Golden Angel
{{More citations needed|date=December 2013}}
{{Infobox building
| name = Golden Angel
| native_name = Zlatý Anděl
| native_name_lang = cs
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| image =Prague - building.jpg
| image_alt =
| caption = Front view
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| building_type = office complex
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| cost = 1 billion CZK
| ren_cost =
| client = ING Real Estate
| owner = ING Real Estate
| landlord =
| location = Anděl crossroad
| address = Plzeňská 344/1, Praha 5 - Smíchov
| location_town = Prague
| location_country = Czech Republic
| coordinates = {{coord|50|04|18.606|N|14|24|13.763|E|display=inline, title|type:landmark_source:dewiki}}
| start_date = 1999
| completion_date = 2000
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| floor_count = 7
| floor_area = {{convert|20700|m2|sqft|-2|abbr=on}}
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| elevator_count = 2
| main_contractor =
| architect = Jean Nouvel
| architecture_firm = Ateliér 8000
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The Golden Angel (Czech: Zlatý Anděl) is an administrative complex situated in Prague. The designer was French architect Jean Nouvel.{{cite web|url=http://www.praguepost.cz/archivescontent/33665-creating-landmarks-br-br.html |title=Creating landmarks |work=The Prague Post |date=20 June 2001 |accessdate=5 December 2013 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304091759/http://www.praguepost.cz/archivescontent/33665-creating-landmarks-br-br.html |archivedate=4 March 2016 }}
The structure is located in the immediate vicinity of The Angel Crossroad (Křižovatka Anděl) which was named after The Golden Angel's Pharmacy (Lékárna U Zlatého Anděla). The pharmacy as well as its symbol - a gilded statue of an angel - was demolished in 1980 to make a room for new subway station.
Origin
Nouvel started The Golden Angel project in 1994. The construction was launched five years later and the complex was completed in November 2000. The exclusive investor of the building is the ING Real Estate company.
Exterior
The Golden Angel is curve-shaped and edges are rounded. The technology of the layered facade allows it to vary the building's appearance during the daytime.
The glassed facades bear passages from the writings of notable authors who had been creating in Prague: Jiří Orten, Konstantin Biebl, Franz Kafka, Guillaume Apollinaire, Rainer Maria Rilke and Gustav Meyrink.
A picture of an angel-protector, inspired by a Wim Wenders' film Wings of Desire, looks down upon the golden Angel crossroads, floating among clouds.
A unique technology was developed for portraying clouds and the Angel. The graphics are printed on an advert foil and cut into millimetre-sized dots, which are stuck onto the facade in a density of 80,000/m2. The number of dots on the complex is reaching 150 millions; the printing and cutting process ran uninterrupted for over 7 months.
References
{{Reflist}}
Category:Buildings and structures in Prague
Category:Office buildings completed in 2000
Category:Postmodern architecture in the Czech Republic
Category:Tourist attractions in Prague
Category:2000 establishments in the Czech Republic
Category:21st-century architecture in the Czech Republic
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