Malaysia has a large state-owned oil and gas company called Petronas. Once the owners thought - there is a decent profit, but there is no decent office. In the race for the tallest skyscraper in the world, Malaysian oil and gas companies decided to double the tallest building at that time - the 442-meter Willis Tower in Chicago, and in 1998 built two super-high-rises at once - the Petronas Twin Towers. Yes, by the way, they thought about the architecture - for the plan of buildings they took an eight-pointed star (a symbol of Islam as the predominant religion in Malaysia) as a basis, but there was no need to puff over the name. The Petronas Towers are an excellent PR for the company's name.

We went to see the twins twice on the first day of our stay in Kuala Lumpur. In the morning we went to watch, then looked at the Petronas Twin Towers in the afternoon, walked around the KLCC park, and when it got dark we returned to see the skyscrapers with evening illumination, and also enjoy the fountain show.

Petronas Towers in Malaysia: interesting facts

• Each tower has 88 floors.
• The height of the Twin Towers is 451.9 m.
• The Petronas Towers are the tallest twin towers in the world.
• Construction costs amounted to about 800 million dollars.
• The twin towers have two-story elevators (one stops only on odd floors, the other, respectively, on even ones)
• Instead of the usual steel for the construction of skyscrapers, the Petronas Towers used special concrete, which had high ductility, while strength was achieved by adding quartz.

I think many people watched the movie "Code of the Apocalypse", where Anastasia Zavorotnyuk (more precisely, her understudy) parachuted from the skyscrapers of the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur. By the way, during that jump, a power line was accidentally disrupted, so that the neighboring area was left without electricity. Let's hope that the inhabitants of the "dirty mouth" (namely, the name of the capital of Malaysia is translated as such) were not particularly offended.

Yes, and Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones in the movie "The Trap" during the robbery of a cool bank in Malaysia did not disdain to ride on a garland, like on vines in the jungle, to ride from one Petronas tower to another.

Octane molecule at the bus stop

Other skyscrapers are located nearby in Kuala Lumpur:

From the side of the park opens great view

Day and night

Climbing the Petronas Twin Towers

A visit to the observation deck of skyscrapers will cost 80 ringgit (≈920 rubles). You will be told a brief history on the creation of skyscrapers, will be raised to the 41st floor on the bridge connecting the Petronas Twin Towers, and then to the 86th floor. The visit is open from Monday to Friday from 9.00 to 17.00 and is limited in time and number of visitors.

We have not climbed the Petronas Towers and are not going to, because. Nearby there is a TV tower, 6th in height in the world. So, I think it will be more interesting to get there, but this is already part of our next trip to Kuala Lumpur 🙂 .

Urbanthe parkKLCC (Kuala Lumpur City Centre)

KLCC Park (Kuala Lumpur City Center) is located on the southeast side of the Petronas Twin Towers.

It is based on water bodies: a pond and a pool.

Against the backdrop of motionless skyscrapers, you get the feeling that you are on the shore mountain lake against the backdrop of rocks. Of course, nature is nature, but still.

And then I was even upset that I was already a very big girl and I couldn’t frolic in this pool 🙂 . It's great when such conditions are created for children!

In the evening there is a fountain show. We were around 22.00 and caught this beautiful sight:

Petronas Twin Towers and KLCC Park: how to get there by transport in Kuala Lumpur

For orientation Petronas Twin Towers on the map of Kuala Lumpur:

The Petronas Twin Towers can be reached by the popular KL LRT light rail line to KLCC station, or the KL Monorail to Raja Chulan or Bukit Nanas stations. Both of these vehicles resemble the subway, except that the monorail floats on reinforced concrete structures above the ground, and the LRT is most often below it. From the large junction station KL Sentral, the fare will cost 1.8 ringgit (≈21 rubles) on LRT, 2 ringgits (≈23 rubles) on monorail transport.

At first we tried to take the monorail, but literally in front of our noses, there were problems on the line, and we went to the LRT, which we then used, because. the station was near our place of residence near ChinaTown (I wrote about this at the end). And once they even walked from here to Petronasov.

