The television tower that became the “Pope’s Revenge”
One of the most curious habits of Berliners is to give nicknames to well-known and lesser-known places in their city. Thus the library on Babel Platz becomes “the dresser,” the fountain designed by Christian Gottlieb Cantian outside the Altes Museum is the “soup bowl,” and the Haus der Kulturen der Welt is nicknamed “the pregnant oyster,” even in travel guides. Because of its slender shape, the television tower overlooking Alexanderplatz has earned nicknames we can easily imagine. However, its best known as Telespargel*, the teleasparagus. But also remembered as “The Pope’s Revenge”.
On October 3, 1969, the day of its opening ceremony, the first signal broadcast from the Fernsehturm was like a provocation. Two years later than its western neighbours, the GDR entered the era of color television with one of the world’s tallest communications towers, second only to Moscow’s Ostankino. A high, elegant building designed to recall the space travel era, visible from everywhere in Berlin. It had only one defect.
On sunny days, the steel sphere at the top of the tower radiated a cross-shaped reflection, and Walter Ulbricht, general secretary of the German Socialist Party, known for his atheism, did not welcome this event. He had chosen in person to place the tower in the heart of the city to be a symbol of East Germany’s technological progress.
Sticking to the tradition of giving irreverent nicknames to significant places in Berlin, for Western newspapers, the Fernsehturm became “The Ulbricht Cathedral,” “St. Walter,” “St. Ulbricht,” and, most importantly, “The Pope’s Revenge.”
East Berlin authorities sought several solutions to resolve the issue: covering the tower with non-reflective material, smoothing its surface, and colouring it somehow. Various legends started spreading on the initiatives taken by the party. According to one of them, Ulbricht summoned the architects who had designed the tower, holding them responsible for intentionally choosing the singular coating. Apparently, someone suggested leaving things as they were and issuing a communiqué stating that the reflected figure was not a cross but a “plus”, a symbol to celebrate socialism. And some even proposed to pull down the tower.
On October 3, 2019, the Fernsehturm turned fifty years old, a month before the thirtieth anniversary of the wall’s fall. To this day, it remains an undisputed symbol of Berlin, and when the sun shines, its reflection reminds everyone of the time when Ulbricht suffered “The Pope’s Revenge.”
Photos: Pierpaolo Ferlaino
To know more:
- Ulrich Dibelius, Die Namen des Berliner Fernsehturms», 2007.
