The capital of the Czech Republic is striking in its beauty: Gothic houses painted in pleasant bright colors, cobbled streets, squares with the faces of saints, Charles Bridge and, of course, the extraordinary and at the same time such a cozy Dancing House. The natives of Prague call one cylindrical tower Ginger and the other Fred. The house got its nickname thanks to a pair of dancers: Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.
The history of the Dancing House
Surely everyone who has heard the name of the building has presented complex mechanisms that allow the massive building to rotate on its axis to the music. However, in this version, everything is much simpler: the house does not make any movements, and only your imagination can make it move. Nevertheless, the Dancing House is worth seeing. It got its name because of its appearance. The style in which the house is built is called deconstructivism and involves the use of various, at first glance, impossible forms for architectural structures.
The Dancing House consists of two towers closely adjacent to each other. Using your imagination, you can imagine that one of the towers is a girl, while the other is a man, and both of them merged in a passionate dance of love.
The house was built not so long ago, which is why it differs significantly from the buildings surrounding it, however, such a contrast only gives charm to both the houses of the 19th century and the structure of the 21. Back in the 19th century, an ordinary house stood in the place of the Dancing One, of which there are countless numbers ... In it, as in others, an ordinary family lived, whose existence was not noted in history. However, at one time, American aircraft bombed Prague, and one of hundreds of explosive devices fell on the erected house. The house stood in a ruined state until the second half of the twentieth century, reminding all residents of both Prague and the Czech Republic as a whole about the destructive power of war.
Vaclav Havel, who came to the presidential service at the end of the 20th century, settled not far from the destroyed house, and every day was forced to see the burned and destroyed walls. Outraged by this state of affairs, he nurtured for a long time, and later voiced an interesting idea: to build a new one on the site of the old building, using new architectural styles. This would help not only hide the traces of the ruins, but also create another highlight in Prague, which will be a great addition to the main architecture.
Construction of the Dancing House in Prague
Having decided to create something unusual, Vaclav Havel turned to two world famous architects: Vlado Milunic from Croatia and Frank Gerry from Canada. So, from a simple construction, the dancing house turned into an international project, which was personally led by Vaclav Havel. Despite the complex architectural structures, construction proceeded quickly enough. The house was built in just two years: in 1994, construction began, and in 1996 it was already completed. Until now, the house works according to the same scheme according to which it was conceived: there is an office center inside the building, and on the upper floors there is an expensive restaurant, through the windows of which a gorgeous view of Prague opens. The interiors are by Eva Yorzhichnaya, a popular designer in the UK.
The house amazes with its imaginary fragility: standing next to it, there is a feeling that the slightest breath of breeze - and the house will sway, gasp and groan, and as a result it will simply fall, burying a beautiful square under it. However, all this is nothing more than an optical illusion. The building was built using advanced technologies. For its construction, for the first time in Prague, complex 3d-modeling programs were used, which made it possible to carefully plan everything. The calculations were carried out more than once, and only after multiple checks, the construction was launched. The effect of the falling house, frozen in a dance, was invented by Vlado Milunich and he explained his decision by his love for incredible forms of construction, the effect of “unfinished” construction.
How local residents reacted to the Dancing House
However, despite all the admiration among the architects and the president, the locals were in real horror and shock. They often staged strikes and rallies, asked for an audience with the president - in all possible and impossible ways they tried to get the house to be demolished. Many representatives of the elite agreed with them: they called the house drunk, and said that with his drunken appearance he only offends the nearby classic houses and the whole of Prague. However, the president was pleased with his brainchild and was not going to give it up. So, gradually, the inhabitants came to terms with its existence and even fell in love. Today, about 70% are positive about the Dancing House, another 15% are neutral, and only 15% are negative. However, no further action is being taken to liquidate it.
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Second title - Ginger and Fred
In December 2013, the owner and name of the house changed. At the auction, a major collector of architectural structures, as well as a famous real estate investor, Vaclav Skale, laid out eighteen million dollars for the lot. He does not consider such a price too high and considers the purchase to be very successful. Still - to have one of the sights of Prague - isn't it happiness? So far, the house retains its old structure, although the new owner renamed it “Ginger and Fred”.
Despite the fact that Prague is a rather archaic city, and urban buildings have passed it by, today the Dancing House not only does not stand out from the general style, but emphasizes it and its individuality at the same time. The new-fashioned building in the style of deconstructivism has won the hearts of millions of tourists, and it will not leave you indifferent either. Although the recognition of the cultural value of the building by local residents came twenty years later, it is still better than never. When visiting Prague, you seem to be plunging into a fairy tale, where small streets, squares and rivers intertwined into a single magical story telling about the history of the old city.