A ticket for LRT transport in Kuala Lumpur is purchased from special machines at stations. In fact, everything is very simple and intuitive there: choose a station on the map, put money in, get change and a token. You put the token on the turnstile in front of the entrance, keep it until the end of the trip, and at the exit turnstile you throw the token into the cell. So the electronics will check whether you have entered / exited there.

Yes, you can also get by bus, but this already needs to be clarified at your hotel or with passers-by.

Staring open-mouthed at the Petronas Twin Towers

Marina and Konstantin Samorosenko

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The end of the twentieth century was marked by the rapid development of countries South-East Asia. The incomes of the states grew day by day, allowing the construction of luxurious hotels and other buildings of amazing design. One such country is Malaysia. The Petronas Towers, named after the local oil giant, are a real decoration of the capital of this distant state.

A little about Malaysia

The territory of the state stretches over the Malacca Peninsula, located south of Thailand, as well as part of the famous Borneo, which the Malaysians call Kalimantan. In addition, the country includes a number of small and not very archipelagos, the most famous of which is Langkawi. total area The state is about 329,000 km 2, which is slightly less than that of neighboring Thailand.

Now Malaysia is one of the most dynamically developing countries in the world. In addition, the state authorities are actively trying to lure tourists to visit them. For example, more and more curious objects are being created, such as Legoland on the border with Singapore or the already mentioned Petronas Twin Towers. Malaysia, in addition to high-tech entertainment, can offer its visitors beautiful beaches Borneo and Tioman. In addition, the jungle is spread throughout the state, which you can visit with a guide if you want thrills.

How to get there

Malaysia is considered by many Russians to be something very exotic, located far away. However, this is not so, because Thailand, so beloved by domestic vacationers, borders on this country, and if we talk about the safety and goodwill of the population, then the northern "neighbor" of the Malays is much less favorable.

Flying to Kuala Lumpur is easy from Moscow. True, most likely, you will have to get there with one change - in Bangkok or Istanbul. In addition, it can be easier to fly to Singapore and take a bus there to Johor Bahru. From there it is easy to get to any point in mainland Malaysia, and most importantly - cheap. Transport is generally inexpensive here, especially when compared with Russian prices.

Malaysia: Petronas Towers and their history

The project originated in the nineties of the twentieth century, when the authorities decided to move the hippodrome from the center of Kuala Lumpur, thereby freeing up 40 hectares of land. It was decided to erect something that reflects the progress of the Malay people.

Cesar Pelli was called to carry out this assignment. He eagerly took on the project, proposing to add two small round extensions to the towers, which increased the reliability of the structure.

The height of the Petronas Twin Towers in Malaysia was not planned to be a record, but in 1996 it suddenly became clear that there is not a single building in the world that would be closer to the sky.

The official opening took place in 1999, on August 28, seven years after the start of construction.

Skyscrapers of Malaysia: Petronas twin towers and their characteristics

The main and progress of the state is located in the heart of Kuala Lumpur. Surrounded by fountains and a park, the complex is truly amazing.

The construction of the project on a national scale was personally supervised by the prime minister of the country of those years - Mahathir Mohamad. He wanted the height of the Petronas Twin Towers in Malaysia to surprise the world. In addition, the design had to be also unusual and catchy.

The skyscraper was erected in the Muslim style: the building was made in the form of an octagon, and in highest point the structure slightly resembles minarets. In addition, it was possible to complete the task of getting into the Guinness Book of Records, although initially no one thought about it. The height of the Petronas Towers was almost 452 meters, having made for 6 years: from 1998 to 2004.

The total area of ​​the complex, including parks and buildings, is almost 40 hectares. In addition, the construction of the building took 13,000 cubic meters of concrete: the building has the strongest foundation in the world!

For comfortable movement around the tower, a whole system of elevators is used: 29 in each of them. They move at speeds up to 7 m/s.

sky bridge

Even on the towers, Petronas Pelli thought about how to establish communication between the buildings. As a result, he came up with a brilliant idea: to build a bridge at a height of 170 meters, which connected the "twins".

