Dancing House

The Dancing House (Tančící dům in Czech) is a building in Prague, Czechia, that was constructed between 1992 and 1996. The building was created to celebrate the rebirth of freedom, art, and culture after the Czechs were occupied by Germany in World War II and dominated by the Soviet Union throughout the Cold War era. The building consists of two towers, one solid and angular and the other curvy and modern. The unusual design reminds many viewers of two dancers—thus the name of the building—or of the interplay between Czech culture and the regimes that tried to control it during the twentieth century.

Background

For much of the twentieth century, Czechoslovakia, now divided into the modern nations of Czechia and Slovakia, has struggled with occupation and oppression. In 1938, Germany, resurgent under militaristic dictator Adolf Hitler, began pushing eastward for more land. After absorbing parts of western Czechoslovakia, German forces invaded the country in 1939. They declared the Czech portion of the country as a protectorate under German control and arranged for Slovakia to become an ostensibly independent country under the control of a leader friendly to the Germans.

Czechoslovakia remained under German domination throughout World War II (1939–1945), frequently placing it in danger as warring armies passed through or over it. One harrowing event in the Czech area occurred on February 14, 1945, in the final months of the war in Europe. United States bombers seeking to attack Dresden, Germany, accidentally dropped their munitions on Prague, the capital of the Czechs, causing extensive damage.

In 1945, the Germans were defeated, and the Nazi regime collapsed. The people of Czechoslovakia had little time to celebrate their liberation, however. The armies of the Soviet Union that had defeated the German occupiers now helped to plant the seeds of communism in Czechoslovakia. In the coming years, communists began taking power in the Czechoslovak government. By 1960, the country had become a socialist republic closely watched and largely controlled by the Soviet Union. Popular attempts at great autonomy and liberalization, most famously during the Prague Spring of 1968, were violently put down by the Soviet Union and their local allies.

In the late 1970s and 1980s, dissent against the communist system grew in Czechoslovakia. By the late 1980s, mass protests and other demonstrations called for change. This period of nonviolent struggle came to be known as the Velvet Revolution. Demonstrations and other factors helped to push communists from political office and install new leaders, such as former anti-communist dissident Václav Havel. In 1993, the country split into two new federal republics, Slovakia and Czechia. As the 1990s went on, the Czech people wanted to celebrate their resilience, freedom, and culture.

Overview

The Dancing House in Prague became a symbol of the rebirth of the Czech people following the Velvet Revolution and the equally peaceful separation of the Czech and Slovak Republics in 1993. The Dancing House incorporates the work and imagination of Czech and international artists, and traces its roots to the struggles, hardships, and victories of the past.

During the 1945 bombing attack on Prague, one of the buildings destroyed was a nineteenth-century neo-Renaissance home near the Square of Jirásek and the Rašín waterfront. Its rubble lay in place until it was finally removed in 1960, after which officials disagreed on what should be done with the newly empty lot.

The lot was located near a property owned by dissident Václav Havel, which Havel rented to a Czech Croatian architect named Vlado Milunić. In 1986, in the dark days of communist oppression, Havel and Milunić discussed the empty lot and shared a dream of turning it into a celebration of Czech culture and freedom. Their dream would have to wait, however.

Following the Velvet Revolution, Havel was elected president of the country. One of his initiatives was to commission Milunić, in collaboration with architect Frank O. Gehry, to use the lot for a marvelous new project of their design. The project would celebrate the Czech survival of decades of oppression and the rebirth of its vibrant arts and culture.

In 1992, Milunić and Gehry secured funding from a Dutch company called Nationale Nederlanden to create the new structure. The building would consist of two connected towers reaching nine stories. One tower would be constructed of concrete in a more traditional design with a solid, serious look. The second tower was designed in a deep inward curve, appearing to lean almost sensuously into the solid tower. The second tower was constructed of graceful and modernistic glass and metal, and lit with eye-catching colored bulbs. The building was completed in 1996.

The design of the paired towers brought many comparisons to two people dancing, leading to its name, the Dancing House. The Dancing House attracted criticism from many architectural purists who considered it too jarringly modern and unlike the surrounding traditional cityscape of Prague. However, it appealed to the senses of many Prague residents and quickly became a popular landmark for locals and tourists alike.

The appeal is not strictly visual. The Dancing House can also be seen as highly symbolic. As implied by its name, it captures a sense of motion and dynamism, a blend of art and fun long absent from the city. The building is often called the Ginger & Fred, in honor of popular American dancers and actors Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire. The allusion is further carried out by the application of an unusual twirl of stainless-steel mesh placed on the top of the concrete tower, which many see as symbolic of hair.

Another layer of its symbolism is political. Many observers see the rather cold, stoic concrete tower as a representation of the totalitarian rule of the Nazis and Soviets. Continuing that metaphor, the curving glass tower seems to represent the defiant and dynamic spirit of the people and their culture thriving alongside, and in spite of, the would-be controlling influence.

Although originally conceived as an office building, the Dancing House has become most famous as a luxury hotel. The Dancing House Hotel occupies twenty-one rooms in the building that offer unparalleled views of Prague City and Prague Castle. Much of the interior design was created by British Czech artist Eva Jiřičná. The building also includes a restaurant on the seventh floor, affectionately called the Ginger & Fred, and the Dancing House Gallery, a space for art exhibitions and shows. The building also includes a café and bookshop.

Despite the controversy it has stirred, the Dancing House has become a popular fixture in Prague. In 2005, the Czech National Bank honored the building with a series of coins celebrating memorable Czech architecture. On the international level, Time magazine awarded Dancing House honors for best building design of 1996.

Bibliography

"Dancing House Hotel." Dancing House Hotel, www.dancinghousehotel.com/en. Accessed 25 Nov. 2024.

"Dancing House Hotel." Prague City Tourism, prague.eu/en/objevujte/dancing-house-tancici-dum. Accessed 25 Nov. 2024.

"Galerie Tančící dům (Dancing House Gallery)." Prague City Tourism, prague.eu/en/objevujte/galerie-tancici-dum-dancing-house-gallery. Accessed 25 Nov. 2024.

Gehry, Frank. "The Dancing House." Architectuul, 25 Apr. 2022, architectuul.com/architecture/the-dancing-house. Accessed 25 Nov. 2024.

"History." Dancing House Hotel, www.dancinghousehotel.com/en/design-hotel-prague. Accessed 25 Nov. 2024.

Kopsa, Andy. "Czechoslovakia’s Velvet Revolution Started 30 Years Ago—But It Was Decades in the Making." Time, 16 Nov. 2019, time.com/5730106/velvet-revolution-history. Accessed 25 Nov. 2024.

Radford, Antony, et al. The Elements of Modern Architecture: Understanding Contemporary Buildings. Rev. ed., Thames & Hudson, 2020.

"Timeline: Czechoslovakia." BBC News, news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/country‗profiles/1844842.stm. Accessed 25 Nov. 2024.