The Žižkov Television Tower () is a transmitter tower built in Prague between 1985 and 1992. Designed by the architect Václav Aulický and the structural engineer Jiří Kozák, it stands high above the city's traditional skyline from its position on top of a hill in the district of Žižkov, from which it takes its name. The tower is an example of high-tech architecture. Characteristics The structure of the tower is unconventional, based on a triangle whose corners go up in steel columns, consisting of three tubes with a double steel wall, filled with concrete. They support nine 'pods' and three decks for transmitting equipment. One of the three pillars extends considerably higher than the others, providing both the necessary height for radio antennas and the structure's rocket and gantry appearance. In its time it was a unique technology, which authors have patented. The tower stands 216 metres (709 feet) high, with the observatory at 93 metres, the hotel room at 70 metres, restaurants (with a capacity of 180 people) at 66 metres. Three elevators transport passengers at a speed of 4 m/s. Three of the pods, positioned directly beneath the decks at the top, are used for equipment and are inaccessible to the public. The remaining six pods are open to visitors, providing a panoramic view of Prague and the surrounding area. The lower three, approximately half-way up the length of the pillars at 63 metres (207 feet), house a restaurant and café bar. Construction of the tower cost $19 million. It weighs 11,800 tonnes and is also used as a meteorological observatory. It is a member of the World Federation of Great Towers. Reputation Like many examples of communist-era architecture in Central and Eastern Europe, the TV tower used to be resented by the local inhabitants. It also received a spate of nicknames, mostly alluding to its rocket-like shape, like "Baikonur", after the Soviet cosmodrome or "Jakeš's finger" ("Jakešův prst"), after the then-Secretary General of the Czechoslovak Communist Party. In 2009, Australian website Virtualtourist.com called Žižkov TV Tower the second ugliest building in the world, behind the Morris A. Mechanic Theatre in Baltimore. Since the Morris A. Mechanic Theatre was demolished in 2014, the Žižkov TV Tower is currently the ugliest building in the world according to that list. On the other hand, the crawling Babies (together with the statue Piss by the same author) were published by The