The Cairo Tower is a free-standing concrete tower in Cairo, Egypt. At 187 m (614 ft), it is the tallest structure in Egypt and North Africa. It was the tallest structure in Africa for ten years until 1971, when it was surpassed by Hillbrow Tower in South Africa. One of Cairo's well-known modern monuments, sometimes considered Egypt's second most famous landmark after the Pyramids of Giza, it stands in the Gezira district on Gezira Island in the River Nile, close to downtown Cairo. Built from 1956 to 1961, the tower was designed by the Egyptian architect Naoum Shebib, inspired by the Ancient Egyptian Architecture. Its partially open lattice-work design is intended to evoke a pharaonic lotus plant, an iconic symbol of Ancient Egypt. The tower is crowned by a circular observation deck and a revolving restaurant that rotate around its axis occasionally with a view over greater Cairo.