The Žižkov Television Tower

The Žižkov Television Tower, built between 1985 and 1992 to a design by the architect Václav Aulický and the structural engineer Jiří Kozák, is the tallest structure in Prague at 216 m (709 ft), standing on a hill on the border of Žižkov and Vinohrady. Its three pillars are steel tubes filled with concrete, and one of them rises far above the others to carry the antennas, which gives the tower its rocket-like look; between them hang the pods, with a restaurant at 66 m (217 ft), a one-room hotel at 70 m (230 ft) and an observation deck at 93 m (305 ft), with a view of up to 100 km. Since 2000 David Černý's Babies, ten giant faceless figures in fibreglass, have crawled up and down the pillars; the originals came down in 2017 and were replaced by new ones in 2019.

Background

The Žižkov Television Tower, Žižkovský vysílač in Czech, was built in Prague between 1985 and 1992 as a transmitter tower, designed by Václav Aulický, the architect, with Jiří Kozák as structural engineer. Set on a hill in the Žižkov district, which gives it its name, it rises 216 m (709 ft) above the city's traditional skyline and is a piece of high-tech architecture. Its three pillars, arranged in a triangle, are steel tubes with a double wall filled with concrete; they carry nine pods and three decks for transmitting equipment, and one pillar climbs well above the others to hold the antennas.

Source: Wikipedia, "Žižkov Television Tower"

What's there

• The Babies - ten giant faceless fibreglass infants by David Černý crawling up and down the pillars.
• The observation deck - glazed pods at 93 m (305 ft), with a view of up to 100 km.
• The restaurant - a restaurant with a bar and bistro at 66 m (217 ft), with a one-room hotel above it.
• The tower structure - three steel and concrete pillars, one rising higher for the antennas, an example of high-tech architecture.

When to go

Year-round; since 2006 the tower has been lit in different colours every evening. Two hours.

Before you go

Three of the nine pods, those just under the top decks, hold transmitting equipment and are closed to the public, so visitors see the other six; three lifts climb at 4 m/s (13 ft/s). The tower weighs 11,800 tonnes, part of the space freed when the old analogue equipment was removed by 2012 now holds a data centre, and the tower also serves as a weather observation station.

Nearby

In a straight line, Jiřího z Poděbrad metro station and the Church of the Most Sacred Heart of Our Lord are both about 300 m (1,000 ft) away, to the south-southwest and to the south; Vítkov hill is about 900 m (3,000 ft) to the north, Wenceslas Square about 1.8 km to the west and Old Town Square about 2.3 km to the west-northwest. The Kampa Museum, about 3 km to the west, has had three bronze Babies of the same size outside it since 2008.

Key facts