Tap to Read ➤

Interesting Facts About the Dancing House, Prague

Dhvani Dedhia
The Dancing House is an edifice of modern day architecture in the old charming city of Prague.
The Dancing House stands on the land where a house was destroyed in the U.S. air bombing of 1945. The plot was then bought by the insurance company Nationale-Nederlanden in the year 1992.
The Dutch company Nationale-Nederlanden sponsored the construction and commissioned famous architects Vlado Milunic (Czechian) and Frank Gehry (Canadian-American), giving them complete artistic freedom to design a truly iconic structure.
The construction of The Dancing House began in 1994 and completed two years later in 1996.
Though the Dancing House is a very famous and valued structure now, it was quite controversial when it was first constructed; it was viewed as a stark contrast to the Gothic architecture of the time.
The building is also known as ‘Fred and Ginger’.
Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, a famous dance duo are the muse behind the design of this iconic house.
The house is a build-up of two distorted cylindrical towers, the dominant concrete stone tower symbolizing Fred Astaire and the feminine glass tower cinched at the waist symbolizes Ginger Rogers. The entire flow of the structure resembles the couple in their dancing form.
This unique architectural style refers to the school of ‘Deconstructivism’, a post-modern movement in architecture in the 1980’s. It is derived by the idea of deconstruction and fragmentation.
The so called “dancing shape” of the house is created by using 99 concrete panels each of a different shape and dimension.
The metal shaped Dome on top of the Dancing House is often called “Medusa”, it is made of metal tubes covered with stainless steel wire mesh.
The architects decided to not paint the building and display the natural color of the materials used; green from the glass, silver from the steel and grey from the concrete. Also the windows are covered with protruding frames giving it a 3 dimensional effect.
The 7th floor of the building is an upscale restaurant named Ginger & Fred. With its modern day gastronomical menu, the place offers one of the best views of the Prague Castle and Hradcany in the city.
Another great way to enjoy from the inside of the Dancing House is the beautiful top floor bar called the Glass Bar. It is a rooftop terrace bar with a breathtaking panoramic view of Prague.
The Dancing House’s silhouette was featured on the 2,000 Czech koruna coin made in gold issued by the national bank as part of the ‘Ten Centuries of Architecture’ series.
Given the rich history and modern wonderment of this unique out of the box building, it is visited by thousands of tourists who come to the capital city of Prague.