On Sunday, June 20, the Dancing House will celebrate 25 years since its opening. On this occasion, the technical background of the building, which is still inaccessible, will be opened to the public. At the same time, the Dancing House will be symbolically illuminated in green for 25 days.
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Pumping system in the background of the Dancing House.
“For this anniversary, we are opening a technical circuit where you can see the technical background and standard inaccessible spaces. On the minus second floor you will see a pumping station, boilers, distribution system, air conditioning, which supplies the entire Dancing House. It does not have a separate heating system. Everything is done here with the help of air conditioning, “describes the exhibition, the director of the Dancing House gallery, Robert Vůjtek.
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The unique house, named after the iconic dancing couple Ginger and Fred, located in Prague on Rašínovo nábřeží, was designed by architects Frank Gehry and Vlado Milunić. It is one of the most frequently photographed buildings in Prague.
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“On the minus first floor, you can see the courtyard and a view of the inner part of the Dancing House building, which has never been open. You will see how the Dancing House was actually built, it was divided into 99 separate concrete panels. It was created using the first electronic system Katia, “introduces the director of other parts of the exhibition.
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Boiler room of the Dancing House
Photo: Archive of the Dancing House Gallery
Few people know that former President Václav Havel, whose apartment was adjacent to the Dancing House, also took part in the idea to build the Dancing House.
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“Václav Havel lived in the same house as Vlado Milunić, and one day they stood on the balcony of Václav Havel, looking at the gap that arose after the bombed-out house from 1945 and wondered what could be built here. And Václav Havel had such an idea that he would like to turn this gap into a multifunctional center that would be open to people, “Vůjtek explained the history of the house.
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From the top floor of the building is a very interesting view from the unique Glass Bar. Prague Castle, almost the entire center of Prague and the roofs of old Prague are in sight.
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The foundation stone was laid in September 1994, the building was put into operation on June 20, 1996, which is 25 years this year. At first, the unusual modern building was flooded with criticism, but eventually it became one of the most popular buildings in Prague.
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Since its inception, the Dancing House has been visited by around 3 million visitors, the last year it has been around 600,000 visitors.
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The technical circuit is part of the Prague Decadent exhibition, the symbolic entrance fee is 25 crowns and can be visited from 18 June to 3 October.
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Frank Owen Gehry
American architect Frank Owen Gehry was born in Toronto, Canada and became famous primarily as the author of formally expressive buildings. His most famous buildings include the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, and the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, USA. Gehry also has an academic career, is a professor at Columbia University in New York, as well as at Yale.
In the Czech Republic, he is known as the co-author of the design of the Dancing House in Prague. The second author was Vlado Milunić.
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