Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Křižík's light fountain

Křižík's light fountain


















Křižík's fountain or Křižík's light fountain is a musical and illuminated fountain, which is used for cultural events. The fountain was built by František Křižík in 1891 on the occasion of the World Exhibition. František Křižík (July 8, 1847, Plánice, Bohemia – January 22, 1941, Stádlec; Was a Czech inventor, electrical engineer, and entrepreneur. Křižík was born into a poor family in Plánice, located at the time within the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In spite of this, Křižík managed in 1866 to study engineering at the Technical University of Prague ČVUT. In 1878 Křižík invented a device to protect against collision between trains. His first experiments in Plzeň resulted in invention of the automatic electric arc lamp, the so-called "Plzen Lamp" (1881), for which he successfully defended his patent against Werner Siemens claim to have created it first. The restored and fully functional patented arc lamp with automated electrode adjustment can be viewed at the Museum of Pilsen. In 1884 Křižík set up his own company building tramway lines, street cars, power stations, and electric equipment. A Prague subway station was named after František Křižík – Křižíkova.The Fountain was rebuild in the 1920s by architect Z.Stašek. The bottom of the fountain plate is equipped with 1300 multicolored reflectors and water circuits composed of more than 2 kilometers of pipes with almost 3000 nozzles. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V%C3%BDstavi%C5%A1t%C4%9B_Praha#K.C5.99i.C5.BE.C3.ADk.27s_light_fountain

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