Berlin to Build Europe's Highest Ferris Wheel

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

This will be fun to see - from the ground. I ain't getting on that.

Berlin to Build Europe's Highest Ferris Wheel

Construction has begun on the Great Berlin Wheel, a 185-meter structure that will loom over Berlin and top the London Eye as Europe's largest ferris wheel.

A computer-generated graphic

shows what the 185-meter Berlin

Wheel will look like after it is

completed in 2009.

Berlin might have over three million residents, but most of them stay close to the ground in a city with few buildings that rise above six or seven stories. But by the end of 2009, Berliners will have a new chance to see their city from the sky.

Construction has begun on the Great Berlin Wheel, a ferris wheel that will top the London Eye by 50 meters as the highest in Europe.

The 185-meter observation attraction is being built on an equipment yard adjacent to Zoo Berlin, on the western edge of the city's Tiergarten Park. City officials and project promoters held a ceremonial groundbreaking at the site on Monday.

"The wheel will not be a nuisance to the city, but rather the opposite, an enrichment not just for the zoo, but for all of Berlin," said Berlin's mayor, Klaus Wowereit.

The €120 million ($176 million) project is financed mainly by small private donations -- so far 10,000 individuals have contributed.

According to the daily Berliner Morgenpost, Wowereit praised the project for uniting investors from both East and West Berlin. "That is not so common in Berlin," he told the paper.

Six thousand meters of steel cable will be used to construct the wheel, which will span a diameter of 175 meters. Thirty-six air conditioned cars, each with a capacity of 40 passengers, will rotate around the wheel at a top speed of 25 centimeters per second. One rotation will last 35 minutes.

The Berlin Wheel will be the second highest landmark in a city with few tall buildings. It will only be overshadowed by the 358-meter TV Tower, a Berlin icon in Alexanderplatz.

The project is managed by the Singapore-based Great Wheel Corporation, which is also building giant ferris wheels in two Chinese cities, as well as Dubai and Orlando.

After the wheel opens -- current projections are for late 2009 -- Berlin officials say it should draw two million visitors a year and create 100 jobs.

Der Spiegel

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

very cool. will beer be served on it?

[Ms. Squirrel 11]

That is great - Berlin is a wonderful, wonderful city - one of my favourite cities really (and that comes from someone who is not a big Germany fan). It has so much to offer, so much to see and now it will have another attraction added. Fantastic. It surely is beautiful to look at from above.

[JODO 2]

I don't blame you!