The Avala Tower is a 204.5 m (671 ft) tall telecommunication tower located on Avala mountain in the periphery of Belgrade. The original tower was finished in 1965, but was destroyed by the NATO bombardment of Serbia on 29 April 1999. On 21 December 2006, the reconstruction of Avala Tower commenced and the tower was officially opened at a ceremony on 21 April 2010. It is currently the tallest tower in the Balkan region.
The views from the monument and the tower are tremendous. The views from the top of the tower itself are really great.
The tower was designed by architects Uglješa Bogdanovi? and Slobodan Janji?, and engineer Milan Krsti?. Construction started on 14 October 1961 and was completed four years later in 1965. The tower weighed 4,000 tonnes (3,900 long tons; 4,400 short tons). Between 102 m (335 ft) and 135 m (443 ft), there was an enclosed observation deck. It was the only tower in the world to have an equilateral triangle as its cross section, and one of very few towers not perched directly into the ground, but standing on its legs. The legs formed a tripod, the symbol of Serbian tripod chair. It is one of the small number of towers to be constructed in that manner.
The Avala Tower was destroyed on 29 April 1999 by NATO bombardment. The Avala Tower was a symbol of pride and a famous landmark, not only of Belgrade and Serbia, but of the former Yugoslavia too. The tower was one of the last buildings to be destroyed before the end of the NATO operation. A special bomb was used to destroy the tower.
In 2004, Radio Television Serbia commenced a series of fund-raising events in order to collect money to construct the building once again at the same place it was destroyed.
In 2005, clearing of the site where the tower was destroyed began and on 21 December 2006 the construction of a new Avala Tower commenced. The opening date was 29 April 2009, the tenth anniversary of its destruction.