Thus, in 1995, the best engineering minds from Samsung Heavy Industries designed and brought the unique bridge to life. It was decided to place it at the level of the 41st and 42nd floors of the buildings.

The length of the engineering miracle was 58 meters, and the total weight was 750 tons. Despite the powerful technical specifications, the bridge was assembled within three days, since all the blanks for it were pre-created in South Korea.

Now, not only the height of the Petronas Twin Towers in Malaysia attracts tourists with its views, but also the unique bridge, as if suspended in the air. By the way, the first of a number of observation decks of the complex is located there.

What to visit in Petronas Towers

Of course, when it comes to this phenomenal building, many people want to climb as high as possible to take in the view of Kuala Lumpur and its surroundings. The height of the Petronas Twin Towers in Malaysia is so great that you can see any part of the capital. On the other hand, getting to the very peak is not so easy: the number of tickets is limited, and there are many who want to. Thus, it is worth buying the right to visit in the early morning, at 8-30, when the box office is just opening. It is better not to use the services of third-party companies, as often their tickets are invalid, and no one will return the money. In addition, the cost also bites - you will have to pay about one and a half thousand rubles for the entrance.

It will be interesting to visit the Petronas Science Museum located inside the building. There is a lot of interactive entertainment for adults and children. Unfortunately, you will have to stand in a long queue at the entrance, especially on weekends.

In the evening, you can watch the fountain show located in front of the entrance to the buildings. It is absolutely free and very effective.

In addition, all the lower floors of the towers are filled with various supermarkets and boutiques, so there is always something to do here.

Malaysia - amazing country, which can show its guests two faces: a technologically advanced power and at the same time a typical oriental mentality with a leisurely life and Buddhist calmness. The height of the Petronas Towers is not the only thing that impresses here. Beaches, sun, nature, people, technology - the country really has every opportunity to become something more than oriental exotic!

88-story Petronas Towers(Petronas Twin Towers) were once the tallest twin towers in the world. Standing 452 meters tall, this glittering mega-structure held the proud title of the tallest man-made building until 2004, when the 101-story (508-meter) tall Taipei 101 was completed.

The Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur became the tallest buildings in the world in 1998 - exceeding the 442-meter Willis Tower in Chicago, USA

These incredible twins located in the capital of Malaysia, contain a complex of office premises, conference rooms, a 50-acre park and a prestigious shopping mall. First of all, the building housed the headquarters of the Petronas company, connected by a two-story bridge ( sky bridge) on the 41st and 42nd floors.

tower one(Tower One) is fully occupied by the Malaysian state oil company Petronas, its subsidiaries and partners. AT tower two(Second tower) mainly houses multinational organizations, which include: Al-Jazeera, Microsoft, IBM, Bloomberg, McKinsey & Co, Barclays Capital ...

One of the most notable features of the Petronas in Kuala Lumpur is concert hall Dewan Filharmonik PETRONAS topping South East Asia in live performances classical music. It is located in two towers, architectural design which received excellent reviews as one of the best concert halls in a world based on the time-honored designs of 19th-century European concert halls. The hall has hosted many of the world's music stars and is home to the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra.

Even more sights of Kuala Lumpur are located under the towers - Art Gallery, Aquarium.

The other main attraction of these twins in Kuala Lumpur is Petrosains Science Center. The gallery showcases exhibits related to the oil industry, from petroleum origins in the age of dinosaurs to the latest advances in oil-based products.

Petronas Towers (Malaysia) - description, history, location. The exact address, phone, website. Reviews of tourists, photos and videos.

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A real work of modern art, Islamic-style skyscrapers, the tallest twin towers in the world, a symbol of Malaysia. All this is about the Petronas Towers, which are located in the capital of the country - Kuala Lumpur.

Made in the form of two cobs of corn, the Petronas Towers at the same time correspond to all the canons of Islamic architecture.

