Skyscrapers of the United States of America have long held the status of the tallest buildings in the world. But the construction of 1998 in the capital of Malaysia put an end to these established traditions - the highest at that time were the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur.
History of the construction of Petronas Towers in numbers
The active construction of skyscrapers in Southeast Asia began in the late 80s of the XX century. In 1992, 88-storey twin towers were laid for the Malaysian oil company Petronas. Ranhill Bersekutu and Thornton Tomasetti designed this building of glass, concrete and steel. During the study of the area, it turned out that there is different soil under the towers, which would have caused a subsidence of one of the towers. Therefore, it was decided to move them 60 meters and drive piles 100 meters, making it the world's largest foundation.
The Petronas skyscraper was built to reflect the explosive growth of the oil-powered country. Its construction cost $ 800 million. The two twin towers are just over 450 meters (451.9) high. In terms of the building has an octagonal star symbol of Islam. This was facilitated by the participation of the Prime Minister of Malaysia, who wants to build a building in the style of Islam. Both buildings are connected by an air bridge at 42 floors. The bridge provides not only fire safety, but also affects the overall reliability of the building, which is already designed to a high level.
Air bridge
A huge amount of steel was used to build the Petronas Tower - 36,910 tons. Due to the use of materials only from Malaysia, it was necessary to try to replace the steel with new flexible concrete, which was successfully produced here for the new high-rise. The building has an underground parking lot for 4500 cars. The building is equipped with high-speed elevators, so it will take only 90 seconds to get to the top floor. For the elevator, due to the limited space, an interesting scheme was used - the elevators themselves are two-story, respectively, one of them stops only on even floors, and the other on odd ones.
View from the observation deck
The building, in addition to office space, contains shops, an oil museum, a conference hall and even a mosque. And on the 86th floor there is an observation deck. The windows create an amazing view - there are 32,000 of them here. It takes about a month of continuous work to completely clean them.
Petronas Towers in high-altitude championship disputes
After its construction, this skyscraper immediately took the line of the tallest building in the world, but in fact, many questions arose on this issue. The main competitor Willis Tower lost only 9 meters to the twins from Malaysia in absolute height of architectural spiers. But in terms of the sheer height of the floors, the situation is exactly the opposite - the skyscraper from Chicago is 70 meters ahead of them.
Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur or Petronas Twin Towers are the main attraction of the capital of Malaysia and the symbol of the city. These famous twin towers are a must see in Kuala Lumpur. We will not load you with history and facts, but will tell you how to get to Petronas, what is interesting there and where to see the fountains.
Photo: Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Briefly about the main thing. The Petronas Towers were built in 1998 and are currently the tallest twin towers in the world. Height 450 meters, 88 floors. You can read more about the history of the towers on the Wikipedia website.
Petronas Towers can be seen from any area in Kuala Lumpur
What to See in Petronas Towers
It is interesting to see the Petronas Twin Tower from the ground and appreciate the scale. You can walk around the skyscrapers from different sides, they look amazing from any angle. For a start, you can look at them from the east side near the exit from the metro.
Close-up of the bridge between the buildings of the KLCC, which can be crossed on a guided tour
There are always a lot of tourists here, everyone is trying to take good photos, but because of the height of the skyscrapers, they hardly fit into the frame. I'll tell you a secret - the best way to take a photo with the Petronas in the background is from the park behind the towers.
We have a couple of photos with the towers in the background from this side, when they are fully entered.
What's inside the towers
On the lower floors there are Suria KLCC shopping center and Cold Storage supermarket. To the upper offices. The lower floors of the shopping center are available to visitors, as well as a science museum and an ascent to observation decks for an additional fee.
How much does it cost to climb the Petronas towers
You can climb the towers for 85 ringit per person ($ 20). This is a guided tour with a group of about 1 hour. The program includes a passage along the Skybridge between the towers, and then the observation deck on the 86th floor. There is no independence in the excursion. These excursions are held every day from 9 am to 9 pm, except Mondays and holidays.
Where can I book an airport transfer?
We use the service - KiwiTaxi
We ordered a taxi online, paid with a card. We were greeted at the airport with a sign with our name. Drove to the hotel in a comfortable car. They have already told about their experience in this article
Park near the Petronas Towers
On the west side, there is a pretty park with ponds, fountains, benches, playgrounds and a free pool for children. Here you can relax on a hot day, take a photo of Petronas Towers from better angles, and watch a fountain show in the evening.
The view of the city from the towers is also good. In the evening, these fountains will be beautifully illuminated 
Whale in the pool 
Free children's pool with waterfall 
Some more photos of Park KLCC 
Fountain show
Singing fountains run from 7 pm to 10 pm. Different numbers are held approximately every 30 minutes. We watched the show several times. Beauty! It's worth the wait. Although not all shows are very impressive, we were lucky. In the video below, see fragments of the show.
