I went with the AWARE center on a tour of the Liberation Tower.
looking up from the bottom
It is rarely open to the public and it was opened especially for us on Saturday, January 25. We rode an elevator up to 150 meters and then walked around. It was a hazy day so views were not spectacular and the windows were quite dirty as well.
view as we stepped out of the elevator
walking around to another view
zoomed in on ship sitting in the Gulf
another view of the city
in yet another direction
so very hazy
We were told they were washed twice a year and when dignitaries visited (I guess we weren’t dignified enough!). The tower houses many of the government ministries, including the Ministry of Education.
Ministry of Education office
It was designed to accommodate a revolving restaurant, but that never materialized as far as I know.
“Ministry of Communication
Liberation tower is one of the facilities of telecommunications complex.
The construction of the project started on May 1987 and has been interrupted during the barbarian Iraqi invasion the reconstruction was resumed on January 1994 and the new telecommunications complex was inaugurated on March 10 1996.
The tower’s height is 372 meter which is considered the fifth highest freestanding tower in the world. The lower part of the tower is made of armed concrete up to the height of 308 meter while the upper part is made of steel (the antenna mast) till the height of 372 meter.
The technical head of the tower starts from the height of 190 meter up to the height of 210 meter in a form of 6 floors for housing the telecommunications equipment and services.
The tower restaurant with a revolving platform is located at the height of 150 meter. The public can reach the restaurant through the 2 panoramic elevators at a speed of 6.5 m/s. one of the fastest in the Middle East.”
up at the top
stairway up to balcony over “restaurant” area
photo of a photo showing upper portion of tower
looking straight up from the base
From this tour we went out to lunch, Gabe, Kelly and me with a couple of women from the tour, Mary and Bridgette. We went to a Syrian restaurant that a parent of one of Kelly’s students works at, called Naranj. It was delicious!
Naranj, a lovely Syrian restaurant for lunch
allaboardforadventure 