The skyscrapers were completed in 1998. The Petronas Towers, 452 meters high, have 88 floors, which contain various offices, conference rooms, but tourists will be most interested, of course, in an art gallery or a concert hall. The art gallery features both classical and modern Art, there are expositions of traditional Malaysian costumes and crafts. The emphasis is on the work of local artists, but there are also works by international masters. In the concert hall of the Petronas Towers, called Dewan Filharmonik Petronas, the Malaysian Symphony Orchestra plays.

The Petronas Towers amaze with their magnificent views. Made in the form of two ears of corn, they at the same time correspond to all the canons of Islamic architecture: each building is an eight-pointed star - a symbol of integrity in Islam. Connects both towers glass bridge, which is called Sky Bridge. The bridge is located at a height of 170 meters, these are 41-42 floors. An observation deck is equipped here, the view from it is truly breathtaking.

The Petronas Towers are considered the tallest twins in the world.

The Petronas Towers are considered the tallest twins in the world, but for this the architects had to work hard. Initially, the towers in Chicago were the tallest, and the Petronas architects decided to increase the height of the towers with the help of spiers, which are made as a single unit with the entire structure. The Americans were forced to give the palm to Malaysia. Among all the skyscrapers in the world, the Petronas Towers rank fourth behind the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, Taipei 101 and the Shanghai World Financial Center.

The Petronas Towers are loved not only by tourists, but also by the creators of computer games.

It is within the walls of these towers that the action takes place in games such as Hitman 2: Silent Assassin and Zero Tolerance.

Cinema has not been left out. Understudy Anastasia Zavorotnyuk in the film "Apocalypse Code" makes a jump from observation bridge, which is located between the two Petronas towers. Towers lit up twice and in documentary"Life after people".

Features of the visit

According to rough estimates, more than three hundred people visit the Petronas Tower per day. This architectural marvel, unfortunately, cannot accommodate everyone, so tickets should be purchased in advance - best the day before, because otherwise you may end up standing in line for a good half of the day.

The staff serving tourists is very friendly, friendly, but at the same time unobtrusive. If you really need help, be sure - an employee of this tourist center will instantly come to your aid.

The Petronas Towers are open every day except Monday, from 9 am to 9 pm. Please note that on Friday there is a break from 13:00 to 14:30. The ticket offices of the towers open at 8:30.

A slightly different opening hours for the art gallery, located on the third floor in Suria KLCC. The art gallery is waiting for its visitors on any day except Monday, of course, from 10 am to 8 pm.

How to get there

There is a regular bus from Kuala Lumpur Airport to KL Sentral. Here you can transfer to the metro and get to the KLCC station.

If you also want to see the city itself, then it is better to take the monorail. You will need to get off at the Bukit Nanas station.

Address: Kuala Lumpur City Centre.

• DATE 1998
• STYLE Postmodernism
• MATERIALS Reinforced concrete and stainless steel cladding
• ARCHITECT Caesar Pelli, Thornton-Tomasetti (engineers)
• The tallest twin towers in the world

The change of the century and the turn of the whole millennium were marked in architecture by a new round of the high-altitude race. grew up in cities that had never thought of building towers before. The high-rise parameters of buildings, which only yesterday seemed literally transcendental, quickly lost their halo of exclusivity, turning into the most ordinary specifications. The list of the tallest buildings of our time was updated several times a year.

Against this background, the creation of skyscrapers, which not only in certain time topped the world ranking of the tallest buildings, but were among the most popular and memorable buildings of the whole decade. Any architect has the right to be proud of such a spectacular structure! Of course, we are talking about the famous Malaysian complex - the Petronas Towers.

Skyscrapers are a modern technological marvel, and at the same time, they are “undoubtedly symbols of wealth and power. They first arose at the end of the 19th century, in large American cities such as New York and Chicago. There the new wealth of industry and commerce reached its peak.

The most famous skyscraper is (1931), it remained the tallest in the world for more than 40 years, but then the record moved to another American building, (1974). And for another 20 years, no one could surpass the new height.

Tall twin towers

The project that finally broke the Sears record wasn't just another skyscraper in Atlanta or Dallas - it was a pair of amazing towers in Malaysia. After the "economic tigers" appeared in Asia, a new focus of money and power arose. The inevitable result was that unimaginable buildings began to appear in China, Korea, Taiwan and Singapore. Once upon a time, grandiose skyscrapers were a purely Western (primarily American) phenomenon. Now they have grown up all over Asia as symbols of national pride and economic prosperity.

The Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur are a clear expression of the intentions of former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Mahathir bin Mohamad to make Malaysia an industrial economy and a leader in the region by 2020. The towers stand in the midst of a massive rebuilding of Kuala Lumpur, around which remnants of the colonial past are constantly being destroyed and an entirely new future for Malaysia is being created.

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad proposed to build the towers in an "Islamic" style. Therefore, two eight-pointed stars were taken as the basis for the plan of symmetrical buildings, and Pelly added semicircular ledges for stability. As a result, the bright stepped completion of both skyscrapers turned out to be surprisingly multicultural.

The creator of the towers is the American architect Caesar Pelli, he worked with the engineering company Thornton-Tomasetti. One of the towers houses the headquarters of the government oil company Petroleum Nasional Berhad. In total, the towers have 750,000 m2 of office space, 140,000 m2 of retail and entertainment halls, 4,500 parking spaces. There is also a conference center, an oil museum and a concert hall. One of the requirements of the project was to provide a place where Muslim office workers could perform the obligatory prayers twice a day.

The towers are built mainly of reinforced concrete, which is not typical for such tall buildings. True, the concrete was specially designed for this project. They rest on many piles driven into the ground, into the soft stone below it, for as much as 93 meters. Such an unusually deep foundation can support the weight of huge towers, 452 meters high.

The competitive design of office buildings with a height of 451.9 meters for an oil and gas company was accepted in 1992. The construction of the 88-story towers began in 1994, and the official opening took place in 1999. Two competing companies were engaged in construction at once, and in the process they solved many unique technical and engineering problems.

For example, in the course of geological surveys, it turned out that the site allocated for the towers is located on heterogeneous areas of soil, which would lead to subsidence of parts of the building. As a result, the buildings were completely moved by 60 meters and piles were driven to a depth of more than 100 meters into soft ground. Today it is one of the largest concrete foundations in the world.

A person of Western culture, brought up on the aesthetics of the famous American skyscrapers of the first third of the 20th century, will see in the nature of the completions of the Petronas Tower references to the hierarchical spiers of Art Deco architecture, which have become relevant again in high-rise architecture due to the spread of postmodernism ideas. Adherents of Muslim traditions see the multi-tiered stepped top with alternating rounded and rectangular ledges as a modern reflection of Islamic decorativeism.

A careful observer can also see references to ancient Hindu and Buddhist architecture in this structure. And it goes without saying that a comparison with neighboring Indonesian monuments (in particular, with the ancient cult complex Prambanan on the island of Java) suggests itself. In addition to architectural associations, another one arises - with the form of ceremonial headdresses of the rulers of South Asia. So the variety of veiled cultural codes, when everyone can find in this building something of their own, habitually close, explains its high popularity among representatives of various nations.

The Twins of the Petronas Towers is a rare example of a complex that has caused a huge number of imitations and replicas all over the world (it should also be taken into account that they were not built at the dawn of the development of skyscrapers, but quite recently). Even in the process of construction in 1996, the complex was recognized as the highest paired office complex, and years later remains the most famous pair of all high-rise twins in the world.

After the success of the Petronas, twin high-rise towers were at the height of fashion. Many eminent architects began to offer customers similar

compositional solutions. At the same time, Cesar Pelli himself no longer returned to this idea in his work, preferring to develop other figurative solutions, including for high-rise buildings.

Petronas Towers is extremely high-tech, it is literally crammed with technical innovations and the latest materials. The total area of ​​all premises of the complex is colossal: 48 football fields could fit on 213,750 m2! And the buildings themselves with an adjacent plot occupy 40 hectares of urban territory.

The basis of the construction of the paired high-rise complex is by no means light steel, as one might assume due to the openwork of the outlines of the facades. A significant constraint that influenced the choice of the main material for the load-bearing structures was the requirement to build a skyscraper from Malaysian building materials.

