Designed by the architect Václav Aulický and the structural engineer Jiří Kozák,[1] 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.

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.

[6] In 2000, ten fiberglass sculptures by Czech artist David Černý called "Miminka" (Babies), crawling up and down were temporarily attached to the tower's pillars.

[citation needed] The tower's foundation was simply dug up through the layer of the cemetery, tombstones were crushed by heavy equipment and the bones were carried away to landfill.

[9] The tower 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.

[citation needed] In recent years, the tower's reputation among Czechs has improved[10] and the crawling Babies (together with the statue Piss by the same author) were published by The Guardian in 2007 as the greatest attraction of Prague.