Dancing House

In a city of Gothic spires and Baroque domes, the Dancing House is the building that announced a new era. It stands on the corner of the Rašínovo embankment and Jiráskovo square, on a site left empty after an American bombing raid in 1945, and was designed by the Croatian-born Czech architect Vlado Milunić with the Canadian-American star Frank Gehry, completed in the mid-1990s. The idea grew partly from Václav Havel, the dissident playwright turned president, who lived for years in the family apartment building next door and championed a building that would express the new freedom of the city. Its two towers lean into each other like a couple dancing: a curving, pinched glass tower that seems to sway in a skirt, and a solid tower with a metal dome, which is why the building was soon nicknamed Fred and Ginger, after Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. The windows of the masonry tower are deliberately set at different heights, so the facade seems to ripple. At first it was controversial; today it is one of the most photographed buildings in Prague and a symbol of the city's post-Communist reinvention. Most of it is offices and a hotel, but visitors can enter the gallery on the lower floors, which hosts changing exhibitions, and take the lift to the rooftop bar and its small terrace, with a view along the river to Prague Castle, Charles Bridge and Petřín. Access to the terrace is tied to the bar and its rules can change, so expect to buy a drink or a ticket rather than going up for free. From the street, of course, it costs nothing to admire, especially from the opposite bank of the Vltava.

Best viewpoints: the Dancing House is best seen from a little distance. Cross Jiráskův bridge to the Smíchov side for the classic view of the two towers in their embrace, or walk along the Náplavka embankment below, where the building rises above the river. At dusk, when the glass tower glows and the river reflects the lights, it is at its most photogenic. Up close, look at the wavy lines of the facade and the twisted metal dome, nicknamed Medusa, on top of the masonry tower.

Going in: the gallery shows changing exhibitions of art, design and photography and charges admission. The rooftop bar is a relaxed place for a drink with one of the best views in the New Town, though it is small and fills up around sunset; the terrace is exposed in bad weather. The building also has a restaurant and a hotel. Because operators and access arrangements in the building have changed over the years, check the current terms on arrival rather than relying on old reviews.

Fitting it in: the Dancing House is a twenty-minute walk south along the river from the National Theatre, so it fits naturally into a riverside walk from Charles Bridge to Vyšehrad. On Saturdays, combine it with the farmers' market on the Náplavka embankment just below; in the evening, with a drink on the rooftop at sunset. For architecture fans, it makes a striking contrast with the Art Nouveau of the Municipal House and the Baroque of Malá Strana. Václav Havel, who backed the project, lived in the apartment building next door, so a stop here is also a quiet way to connect with the story of how Prague reinvented itself after 1989.