Bachtel Tower

Bachtel Tower (German: Bachtelturm) is a 60 m (200 ft) tall radio tower on 1,115 m (3,658 ft) high Bachtel mountain near Hinwil, Switzerland, overlooking the Zürcher Oberland. Bachtel Tower is a lattice tower whose observation deck, 30 m (98 ft) metres above the ground, is accessible by a stairway. It was built as replacement for a smaller observation tower on the site in 1986. On the observation deck of Bachtel Tower there is an illustration with the names of the mountains of the Swiss Alps visible. This illustration was designed by Paul Thalmann from Wernetshausen near Hinwil.

History

In 1873, a wooden tower was built; it was destroyed twenty years later, followed in 1893 by an observation tower of steel. This second tower was declared in 1979 by the government of the canton of Zürich as an object of historic preservation. Six years later, the tower was stored by the Swiss Post (former PTT) on technical reasons, and in 1992, the tower was rebuilt on Pfannenstiel.