The mast near Gąbin, about 80 kilometers west of Warsaw, fell shortly after 7 p.m. on August 8, 1991. No one was killed, though the crash was heard through a large surrounding area.
The mast had been built by Polish engineering company Mostostal Zabrze. Construction began in 1973 and was completed the following year.
For 17 years, the 646.38-meter structure had been a striking symbol of Polish engineering.
If it were still standing, it would be taller than every completed building in the world except Dubai’s Burj Khalifa and Merdeka 118 in Kuala Lumpur.
Its extraordinary height was dictated largely by engineering rather than a desire to set a record.
The mast entered service in 1974, under communist-era leader Edward Gierek.
It transmitted public broadcaster Polish Radio 1 on longwave at 227 kilohertz.
Engineers calculated that a mast approximately half the wavelength of the signal would provide optimal transmission.
Combined with a powerful two-megawatt transmitter, the mast gave Polish Radio 1 a vast reach. The station could be heard across Europe and North Africa, and under favorable conditions as far away as Asia and North America.
That reach also had political importance. Under communism, Polish Radio 1 was the country’s main state radio news channel, and the authorities wanted broadcasts to reach Poles living and working abroad.
It was officially inaugurated on July 30, 1974, by Prime Minister Piotr Jaroszewicz, a senior figure in the ruling Communist Party.
The first sound formally transmitted from Konstantynów was the 12 chimes of the clock at Warsaw’s Royal Castle.
Konstantynów, May 18, 1974. Photo: PAP/Jan Morek
The mast remained the tallest man-made structure on Earth throughout its existence. Its height was finally surpassed during construction of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai in 2008. The skyscraper, completed in 2010, stands 828 meters tall.
The Konstantynów mast collapsed while workers were replacing one of the steel guy wires that stabilized the structure. Temporary cables were installed during the operation, but one came loose and another was unable to carry the load.
Investigators blamed errors and negligence by the maintenance team. The head of the repair crew was later sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison and fined.
Polish Radio 1 remained on air because broadcasting had already been transferred to the older transmitter at Raszyn near Warsaw during the maintenance work.
Plans to rebuild the Konstantynów mast met strong opposition from local residents, some of whom blamed the transmitter for health and agricultural problems despite a lack of scientific evidence supporting the claims.
A replacement longwave broadcasting center was eventually built near Solec Kujawski, between the north-central cities of Bydgoszcz and Toruń. It uses two 330-meter masts and entered service in 1999.
The Radio Broadcasting Center in Solec Kujawski, north-central Poland. Photo: Wojtek Szabelski/PAP
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Source: IAR/PAP, polskieradio24.pl