At a height of 1483 feet (452 meters), the Petronas Towers were the tallest skyscrapers in the world from 1998 to 2004, until it was surpassed by Taipei 101 in Taiwan. Designed by Argentine architect César Pelli who chose a distinctive postmodern style to create a 21st-century masterpiece, the buildings became a major landmark of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Since its completion, the twin buildings have been featured in many ads and movies, including the Hollywood blockbuster film "Entrapment" from 1999, starring Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones.

The name Petronas is short for "Petroliam Nasional", which is the Malaysian National Petroleum Company. The Petronas Company occupies all of tower one. The building also contains the largest shopping mall in Kuala Lumpur and features a skybridge on levels 41-42 open for public viewing. There are 29 double-decker high speed passenger lifts in each tower, each capable of carrying 26 persons. The foundation under each tower is a 15 feet (4.5 meter) thick, 32,500 ton raft containing 13,200 square meters of high grade concrete, supported by 104 barrette piles driven into the soft rock.