The first baby has returned to the Žižkov television transmitter

Prague - Climbers today attached the first of the giant black baby sculptures by sculptor David Černý to the Žižkov television tower. The new sculptures are replicas of ten original pieces. In the coming days, climbers will install the remaining sculptures; the duration of the work will mainly depend on the weather. It is expected that they should secure one sculpture to the tall tower each day, and the work should be completed by April 9.

The babies were taken down for renovation in 2017. Czech Radiocommunications, the owner of the tower, commissioned the new sculptures to be made for several million crowns. Once copyright issues are resolved, they will become their property and should remain on the tower permanently. The original sculptures are currently on display in the USA, Černý told ČTK.

The babies on the tower are liked by many, although they caused some negative reactions during their first installation. However, many of their fans do not know them up close, as they can be seen, for example, in Kampa, where the sculptures stand freely on the grass. They are not as cute as most people think - their faces are distorted into barcodes. The website VirtualTourist.com rated the Žižkov tower as the second ugliest building in the world in 2009, partly due to Černý's babies.

The babies were first placed on the television tower in 2000 as part of the Prague - European City of Culture event. However, the installation was not technically adapted for long-term use, and the agreement with the owner of the tower was only for one year. For almost a year, the presence of the babies on the tower was only marked by one of them. At the end of 2001, they were attached using a more permanent technology - metal strips were placed directly into the sculptures, and then attached to the tower's casing. The method of securing the sculptures has now changed again.