It is difficult to assess the effect of the fountains from the photo. Watch a short video:
How to get to the Petronas Towers
Metro. Station KLCC. We left the subway and the towers will be right in front of you. There are many exits from the metro, but if you're lucky, you can go straight to the Suria shopping center, which is located under the towers. There are still other options to get to Petronas, by bus for example, but we recommend not to be fooled, but to take the metro, which is very inexpensive in Kuala Lumpur.
Reaching the clouds with your hands, feeling like a bird soaring high above a busy metropolis - all this can be done by visiting the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur. These two grandiose structures are extraordinarily beautiful: the graceful domes of giants rest against the bright blue Malaysian sky, everything around immediately becomes small and insignificant. All this is caused by an unprecedented admiration that arises when looking at the city from the observation deck of the most beautiful twin towers.
Kuala Lumpur is a city that is famous not only in Malaysia itself, but all over the world. The name of this place for those who have not been here immediately evokes vivid associations in which vines hang from small houses, and do not allow to move calmly, and friendly koalas, curiously look at people from the trees. However, Kuala Lumpur is far from these fantasies. In reality, this is the city known for its beautiful and modern skyscrapers. The most famous and tallest among them are the Petronas Towers.
Malaysia is hiding - read more in our article.
Once upon a time there were directors of a large state oil and gas company, Petronas. Everything was good with them: they had considerable income, and there was a desire to develop, but they did not have an office that would meet the requirements and status of the company. Around the same time, many large cities took part in the so-called "race for skyscrapers": who has a higher skyscraper, who is more beautiful and more practical. The leader in this competition at that time (late 90s) was the Willis Tower skyscraper in Chicago.
Without thinking twice, Petronas made the move that won back the US leadership: built the Twin Towers! Yes, such that they both in height and in appearance surpassed all their predecessors. Without thinking twice, the name of the skyscrapers was given in honor of the company - the creator: both sounds beautiful and good PR.
Architecture
Islam is the predominant religion in Malaysia. The architects came up with an interesting move so as not to deviate far from their traditions, even during the construction of such a significant structure, which was destined to become an ornament of the whole city. An eight-pointed star (a symbol of Islam) was taken as the basis for the building plan, and the domes, which are crowned with skyscrapers, resemble mosques in their outlines. This pleased the city authorities, and only benefited the giant twins. These are the most urban Muslim-style skyscrapers to date.
Building
The Malaysian Twin Towers are skyscrapers with the deepest concrete foundations in the entire world! 100 meters, this is the depth, which took a little over three years to create. Throughout this time, every day for every 90 seconds, special trucks alternately poured the foundations of the towers, which consisted of extra high-strength and resilient concrete. This helped prevent soil subsidence and made the skyscrapers completely protected from hurricanes that sometimes do not bypass Malaysia.
Another interesting thing is the construction of a glass bridge, which connects the towers to each other at a height of 41-42 floors. This bridge is not only practical, but also symbolic. On the one hand, thanks to him, people can freely move between skyscrapers. On the other hand, it is a symbol of unification and proximity to heaven, it is not for nothing that the bridge has its own name - Skybridge. It was designed in South Korea, after which it was delivered to Kuala Lumpur in 500 separate parts. Here it was reassembled in its original form and taken up, where it was installed at a great height for 3 days.
The Twin Towers appeared on Russian cinema screens in the film "Code of the Apocalypse". According to the script, the heroine of Anastasia Zavorotnyuk jumped with one of the towers with a parachute. The stunt was performed by the actress's understudy. The failure was that during the jump, the power line was hit and torn down, which left the whole block without electricity for some time.
Even earlier, skyscrapers appeared in the film "Trap", the main characters of which famously flew from one building to another on a kind of "ropes".
In 1997, the famous French climber "Spiderman" tried to conquer one of the towers, climbing over it. However, he only managed to get to the 60th floor, where the police arrested him. An unpleasant incident did not stop the daredevil, and after 10 years he tried to repeat his ascent, choosing the second tower. However, ironically, the police caught up with him, and again on the same floor.
The gaming industry also could not ignore the famous skyscrapers: the Petronas Towers appear in three levels of the popular computer game Hitman 2: The Silent Assassin.
Read a selection of the Tallest Skyscrapers in the World on our website.
Petronas Towers in numbers
451, 9 m - this is the height of each of the Petronas buildings.
88 floors - this is the height of the first and second towers.
The 6th place in the world is occupied by the twin towers among the tallest buildings in the world.
