Dancing House
Being there
It is the work of the twentieth century American architect Frank Gehry, and is said to be shaped like a man and a woman dancing; hence its former name "Fred and Ginger". Inside you can visit a gallery or go to the rooftop bar and restaurant and enjoy nice views of the river and castle.
The story
The Dancing House (Czech: Tančící dům), or Ginger and Fred, is the nickname given to the Nationale-Nederlanden building on the Rašínovo nábřeží (Rašín Embankment) in Prague, Czech Republic. It was designed by the Croatian-Czech architect Vlado Milunić in cooperation with Canadian-American architect Frank Gehry on a vacant riverfront plot. The building was designed in 1992. The construction, carried out by BESIX, was completed four years later in 1996.
Gehry originally called the house Ginger and Fred (after the dancers Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire – the house resembles a pair of dancers), but the nickname Ginger & Fred is now mainly used for the restaurant located on the seventh floor of the Dancing House Hotel. Gehry himself later discarded his own idea, as he was "afraid to import American Hollywood kitsch to Prague".