PETRONAS TWIN TOWERS
The Petronas Twin Towers were the tallest buildings in the world from 1995 or 1998 to 2004. They officially took the title upon completion in 1998 from the Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower) and held it until surpassed by Taipei 101 in 2004. The Petronas Twin Tower are built using high technology and western materials but the building were designed with local ornamentation such as star pattern and adapted our climate with its sun shading devices.
Rising to a height of 451.9 meters (1,483 feet), the 88-storey Petronas Twin Towers is Kuala Lumpur's most impressive sight and is a symbol of the nation. Majestic by day and dazzling at night, the towers is inspired by Tun Mahathir Mohamad's vision for Malaysia to be a global player. Together with master architect Cesar Pelli, the international icon powerfully captures the nation's ambitions and aspirations. [Source: Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board]
A visit to Petronas Twin Towers begins with interactive displays that showcase the journey, from idea to completion. After that you ride a futurist elevator up 170 meters to the Skybridge, a connecting structure between the towers and the world's highest two-storey bridge. You can ascend even higher to level 86, where there are breathtaking views of Kuala Lumpur.
In the old days visitors were not allowed to visit the top; they could only visit the Skybridge that connects the towers at the 41st floor. Admission is free but only 800 tickets are issued daily. People sometimes begin lining up early. MaySome people don’t bother and just visit the six-story shopping mall, Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC), located at the bottom.
Petronas Twin Towers is open Tuesdays to Sundays 9.00am-9.00pm. It is closed on Mondays and on some Muslim holidays and between 1.00pm-2.30pm on Fridays. The Last admission: 8.30pm The Ticketing Counter is at 'Concourse' Level in Petronas Twin Towers. For more information, please call 603 2331 8080 or email to skybridge@petronas.com. (daily, from 9.00am to 5.30pm)
Ticket Prices: Non-MyKad, Mykad
Adult (13-60 years): RM80.00, RM28.00
Child (3-12 years): RM33.00, RM14.00
Senior Citizen (61 years & above): RM42.00, RM14.00
Infant (below 2 years old), FREE, FREE
Tickets are issued starting from 8.30am (tickets are limited and issued on a first come, first served basis). Advance purchase is available. For the time being, Petronas Twin Towers Visit Operations does not offer online ticketing for MyKad and MyKid holders. To enjoy MyKad and MyKid ticket prices, you can present your MyKad/MyKid when purchasing the ticket at the Ticketing Counter, Concourse Level, PETRONAS Twin Towers. For visit within the next 24 hours, please purchase the tickets at the Petronas Twin Towers Ticketing Counter, located on the Concourse Level. All tickets are subject to availability. Any discounted rate kindly refer to our ticketing counter, located on the Concourse Level. The rate not applicable in the website. Kindly contact us at twintowersticketing@petronas.com, 603-5039 1915
For more information: Address: Petronas Twin Towers Visit Operation, Lower Ground (Concourse) Level, Petronas Twin Towers, Kuala Lumpur City Centre, 50088 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Tel: 603-2331 8080, Fax: 603-2331 1723, Email: skybridge@Petronas.com.my
Getting There: By Taxi or Walk: The Petronas Twin Towers are in between Jalan Ampang and Jalan Raja Chulan. It is also next to the Mandarin Oriental Hotel and opposite The Ascott. By Light Rapid Transit (LRT): The KLCC station is on the PUTRA LRT line.
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When the Petronas Twin Towers Were the Tallest Buildings in the World
Petronas Twin Towers by one reckoning became world’s tallest buildings from 1995, when they were designated as such by the United States-based Council of Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat. By another reckoning they became world’s tallest building in 1998 when they were completed. The towers remained the world’s tallest buildings until 2004 when they were displaced by Tapei 101, a skyscraper in Taiwan. Built a cost of $1.2 billion, Petronas is 9 meters (29 feet) taller than the 110-floor, 1,454 feet (442-meter) Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower) in Chicago, the previous claimant to world's tallest building title.
For comparison sake the Jin Maos Tower in Shanghai is 1,389 feet high; the World Trade Center in New York was 110 stories and 1,377 feet tall; the Empire State Building in New York is 102 stories and 1,250 feet tall; and the Central Plaza in Hong Kong is 78 stories and 1,227 feet tall. The tallest building in world is the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. It rises 828 meters (2,717 ft) and contains 210 floors.