16,000 windows are located in these towers.
10,000 people are constantly washing and cleaning the windows of the towers.
30 days is how long it takes to completely clean all the windows of the Twin Towers.
$ 800 million was spent on the construction of the Petronas Towers.
Two-story elevators serve these buildings. One floor of the elevator stops on the even floor, while the second one stops on the odd floor, respectively.
3,000 m2 - that much concrete was needed to create a high-strength foundation for skyscrapers
213,750 m2, or 48 hectares - this is the total area of \u200b\u200bthe entire territory of the Twin Towers. To make it clearer: this figure is equal in number to 48 football fields.
650,000 people weekly visit various shops, which are located in the shopping center of one of the skyscrapers.
Nearly 5,500 vehicles can be accommodated in the underground car park under the towers.
Despite the fact that the Petronas Towers lost the lead in the struggle for the tallest skyscrapers in the world, their beauty and grandeur continue to conquer both designers and ordinary tourists from all over the world. An amazing combination of Muslim traditions and the most reliable construction technologies have made the twin skyscrapers a miracle of modern architecture.
The address: Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur
Start of construction: 1992 year
Completion of construction: 1998 year
Height: 451.9 m
Number of floors: 88
Coordinates: 3 ° 09 "28.2" N 101 ° 42 "42.6" E
Short story
In 1998, in the capital of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, the Petronas Twin Towers proudly ascended to the sky. The combination of colorful Islamic architecture and truly grandiose size makes these skyscrapers some of the most beautiful urban buildings in the world.
View of Petronas Towers from Kuala Lumpur Central Park
Each of the towers has 88 floors, and this is no coincidence. The Chinese consider the "eight" a lucky number. Since 1996, that is, two years before the completion of construction, the Petronas Towers (452 \u200b\u200bmeters - each) were the tallest structures on the planet, but in 2004 their record was broken by the Taipei-101 Taiwanese skyscraper. Petronas Oil Company is the financial parent of the Petronas Towers.
The history of the Petronas Towers dates back to the early 1990s, when the state-owned oil and gas corporation Petronas - a giant comparable to Russia's Gazprom - needed a massive business center. Just at this time, the city authorities, driven to despair by the constant accumulation of traffic jams on the way to the hippodrome, forced the equestrian club to change its location. The hippodrome was moved to the suburbs, and 40 hectares of space were freed up in the heart of densely built-up Kuala Lumpur. Initially, it was planned to set up a park here, which would become the "lungs" of the metropolis.
But the cost of maintaining a park of such a huge size poured into a "tidy" sum, and the city authorities came to the conclusion that it would be more expedient to build a business center, and fill the adjacent territory with green spaces. Almost simultaneously with the Petronas oil and gas corporation, MIA Holdings, headed by Malaysian tycoon Anand Krishan, decided to contribute to the project.
Mr Krishan staged a large-scale PR campaign for future skyscrapers, promising the residents of Kuala Lumpur not only office buildings, but also shops, a family entertainment complex, a new mosque, and all this is framed by a park teeming with exotic flora. 8 architectural firms participated in the competition for the best design of the Petronas towers. The winner was Argentine-American Cesar Pelly, who by that time had created many original buildings, including the World Financial Center in New York.
Petronas Towers - Muslim-style skyscrapers
The towers are designed taking into account the national characteristics of the country and in the plan they represent two eight-pointed stars - one of the motives of Muslim symbols. The buildings are crowned with domes, the outlines of which are similar to those of mosques. The foundation was laid at an astonishing depth of 100 meters. It is the deepest concrete foundation in the world. It was built like this: for three days, every 90 seconds, trucks poured the base with high-strength, resilient concrete. To ensure the reliability of the structure, the model of the skyscraper was blown in all directions in a wind tunnel. The experiment confirmed that even the Malaysian hurricanes are not afraid of the Petronas. The construction cost, which lasted for 6 years, amounted to USD 1.6 billion. $ 800 million was received from Petronas, and the rest of the costs were shared by Malaysian firms, whose offices are also located on the premises of skyscrapers.
Heavenly bridge between the towers
Petronas Towers - commercial and business center
One of the towers houses the headquarters of Petronas, and the other houses the offices of subsidiaries of an oil company and multinational corporations such as Microsoft, IBM, etc. The towers have a concert hall with 840 seats, an art gallery, a conference -center and mosque. On one of the floors of the six-level shopping center, the Petronas Gasoline Museum is open, where children can be easily explained why oil and gas are important for the Malaysian economy. Each building has 29 two-storey elevators. They are very spacious - the cockpit can accommodate 52 people. In just 90 seconds, a high-speed elevator will take passengers to the upper floor. At a height between the 41st and 42nd floors, the Petronas Towers are connected by a glazed passage - the "Sky Bridge"... It is not only an observation deck, but also a safety device - in the event of a fire, you can cross the bridge from one tower to another. By the way, tycoon Anand Krishan fulfilled his promise: a park with jogging and walking paths, children's playgrounds, swimming pools and a fountain with a light show is spread around the skyscrapers.
