Virtuoso Life - July/August 2008 - (Page 54) DESIGN TOUR Glowing revues: The Estates Theatre’s gilded tiers and painted dome. Prague’s cityscape, arguably the most romantic in Europe. Orangery Eva Jiricna, a Czech-born architect practicing in London, created this elegant greenhouse of laminated glass supported by a tracery of stainless steel. The structure, which replaced the old Castle Orangery in 1998, incorporates the original Renaissanceera wall. On the south side of the palace gardens, the Orangery can be accessed via a new footpath and oval tunnel along the verdant Deer Moat. Prague Castle, Royal Garden Estates Theatre Little has changed since Mozart premiered Don Giovanni in this 1783 neoclassical opera house, with its lime-green facade, gilded horseshoe tiers, and painted dome. That made it an ideal location for the concert scenes in the 1984 film Amadeus, and it’s the best place to enjoy new productions of opera, ballet, and theater (often with earphone translations available). Ovocný Trh Fred and Ginger Frank Gehry collaborated with Croatian ar´ chitect Vlado Milunic on the design of this high-spirited, mixed-use building – the first significant addition to Prague in more than 50 years. Sponsored by a Dutch financial services company, the 1996 Dancing House (as it is officially known) was nicknamed for 54 V I RT U O S O L I F E (THEATRE) RobERT HARding PicTuRE LibRARy LTd./ALAmy, (PRAguE) ARco imAgEs gmbH/ALAmy experimentation, from the disturbing fables of Franz Kafka to audacious modern architecture. To get the most out of this capital city, climb its hills and towers for views over the spiky roofscape, then stroll its streets to search out recent additions and less familiar treasures such as the ten described below. House of the Black Madonna This 1912 former department store in the Staré Mesto (Old Town) was designed in the short-lived cubist style of architecture and is now home to the Museum of Czech Cubism. The metal stair balustrade, furnishings, and sculpture are all relentlessly angular. Corner of Celetná Street and Ovocný Trh ( Trade Fair Palace Master of Czech modernism Josef Fuchs ˇ and functionalist architect Oldrich Tyl collaborated in 1928 to create this austere yet impressive exhibit hall, with its railed galleries opening onto a soaring, top-lit atrium. Temporary exhibitions and the National Gallery collection of nineteenth- and twentieth-century art are on show in the north ˇ wing. Dukelských hrdinu 47, Holešovice
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