, 3 of which provide background for technological equipment of all three Czech mobile operators, i.e. 02 Telefonica, T-Mobile and Vodafone. From this building the 37-meters-high intermediate mast rises which later changes into a slender ferroconcrete tower with attached aerial systems. Total height of the tower is 48,84 m. The intermediate mast comprises of ferroconcrete centrings with 199 cm in diameter and 16 cm thick. The individual centrings are interconnected with threaded tension bars with 36 mm in diameter, joined by steel nuts. The inner part of the tower stores wiring and cables connecting aerial systems with technical equipment placed in the brick building. Moreover, it conceals a ladder with resting platforms for technicians who work on assembly and maintenance of the equipment. The viewing platform is located 32 m above the foot of the tower. Once being above the roof of the brick building, a steel staircase begins to spiral around the intermediate mast. The staircase made of step gratings has 168 stairs in total; after every sixth step there is a landing. There is, of course, a banister on both sides of the stairs. Its handrails have 51 mm in diameter. All these ensure a not very demanding ascent on the viewing platform located 621 m above the sea level with the capacity of 27 people. Also the floor of the viewing platform is made of step gratings and the banister is similar to that of the staircase. The total weight of the construction – staircase and viewing platform – is 21,550 kg.
The viewing platform rewards visitors with magnificent views of the whole Moravian Karst, from Helišova skála (Helišova Rock) on the north-east to Hády hill on the south-west. Other visible sites include e.g. cooling towers of Dukovany nuclear power plant 52 km to SW, Pálava Hills near Mikulov 57 km to SE, Skalky, the highest ( 735 m) hill of Drahany Highland with a meteorological radar to NE, Czech-Moravian Highland to SW, a greater part of Boskovice highland to SW etc. Worth mentioning is also the fact that three other observation towers: Babí lom near Lelekovice in the south, Milenka near Rudka on the west and an observation tower near the village of Kozárov.
The village of Vavřinec as an owner of the observation tower wishes all its visitors nice weather and long view and looks forward to your visit.
|
Commencement of the construction work: |
17.4.2001 |
|
Concreting of the foundation: |
29.4.2001 |
|
Assembly of the intermediate mast: |
15.5. - 22.5.2001 |
|
Assembly of the staircase and the viewing platform: |
4.6. - 13.6.2001 |
|
Completion of the construction work: |
26.7.2001 |