At the time the Petronas Towere were the tallest buildings, there was some controversy over which building was tallest. The designers of the Sears Tower claimed that the two 20-meter steel tubes that supported the TV antennas were part of the building, making the Sears tower the highest building. Chicago architect Gerald Johnson has said the Sears Tower "looks taller. It feels taller. It is taller." It also only cost $150 million to build in 1974.
According to a spokeswoman from Council of Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat the tubes don't meet the standards set by her organization. "Spires count; antennas don't," she told the Los Angeles Times. Measurements are taken "from the sidewalk level of the main entrance to the structural top of the building, including penthouse and tower. Towers include spires and pinnacles; television and radio antennas, masts and flagpoles are not included."
According to this criteria the tubes on Sears Tower are considered part of the antennas, and Petronas is the champ, but not for long. The taller 1,500-foot-high, $1-billion World Financial Center in Shanghai was scheduled to be completed in 2001. An even high skyscraper was built in Shanghai. The proposed 1,640-feet-tall, Nina Tower, commissioned in Hong Kong by the miniskirted billionaire Nina Kung Wang, never made off the drawing board.
Malaysia is (or was) also home to the world's highest Mcdonald' (910 feet), the Asia's third tallest communications tower (1,390 feet) and the world's tallest flagpole. There are plans to build the longest city (7.4 miles), called, appropriately enough, the Linear City and the longest building, the 10-story, 1.4-mile long Giga World on the Klang River.
Design of the Petronas Twin Towers
The Petronas Twin Towers look like a pair of giant corn on the cobs. Designed by American architect Caesar Pelli using geometric principals found in Islamic architecture, the steel and glass towers are cylindrical in shape and set on bases that are shaped like eight-sided Muslim stars. Linking the two towers is a dramatic 58.4-meter-long skybridge at the 41st and 42 floors. The main parts of the building are sheathed in a stainless steel skin. The spires are plated with nickel.
The Petronas Towers were built on the site of a former horse racing track and are double the height of any other buildings in Malaysia. Explaining the appeal of Petronas's height, Pelli told the Los Angeles Times, "Very tall buildings touch us intimately, in deep chords of our psyche. It's a very old human urge to point toward heaven."
The towers are the headquarters of Malaysia's national oil and gas company, also known as Petronas. The CEO of Petronas has his office on the 81st floor in Tower 1. Above him are some meeting rooms. On the 87th and 88th floor are equipment to wash the towers’ 32,000 windows and polish the 76,000 square meters of stainless steel skin. The top 85 meters are empty spires.
Construction and Use of the Petronas Twin Towers
Making a super tall skyscraper is no easy task (producing two 44-story buildings is much is easier than making one 88-story one). One of the biggest problems is the elevators: the heavy cables can sustain their weight only to about 2,000 feet and the risk of failure becomes greater as one approaches that height. To get around this problem, each Petronas tower has two elevators and a "sky lobby" about halfway up, where passengers change form one elevator to the other. Another problem is tilting, which architects say its not occurring but they do admit it is settling but "within allowable limits."
One of the most difficult engineering feats was placing the 65-meter, 30-ton stainless nickel pinnacles on top of each building. This was done over a two months period in several complicated stages that involved raising the pinnacles to the 88th floor with a crane and then inching them upwards with hydraulic lifts. Once the pinnacles were in place, Petronas was declared the world's tallest building even though they weren't finished.
The Petronas Towers have been the site of a number of publicity stunts. In 1996, Alain Robert, the infamous building-climbing "Spiderman" was arrested for trying to scale one of the towers without permission. During a New Year’s Eve celebration to mark the end of the year 2000, 15 skydivers leapt simultaneously off ledges, balconies and window-washing gondolas at 242 meters, 296 meters and 336 meters. The skydivers had been given permission for the stunt. All jumped with only one parachute. If something had gone wrong there was not enough time for a second one to be deployed.
Two or three times a year maintenance workers climb up yo the very top of the towers, using a set of rungs, to change the lightbulb that warns passing aircraft to watch out. After the September 11th attack, airport-style metal defectors and X-ray machines were installed to screen people as they entered the building. Tenants are required to undergo training for emergency evacuations. The entire complex can reportedly be emptied in 32 minutes. The building’s architects claim that the building’s concrete supports and circular form would keep the buildings standing even if they were subjected to a September 11th-style attack.
