Arguably Germany's most iconic attraction is getting ready for a revamp this autumn. The Fernsehturm’s Marketing Director has announced that the tower’s famous rotating restaurant will get a blast from the past, among other cinematic plans for the lift shaft and emergency escape.

Berlin TV Tower will be cool again

The landmark that towers over all else, the Berlin Fernsehturm is now scheduled to be revamped. Those who like to reignite their love for the often grey German city by taking a reflective moment to look across at the 1960s wonder need not worry, aesthetic changes will only be visible from the inside, a space still unseen by many Berliners.

But the Fernsehturm's Marketing Director Kai Matzanke has set an impressive goal for the renovations, to turn the tower into a …cool place to hang out? “For locals, the tower shouldn’t just be a symbol of Berlin, but also a cool recreational spot,” Matzanke told Tagesspiegel.

Renovations will begin in the autumn of 2023

Matzanke wants to make the Fernsehturm more interesting to Berliners and “set it up in a more contemporary way”. So what does that mean exactly? It means feng shui, new, funky wallpaper and a new menu.

The bar of Berlin’s biggest sphere will be moved, meaning a better panoramic view from all around the restaurant, which was originally installed in 1994. Brighter colours will be brought in and materials used in the original design will attempt the bring 1969 back to life, 368-metres above reality.

Whatever Germany tasted like in 1969 - perhaps Spreewalder Gürken - is also going to be brought back to life with some new, Fernsehturm-exclusive cocktails and an updated, ever-changing selection of specialities. 

“We will no longer have the same menu for the whole year,” explained Matzanke. For example, in springtime the Fernsehturm will dish out one unphotosynthesised traditional dish so dear to the German psyche that it need not be named. The director said he wanted the restaurant to be so tasty that diners would become “repeat offenders”, making return trips to the globe.

Apart from the vertigo-inducing views, future visitors will also be able to enjoy two new films on display. The first will be a virtual trip through Berlin’s 19th-century history and the second about the construction of the Turm. This will show never-before-seen views of the tower’s lift shaft, the emergency exit underneath the sphere and the ice tray above, which is designed to catch ice falling from the antenna.

Thumb image credit: Svet foto / Shutterstock.com