The Žižkov Television Tower, built between 1985 and 1995, is the work of architect V. Aulický and structural engineers Jirí Kozák and Alex Bém. The television tower reaches a height of 216 meters, making it the tallest building in Prague. At a height of 93 meters above the ground, there is the so-called observatory, consisting of three cabins: Images of Prague, Echoes of Prague, and Golden Prague. Visitors can enjoy interactive entertainment with sound-equipped suspended chairs, known as bubble chairs, or watch videos showcasing Prague and the entire Czech Republic. In the years 2011-2012, the tower underwent a complete reconstruction of its interiors, including the existing restaurant and observation deck. Inside the tower, a luxury hotel with one room, a new restaurant, and other facilities were created.
In the year 2000, a series of objects resembling crawling babies was installed on the tower.
"The city Prague is infamous for its unusual, often bizarre public art, much of which was created by Czech sculptor David Cerný (
visit link) . Another of his works can be found on the exterior of the Žižkov Television Tower, and it’s the stuff of nightmares.
Miminka (Babies in English) consists of 10 fiberglass sculptures of babies crawling up and down the tower. Each approximately 11.5 feet long and 8.5 feet tall, and weighing 550 pounds, they seem to defy gravity. And if giant babies aren’t creepy enough, their faces are replaced with barcodes.
The first of the Miminka sculptures was introduced in 1994 at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, and it then traveled across the world. In 2000, 10 of them were placed on the Television Tower’s exterior, then as a temporary installation. They were met by a positive response, and soon it was decided to keep them permanently.
Perhaps due to the initial plan to have them there for a limited time, the original statues’s durability was insufficient. They were replaced by new pieces in 2019: heavier, more durable, and better attached to the tower. The originals were removed in 2017 and returned to Cerný, who loaned them to Palm Springs as a temporary installation.
Eight more copies, made of bronze, can be found on Kampa Island in Prague. They were installed in 2008 and, unlike the originals, not crawling on the wall, but on the ground."
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