The local industry could not produce high-quality light steel in the right time. Therefore, a special elastic concrete with the addition of quartz was developed for Petronas, comparable in strength to steel. During the construction process, due to low-quality concrete, it was necessary to dismantle the finished one and re-make the whole floor. As a result, the skyscraper turned out to be twice as heavy as similar steel ones.

The structural frame and internal spaces are adjusted to the millimeter. The towers do not have a central core, and in elevator shafts, for the sake of efficient use of space, two double-deck elevators travel each, each stopping at its own floors - even or odd. In addition, since earthquake resistance is an important factor in construction throughout the region, there were also increased requirements for the Petronas towers in this area.

The construction of skyscrapers is such that they will stand even if they lose the support of three of the sixteen supporting columns. The connecting openwork bridge on giant ball bearings also serves as additional insurance: it does not allow the towers to sway too much and deviate from each other, giving the structure greater rigidity and stability. In addition, this air passage is another escape route between the upper parts of the complex in case of fire.

The aforementioned openwork bridge connecting the towers is in fact extremely heavy: its weight is as much as 452.6 tons. This part of the complex was specially made in South Korea and disassembled (493 separate fragments) was transported to Malaysia in the summer of 1995. The assembly of the structure was carried out at the foot of the towers, and the installation with the main volumes is already at a height.

From the very beginning, the building's design was carried out taking into account the needs of the state oil corporation Petronas, and as a result, the headquarters cost the customer and the main investor 2 billion ringgits (800 million dollars). But in addition to a comfortable and status office, the company became the owner of one of the most recognizable buildings of the decade, and Kuala Lumpur and Malaysia as a whole acquired a new main urban dominant, a truly iconic monument modern architecture, and even the image of an advanced and progressive power in the region in the field of modern architecture, engineering and construction is a bonus that cannot be calculated in monetary terms.

The building has a museum, exhibition halls and an art gallery, and you have to spend a whole day visiting the observation decks, because the line is built in the early morning, and by 6 am the registration for the opportunity to get into this line is already terminated.

windy heights

In addition to the strength of buildings, there is another big problem for such skyscrapers. So that people can easily get to the upper floors, you need a lot of elevators, elevators take up a lot of space on the floors. So two 44-story "extensions" near the towers are needed so that there is enough space for offices in the buildings.

Between the towers there is a two-story "heavenly bridge" 48 meters long and weighing 738 tons. At a height of about half the towers, it can be used to go from one lobby with an elevator to another. In addition, this emergency exit for strikingly tall buildings. Such buildings can sway from strong winds, so the “sky bridge” is attached to the buildings with movable fasteners, it can move 138 m on each side up to 30 centimeters. The skybridge towers seem like huge gateways to the revitalized city that is rapidly growing around them.

The Petronas Towers are no longer considered the most tall building in the world. In 2004, the record passed to Taiwan's Taipei 101 skyscraper. In addition, giant buildings are now being built in South Korea and Shanghai. Whether these buildings are worth the huge money, the resources and energy that are invested in them, is a political question, and there is still no answer to it.

Mahathir proved that Asians can achieve development without democracy and prosperity without political rights. Historically, skyscrapers have been symbols of Western capitalism and the vibrant energy of development. Whether they can serve as symbols of something in completely different cultures remains to be seen. But they are already making an impression, reminding us of the drive for change that made Asia strong and propelled it into the 21st century.

We can observe evidence of the popularity of Pelli's creation in popular culture. In The Trap, starring Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones, a significant part of the intriguing story about the largest electronic banking theft on the eve of the new year, 2000, unfolds in the unusual spaces of a steamy Malaysian skyscraper. The most breathtaking episode was filmed on suspended structures and festive illumination of the bridge connecting the upper parts of the towers. The deft escape of the film's heroes ends with a parachute jump in an elevator shaft, which would be impossible in a less technically advanced and less large-scale structure.

And if, numerically, the Malaysian twins gradually have everything more competitors, then, according to the figurative and artistic level, this work can be safely considered one of the true peaks of Cesar Pelli's work.