In 1945, just a few days before the end of World War II, the Old Town Hall on the Old Town Square was severely damaged by bomb attacks. A large part of the medieval building burned down. When the war was over, the city of Prague rebuilt the Town Hall. It had long been an important symbol of the city and its residents wanted to preserve it.

When you stand in front of the building, aware of its history, you can’t help but wonder if you’re looking at the actual structure or a simulacrum, a copy. And if this is the case, what to think of a (scaled-down) copy of a copy? It’s smaller, made of different materials and estranged from its original context. To what degree does it represent the original building?

Or is it true, as the French philosopher Gaston Bachelard wrote, that the scaled down copy adds something new, which is the process of having to use your imagination and the ability it gives you to detach yourself from the surrounding world: “one must go beyond logic in order to experience what is large in what is small” and “values become engulfed in miniature, and miniature causes men to dream”.

This is part of the Pleasure Park Prague project by Rick van der Linden.