Schwerbelastungskörper - "heavy loading body"

The Schwerbelastungskörper (German: "heavy loading body") is a large concrete cylinder in Berlin, Germany. It was built by Dyckerhoff & Widmann AG in 1941 at a cost of 400,000 ℛℳ. It was built to study the feasibility of constructing a massive triumphal arch on the site, and of constructing large buildings on the area's sandy ground in general. It stands 18 m (59 ft) high and has a mass of 12,650 metric tons. Because of nearby apartment buildings the structure could not be demolished with explosives at the end of World War II, and since 1995 it has been protected as a historic monument.