The Žižkov Television Tower () is a

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter (often abbreviated as XMTR or TX in technical documents) is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna with the purpose of sig ...

tower built in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

between 1985 and 1992. Designed by the architect Václav Aulický and the structural engineer Jiří Kozák, it stands high above the city's traditional skyline from its position on top of a hill in the district of Žižkov, from which it takes its name. The tower is an example of

high-tech architecture High-tech architecture, also known as structural expressionism, is a type of late modernist architecture that emerged in the 1970s, incorporating elements of high tech industry and technology into building design. High-tech architecture grew fro ...

Characteristics

The structure of the tower is unconventional, based on a triangle whose corners go up in steel columns, consisting of three tubes with a double steel wall, filled with concrete. They support nine 'pods' and three decks for transmitting equipment. One of the three pillars extends considerably higher than the others, providing both the necessary height for radio antennas and the structure's

rocket A rocket (from , and so named for its shape) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using any surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely ...

and

gantry A gantry is an overhead bridge-like structure supporting equipment such as a crane, signals, or cameras. Devices and structures *Gantry (medical), cylindrical scanner assembly used for medical 3D-imaging or treatment *Gantry (transport), an over ...

appearance. In its time it was a unique technology, which authors have patented. The tower stands 216 metres (709 feet) high, with the

observatory An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysics, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. Th ...

at 93 metres, the hotel room at 70 metres, restaurants (with a capacity of 180 people) at 66 metres. Three

elevator An elevator (American English) or lift (Commonwealth English) is a machine that vertically transports people or freight between levels. They are typically powered by electric motors that drive traction cables and counterweight systems suc ...

s transport passengers at a speed of 4 m/s. Three of the pods, positioned directly beneath the decks at the top, are used for equipment and are inaccessible to the public. The remaining six pods are open to visitors, providing a panoramic view of

and the surrounding area. The lower three, approximately half-way up the length of the pillars at 63 metres (207 feet), house a restaurant and café bar. Construction of the tower cost $19 million. It weighs 11,800 tonnes and is also used as a meteorological observatory. It is a member of the World Federation of Great Towers. Since 2006, to mark the 125th anniversary of the elevation of Žižkov into a city and the 15th anniversary of the commissioning of the transmitter, the transmitter is illuminated in different colors every evening, usually in the colors of the state tricolor. After switching to digital TV broadcasting and removing the old analogue broadcast equipment by 2012, the owner decided to use the free space for a new colocation datacenter. On 13 February 2013 a luxury one room hotel was added to the tower. The room sits upstairs from the reopened restaurant and a spiral staircase provides private access. Inside the room is a large bed and a free standing bathtub from where the guest can view the city.

David Černý sculptures

In 2000, ten

fiberglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English) is a common type of fibre-reinforced plastic, fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened i ...

sculptures by Czech artist

David Černý David Černý (born 15 December 1967) is a Czech artist. His works can be seen in different locations around Prague as well as in his own, Prague-based museum, called Musoleum. Early life Černý was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia. From 1988 t ...

called " Miminka" (Babies), crawling up and down were temporarily attached to the tower's pillars. The sculptures were admired by many and were returned in 2001 as a permanent installation. Another three Babies, made from

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...

, can be found in Prague's Kampa Park. For cleaning and structural checks, these Babies were removed from the tower in 2017. After examination of the condition of the sculptures was made a decision to replace them with identical duplicates, which were installed on their original positions in 2019. The original Babies were returned to David Černý.

Reception

Although official criticism during the time of its construction was impossible, the tower was lambasted unofficially for its 'megalomania', its 'jarring' effect on the Prague skyline and for destroying part of a centuries-old Jewish cemetery situated at the tower's foundations. The tower's foundation was simply dug up through the layer of the cemetery, tombstones were crushed by

heavy equipment Heavy equipment, heavy machinery, earthmovers, construction vehicles, or construction equipment, refers to heavy-duty vehicles specially designed to execute construction tasks, most frequently involving earthwork operations or other large con ...

and the bones were carried away to landfill. The tower received a spate of nicknames, mostly alluding to its rocket-like shape, like "

Baikonur Baikonur ( ; ) is a city in Kazakhstan on the northern bank of the Syr Darya river. It is currently leased and administered by the Russian Federation as an enclave until 2050. It was constructed to serve the Baikonur Cosmodrome with adminis ...

", after the Soviet cosmodrome or " Jakeš's finger" ("Jakešův prst"), after the then-Secretary General of the

Czechoslovak Communist Party The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia ( Czech and Slovak: ''Komunistická strana Československa'', KSČ) was a communist and Marxist–Leninist political party in Czechoslovakia that existed between 1921 and 1992. It was a member of the Comi ...

. In recent years, the tower's reputation among Czechs has improved and the crawling

Babies In common terminology, a baby is the very young offspring of adult human beings, while infant (from the Latin word ''infans'', meaning 'baby' or 'child') is a formal or specialised synonym. The terms may also be used to refer to juveniles of ...

(together with the statue Piss by the same author) were published by

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

in 2007 as the greatest attraction of Prague.

References

External links

Prague TV Tower website (also in English)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zizkov Television Tower Towers completed in 1992 Towers in Prague Radio masts and towers in Europe Žižkov 1992 establishments in Czechoslovakia 20th-century architecture in the Czech Republic Communication towers in the Czech Republic Restaurants in Prague

Characteristics

David Černý sculptures

Reception

See also

References

External links