Petronas Towers illuminated at night
Spiderman at the top of Petronas
The Petronas Towers attract fans of extreme sports. In 2009, mountaineer Alain Robert, nicknamed "Spider-Man", made his dream come true by climbing one of the Petronas towers without technical devices or belaying. He conquered the tallest skyscraper in Malaysia only on the third attempt - in 1997 and 2007, the ascent of "Spider-Man" was interrupted by the police.
Malaysia has a large state-owned oil and gas company, 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 building plan, they took an eight-pointed star (a symbol of Islam, as the prevailing religion in Malaysia) as a basis, but they didn't have to puff over the name. Petronas Towers is an excellent public relations company name.
We went to the twins twice on the first day of our stay in Kuala Lumpur. In the morning we went to watch, then we looked at the Petronas Twin Towers in the afternoon, walked in the KLCC park, and when it got dark we returned to see the skyscrapers with evening illumination, as well as enjoy the fountain show.
Petronas Towers in Malaysia: interesting facts
- Each tower has 88 floors.
- Twin Towers are 451.9 m high.
- The Petronas Towers are the tallest twin towers in the world.
- Construction costs were about $ 800 million.
- Twin towers have double-decker elevators (one stops only on odd floors, the other, respectively, on even ones)
- Instead of steel usual for the construction of skyscrapers, special concrete was used in the Petronas towers, which had a high ductility, while strength was achieved by adding quartz.
I think many people watched the movie "Code of the Apocalypse", where Anastasia Zavorotnyuk (or rather her understudy) jumped with a parachute from the skyscrapers "Petronas Towers" in Kuala Lumpur. By the way, during that jump, the power line was accidentally disrupted, so that the neighboring area was left without electricity. Let's hope that the inhabitants of the "dirty mouth" (and this is how the name of the capital of Malaysia is translated) were not particularly offended.
Yes, and Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones in the movie "Trap" during the robbery of a steep bank in Malaysia did not disdain to ride on a garland, like on vines in the jungle, from one Petronas tower to another.
Octane molecule at the bus stop In Kuala Lumpur, other skyscrapers are located nearby:
There is a great view from the side of the park 
Day and night Climbing the Petronas Twin Towers
A visit to the observation deck of high-rise buildings will cost 80 ringgit (≈920 rubles). You will be told a short story about the creation of skyscrapers, 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 applicants.
We did not climb the Petronas towers and are not going to, because not far away there is a TV tower, the 6th highest in the world. So, I think it will be more interesting to get there, but this is already in the frame of our next trip to Kuala Lumpur 🙂.
Urbanthe park KLCC (Kuala Lumpur City Center)
The KLCC (Kuala Lumpur City Center) park is located on the southeast side of the Petronas Twin Towers.
It is based on reservoirs: a pond and a pool.
Against the backdrop of motionless skyscrapers, it feels like you are on the shore of a 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, fountain shows are held here. We were around 22.00 and found this beautiful sight:
Petronas Twin Towers and KLCC Park: How to Get to Kuala Lumpur by Transport
To orientate Petronas Twin Towers on the Kuala Lumpur map:
The Petronas Twin Towers can be reached by the popular KL LRT light rail line to KLCC station, or the KL Monorail monorail train to Raja Chulan or Bukit Nanas stations. Both of these vehicles resemble a subway, except that the monorail hovers on reinforced concrete structures above the ground, and the LRT is most often below it. From a large junction station KL Sentral, the fare on LRT will cost 1.8 ringgit (≈21 rubles), for monorail transport - 2 ringgit (≈23 rubles).
At first we tried to go on the monorail, but literally in front of our nose, there were some problems on the line, and we went to the LRT, which we later used, because the station was located next to our place of residence near ChinaTown (I wrote about this at the end). And once we even walked from here to Petronas.
A ticket for LRT transport in Kuala Lumpur is purchased from special machines at the stations. In fact, everything is very simple and intuitive there: you select a station on the map, put in money, get change and a token. Put the token on the turnstile in front of the entrance, save it until the end of the trip, and at the turnstile at the exit, throw the token into the slot. So the electronics will check whether you entered / exited there.
Yes, you can also get there by buses, but this needs to be checked at your hotel or with passers-by.
With open mouth they looked at the Petronas Twin Towers
Marina and Konstantin Samorosenko
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