It is not clear that the Petronas Towers was a wise investment. As of the early 2000s, due to a city-wide office glut in Kuala Lumpur and rents double the market rate, much of Tower 2 was empty. Tower 1 is occupied almost completely by Petronas oil company
Spiderman Finally Scales Malaysia's Petronas Towers
In 2009, in the third attempt, the Frenchman, Alain "Spiderman" Robert finally has scaled Petronas Towers. Ian MacKinnon wrote in The Telegraph: “Mr Robert, 47, scaled the 88-storey Tower 2, triumphantly unfurling a Malaysian flag as he stood on its 1,483ft pinnacle (452m) on the country's national day. He took just over two hours to reach the top after setting off in darkness before dawn to avoid the security that had thwarted his previous bids. But when he came down to the 80-floor viewing deck shortly after 7.30am he was apprehended by security and arrested. [Source: Ian MacKinnon, The Telegraph, September 1, 2009]
“Mr Robert is being held by police in Kuala Lumpur. He has not been charged but is being investigated for criminal trespass, which carries a maximum jail term of up to six months and a £521 fine. "With due respect to Malaysia, I came to finish something," Mr Robert told Reuters before setting off. "You know, climbing the Petronas [Towers] all the way to the top is one of my dreams, maybe because I am having the motivation, maybe also I am a little bit stubborn." On his two previous attempts in 1998 and 2007 Mr Robert was seized by security guards when he reached the twin Petronas Towers' sixtieth floor, prompting secrecy this time.
“It meant there were few spectators to witness his feat, though it was captured on video by a cameraman, Ee Wee Kiat, who was tipped off. "He climbed using his bare hands and reached the top very fast as no security personnel noticed him or stopped him," said he cameraman. The climber has scaled more than 80 tall buildings around the world, including London's Canary Wharf building, Paris Eiffel Tower, and New York's Empire State Building, always without ropes and has suffered several falls resulting in serious fractures.”
Petrosains 'The Discovery Centre'
Petrosains (inside the Petronas Twin Towers) is a Science Discovery Centre that uses a fun and interactive approach to tell the story of the science and technology of the petroleum industry. Its concept and contents revolve specifically around the science of petroleum, yet embrace all the general sciences. The hands-on approach adopted by Petrosains puts an emphasis on the fun and excitement of learning rather than on the rigorous memorisation of scientific facts.
Petrosains Sdn. Bhd. was incorporated to extend Petronas' commitment as a socially responsible corporate citizen in providing a rich and stimulating environment aimed to enhance science literacy and instill in Malaysians a passion for acquiring scientific knowledge. In addition to opening a window of information on the history and development of petroleum and its related products, the centre also creates more awareness on the enormous career opportunities in the industry.
Petrosains is housed in the world's twin towers, the Petronas Twin Towers, Kuala Lumpur. Occupying level 4 and 5 of both Tower 1 and Tower 2 of the Twin Towers, Petrosains covers a total exhibit area of more than 7,000 square meter. Entrance to Petrosains is through Level 4 of the Suria KLCC mall. The mall is accessible via various modes of public transportation. Contact: Address: Petronas Twin Towers, Level 4, Suria KLCC, 50088 Kuala Lumpur., Tel: 603 2331 8181, Fax: 603 2331 1212,
Getting There: By Train: Take a train from any station within Klang Valley area and make your way to KLCC Station (KJ10). The integrated train system is the most convenient way to travel around the city centre. By Taxi: Numerous and convenient, taxis are a popular way of travelling. Always request the driver to switch on the fare meter before your journey. The taxis can easily drop you off around Suria KLCC's main entrance. By Car: Access KLCC through Jalan Ampang, Jalan P. Ramlee and Jalan Kia Peng. Tunnels at Jalan P. Ramlee, Jalan Tun Razak and the Ampang — Kuala Lumpur Elevated Highway (AKLEH) are also directly connected to the KLCC Parking Bays.
Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons,
Text Sources: Malaysia Tourism websites, Malaysia government websites, UNESCO, Wikipedia, Lonely Planet guides, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, National Geographic, The New Yorker, Bloomberg, Reuters, Associated Press, AFP, Japan News, Yomiuri Shimbun, Compton's Encyclopedia and various books and other publications.
Last Updated in May 2026