Begun in 1983 and under active construction until 1991, a 220-metre-tall television tower has been brought crashing back to earth in Yekaterinburg.
The tower was for a while the world's tallest abandoned building and the biggest structure in the Russian city.
For 30 years the authorities and residents had tried to find a use for the tower. Among the suggestions were to build a chapel on the top, to set the statue of Saint Yekaterina, a holy patroness of the city, and even to convert it into a huge lighthouse.
However, investors were never found.
