TEHRAN – It’s 3 pm. The sun is still blazing, the sky blue as cornflowers. The sun’s rays reflected off the tower. Standing on Gisha Hill beside the tower, I look at a structure that rises 435 meters from the earth to the sky. It takes my breath away. I am astounded by its pure majesty. Ultimately words fail me and I lapse into silence.

As you approach Milad Tower, its’ X-shaped pillars can be seen at ground level. The windows are bigger than you can imagine.
Its base has six floors and covers an area of 20,000 square meters.
The architecture of the base’s inner section is traditional Persian and Islamic.
The central part of the tower is surrounded by the pillars at the octagonal base.
These forms were used to create the brackets that support the main level as well as a base for the construction of the main level itself.
On six elevators, you can reach the observation decks of the tower. Climbing a total number of 1860 stairs is not easy but it is possible if you have steely determination as high as the tower.
Each elevator has the capacity to hold about 15 people. We ride in the elevator; the elevator’s monitor quickly indicates the rapid ascent from 75 meters to 145 to 250 and so on.
A red dot on the monitor shows the elevator’s location in the tower. Traveling at a speed of seven meters per second, it takes 50 seconds to reach the observation decks.
The entire city of Tehran can be seen through the elevator’s glass walls. It must be really fantastic at night.
The elevator stopped at a height of 267 meters -- at the fifth floor of the 12-floor observation deck area -- where the revolving restaurant is located. With a total area of 2375 square meters, the restaurant has the capacity to accommodate 500 diners. The view of the city from here is extremely beautiful and impressive.
The restaurant’s walls are decorated with Iranian art in the teahouse painting style. There are paintings depicting 25 stories from Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh such as the tales of Rostam and Sohrab.
At a height of 280 meters there is a large communications platform that broadcasts TV and radio signals to the area.
Riding in the elevator, we finally reached a height of 292 meters, where there is a special restaurant for special ceremonies.
Yes, I am on top of the world’s fourth tallest tower and 12th tallest freestanding structure.
How pleasant Tehran looks from here. Everything seems near from here!
Looking down at the ground hundreds of meters below, highways and buses are distinguishable but you can’t quite make out people or cars.
From here, Tehran seems so still; no noise or voices can be heard. There is a big city and you.
The Milad Tower offers spectacular views -- uptown’s skyscrapers on one side and downtown’s smaller buildings on the other side.
With a few more glances around, you can also see Mehrabad airport, Azadi Square, and the Imam Khomeini Mosalla.
At the highest level of the observation deck area, beneath the antenna, lies the Sky Dome -- a glass floor, which is the most attractive part of the tower. The 120-meter tall antenna is about the size of a 40-story building.
October 7 was Milad Tower’s official opening date.
The sun is slowly setting in the west. And I took my last look at the city from high in the sky. Fifty seconds later there will be the noise of traffic and people talking in the teeming metropolis.
So I enjoy one last minute of silence.