The tallest and largest Advent wreath ...

… once lit up a radio tower near Oldenburg. 500 light bulbs, arranged around two tower platforms and suspended on steel cables up to a height of 140 meters. Two colleagues from Deutsche Telekom initiated the project – and ended up in the Guinness Book of Records twice, the first time almost exactly 25 years ago. A look back.

This is no ordinary local visit: Tanja Hayen is visibly moved by memories as she stands on the Wahnbek radio tower near Oldenburg for the first time in many years in December 2025. At a height of 85 meters. A journalist is there with her. The visit is also about the fairy light project that her father once initiated. From 1999 to 2010, it caused a stir at the tower every year.

Tanja Hayen was already up on the tower as a child. She grew up below, within sight of it. Her father, Hans-Herman Hayen, was an engineer at the Oldenburg Telecommunications Office. From time to time, she was allowed to accompany him to work. “Of course, something like that would be unthinkable today,” says the 54-year-old. She also works for Deutsche Telekom, but in Darmstadt. For her, the tower is a piece of home. As it is for many others in the Ammerland district.

Astronaut took picture with him into space

And the Hayen family is involved in this. Hans-Hermann Hayen passed away in 2021. But the memory of him and “his” illuminated radio tower remains. How he, already retired, turned an idea into a tradition. This is also confirmed by another man who was there from the very beginning, Fritz Haferkamp. The now retired Deutsche Telekom employee is present at the site visit, as are colleagues from DFMG, which operates the tower. “Those were special years. First the lights for the wreath, then we put six-meter-high illuminated ‘candles’ on top. We rolled them out of construction wire mesh,” he recalls and smiles: “And the hype around the tower just kept growing.” 

More than 1,000 people celebrated the first illumination in 1999, which took place on the grounds of the neighboring tennis club. There were bratwurst and mulled wine. In the following years, a Christmas market was set up on the grounds of a supermarket. Well-known personalities switched on the lights from there, including Thomas Reiter. The North German astronaut later even took a picture of the new landmark of his adopted home with him into space. Fritz Haferkamp and Tanja Hayen fondly remember the cheers 25 years ago when the Advent wreath made it into the Guinness Book of Records. And again a year later, after the team had raised it above the spire with an aluminum construction.

“The whole thing was visible up to 30 kilometers away, for example to anyone traveling on the highway to Oldenburg,” says Tanja Hayen. A letter to the editor in the Rasteder Rundschau newspaper summed it up: “‘Who will spot the tower first? ’ What excitement and joy that brings, wrote vacationers from southern Germany. The wreath became a landmark. And on New Year's Eve, the tower offered cheerful flashing lights. Television crews travelled to the site, newspapers reported on it. Someone produced postcards and a calendar.

It started at a party and ended with a fire

The idea for the “Leucht-Turm” (light tower) was born out of a party mood at the Hayen house. A milestone birthday at the end of 1998, a lively atmosphere, fairy lights: “What to do with the light bulbs?” was the question at the end of the party. “Let's hang them on the tower,” someone suggested with a wink. And that's how it all began. Hayen asked his former employer for permission, and master electrician Fritz Haferkamp joined the project. They gained supporters from local clubs, who also helped cover the costs, and they planned what needed to be done. Their shopping list included steel cable, a switch box, hundreds of light bulbs, almost a kilometer of cable material, and screw clamps. The team coordinated local helpers, hauled, assembled, rehearsed, and organized the celebration. Eleven times in a row, with a changing cast.

Until the beginning of 2010. A transformer overheated and triggered a fire department call high above. The Nordwest-Zeitung newspaper ran the headline: “Wahnbek Advent wreath in the dark.” Due to safety concerns, those responsible then decided to end the tradition. What remains are many memories and photos, as well as pride in the lights and the local landmark. For Fritz Haferkamp and many others in Oldenburg and the surrounding area—and elsewhere, such as Tanja Hayen, an exile from Ammerland, in distant Darmstadt. 

The Wahnbek Radio TowerYear built: 1974
Height: 134 meters
Platform 1: 75 meters
Platform 2: 85 meters
Diameter of the platforms: 33 meters

Operator and owner ...
… is DFMG Deutsche Funkturm GmbH. 

Visits to the radio tower ...
… are unfortunately not possible at non-public locations for safety reasons, except in exceptional cases such as press events.  

Lighting (example year 2003)
• The wreath assembly begins at a height of 75 meters on platform 1
• Length of a string of lights from the upper platform to the top: 55 meters
• Tower height increase: A specially attached spire increases the tower by six meters to 140 meters
• Length of all strings of lights: 800 meters
• Advent candles with 14,000 mini light bulbs
• Wreath with 500 large light bulbs (60 watts, dimmed)
• Length of all installation cables: 500 meters
• Screw clamps: 440 pieces
• At the turn of the year: Switchover to running and flashing lights