At 326.5 metres the TV Tower is the tallest structure in Lithuania. Construction began in 1974 and finished at the end of 1980, to a design by V. Obydov with engineering by K. Balėnas — a concrete shaft rising from the ridge above the Karoliniškės housing district, with an observation deck and restaurant near the top.
It is not remembered here mainly as a piece of engineering. In January 1991, as Lithuania moved towards independence, Soviet troops moved on the tower and civilians came out to defend it; people were killed at its base. The structure is a broadcasting mast and also, unavoidably, a memorial.