Žižkov Television Tower

The Žižkov Television Tower rises over 200 meters above the residential Žižkov district in Prague 3, east of the historic center, and remains an active broadcasting tower built in the late 1980s and completed just after the fall of Communism in 1989. Its stark, three-pillared Brutalist design was controversial from the start, both for its aesthetics and for the demolition of part of an old Jewish cemetery to clear space for construction. In 2000, sculptor David Černý fixed ten black, faceless crawling baby sculptures to the tower's shafts, a piece titled Miminka that has since become as recognizable as the structure itself and is visible from the ground before entering. Visitors ride an elevator to an observation deck roughly 93 meters up, which gives a flat, wide panorama over Prague that reaches the castle skyline and river from a distance and angle few other viewpoints match, since the tower stands outside the dense historic core. A visit to the deck itself takes about an hour, including the elevator ride and time to circle the glassed observation level; the tower also houses a restaurant and, on the first floor, a small hotel room built inside one of the giant babies. Sunset draws the largest crowds for the light over the city, while nighttime visits trade the skyline view for the illuminated cityscape below. Because the tower sits away from the main tourist circuit in a plain residential area, it rarely feels crowded even at peak viewing times.