Love It Or Loathe It?

The communists have been blamed for a lot of bad things here in the Czech Republic. Endless government corruption. A high unemployment rate and sometimes slow-to-recover economy(although doing quite well in recent years.) A complete freeze of cultural and social evolution for 50 years. And really, really ugly architecture.

Ladies and gentlemen, I behold to you, the ugliest of all ugly Communist desings - the Zizkov Television Tower!

Architectural merits - or lack thereof - aside, this is a tower that does not belong in Prague. Anywhere but Prague would be a more fitting home for this concrete monstrosity. Built for telecommunication purposes between 1985 and 1992 by the Communist powers that be, the Zizkov Tower completely dominates the Prague skyline. Honestly, it *is* the skyline here in the city. Prague is a city sans-skyscrapers (well, other than a couple around the convention centre out in the burbs at Pankrac Metro Station...) Known as The City Of 1000 Spires, instead it's Prague's many beautiful church spires and cathedral domes that grace the heavens above our beautiful medeival city that Prague was famous for, for centuries. Well, them, and now also a tower that looks like one of those tripods from 'War Of The Worlds' with a tampon stuck on its head.

At 216 metres in height, the tower is so tall it can be seen not only anywhere in the city, but even when you're miles and miles outside city limits. Once again, in a city known for castles, stone bridges, and ancient town squares, a gigantic tower right in the middle is the last thing you'd expect to see here. Of course, because of the political situation at the time, local residents were not able to protest the construction of the tower. And, to add insult to injury, the Communists actually tore up part of an ancient cemetery in the quiet residential neighbourhood of Zizkov to built the damn thing! Wow - talk about a tower with bad ju-ju! Even the dead hate this tower!

If a giant rocket launchpad/hypodermic needle/tripod-with-tampon wasn't enough, David Cerny, a local artist, decided to put his own special flavour on the tower in 2000. He added ten sculptures of giant black babies crawling up and down the pillars. Yes, you read right - giant black babies. The most common immediate response that comes to mind at seeing these babies is, "WTF!!??" They really have to be seen to be believed - check out the photos below...

So, in case you can't tell already, me and the tower aren't exactly BFF. I adore Prague, every inch, every crevice, every cobblestone and alley, every gothic church and art nouveau balcony - except The Zizkov. I live in a neighbourhood right nextdoor to Zizkov called Vinohrady, and so I see the tower every single day on my way to the metro. After having been forced to stare at the damn thing every single day, I have gotten a bit used to seeing it. Like the locals after it was first completed, I absolutely despised it for the longest time, merely hated it with dark passion for quite a while after that, and am now starting to enter the 'not noticing it so much' stage. Hmmm... Where is this heading?

I've protested the tower by refusing to go up it (there's an observation deck, as well as a restaurant and cafe), but couldn't resist taking a few snaps of it the other day for my photography project (more on this later...) Scroll down to see the rest of my tower pictures, and feel free to draw your own conclusions. The Zizkov Tower - a modern architectural masterpiece simply ahead of its time and worthy of praise and glory? Or an ugly scar on Prague's skyline that will forever remind locals of the fucked-up Communists? (I'll choose the latter, thanks!)


See...I wasn't lying about the babies!

Here's two pictures of the beautiful old cemetery that was torn up to build the tower.

Yeah you better keep crawling away from me, you baby bitch, cause if I catch you I'm gonna kic your ass!!!

One baby on the lower left scurries away to seek shelter from my promised violence, while he sends backup down on the right. "Yeah, bring it, baby...you wanna fuckin' fight? I'll take all ten of you on at once! If I don't blow up your frickin' tower castle hiding place/playground first! Whattya gonna do then? You wouldn't be so cheeky without your fucking pillars to crawl up and hide!"