Club / News / Program
Three candidates shortlisted for the 2023 Václav Havel Prize 05/09/23
The selection panel of the Václav Havel Human Rights Prize, which rewards outstanding civil society action in defence of human rights in Europe and beyond, has today announced the shortlist for the 2023 Award. Meeting in Prague today, the panel – made up of independent figures from the world of human rights and chaired by the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Tiny Kox – decided to shortlist the following three nominees, in alphabetical order: More
Three candidates shortlisted for the 2022 Václav Havel Human Rights Prize 06/09/22
The discussion among the seven-member jury helmed by the president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe centred on the importance of the issue of human rights during this tense period. The finalists include Vladimir Kara-Murza, a political prisoner and leading Russian democracy campaigner; Ukraine’s 5 AM Coalition, which gathers evidence of human rights abuses stemming from Russia’s invasion of the country; and Hungary’s Rainbow Coalition defending LGBTQIA+ rights. “This year’s selection reflects the central role that human rights play in the current European crisis,” says Michael Žantovský, jury member and executive director of the Václav Havel Library, which bestows the prize in cooperation with the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and Nadace Charty 77.
The Other Europe 27/04/22
Dear Friends, After three years we have completed the international project The Other Europe, during which, in cooperation with partner institutions, we have processed and made public recordings of interviews shot in 1987 and 1988 behind the Iron Curtain, and in exile, with important representatives of the opposition and the arts, as well as random citizens. Over those three years we have prepared video, audio and text of 106 interviews in speakers’ native languages and English translation. Despite public health restrictions in the Covid period, we have jointly prepared 16 international conferences and public presentations in six Central and Eastern European states. More
From Schuman to Havel – what next? 16/02/22
The Václav Havel Library is a proud partner of the project Beyond Robert Schuman’s Europe More
Program for December 2014<>
entry-free
Karel Hvížďala, Petr Pithart and Petr Fischer – Experiments
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: December 1, 2014, 17:00 – 18:30
Ceremonial presentation of Karel Hvížďala’s new book Pokusy. Eseje o uvízlých větách a lidech z let 2011–2014 (Experiments: Essays on Stuck Sentences and People from the Years 2011–2014) with illustrations by Ivan Steiger.
Musical accompaniment by Jitka Molavcová and Jiří Suchý.
The book will be “baptised” by Petr Pithart, Iva Steiger and introduced by Petr Fischer.
Three Faces of an Angel
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: December 1, 2014, 19:00 – 21:00
Jiří Pehe, Gerald Turner and Michael Tate: A panel discussion about literature, politics and religion on the occasion of a book launch of the English-language translation of Jiří Pehe's novel Three faces of an angel. Moderator: Erik Best
Pehe's novel, a story of three generations of a Czech-German-Jewish family in the 20th century raises a number of questions about history, politics, identity and religion in the 20th century. Panelists will discuss these issues as well difficulties with translating Czech literature into other languages.
Václav Havel: Suspicious to Myself
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: December 2, 2014, 19:00 – 21:00
In connection with the 25th anniversary of Václav Havel’s election as president, the Václav Havel Library is issuing the publication Sám sobě podezřelý (Suspicious to Myself). A collection of speeches with a marked personal tone from 1990–1995, it explores the philosophy of Václav Havel not only as president-statesman and president-citizen, but also as president-person. The publication has been put together by Anna Freimanová, and features a foreword by Martin Palouš, an afterword by Michael Žantovský, and photographs by Ondřej Němec.
In the role of president, Václav Havel suddenly found himself face to face with various temptations of power and feeling a dangerous tension between thought and action. In an atmosphere approaching adoration, he realised how important it is to hang on to one’s common sense. A lifelong inner continuity, linked to responsibility and personal obligation, was always a condition of identity for Václav Havel. He also demonstrated that in these presidential texts, in which among other things he kept returning to the Faustian subject of temptation by the devil, a subject he pondered from at least his first imprisonment for making Charter 77 public at the start of 1977.
Memory of Dissent V: Kamila Bendová – A Family Story
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: December 3, 2014, 10:00 – 12:00
The lecture series Memory of Dissent is organised by the Historical Sociology department at Charles University’s Faculty of Humanities and the Václav Havel Library and headed by sociologist Nicolas Maslowski.
Václav Havel writes to Alfréd Radok
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: December 3, 2014, 19:00 – 21:00
In connection with the 100th anniversary of the birth of the great Czech modern theatre and film director Alfréd Radok, the VHL has prepared an evening in cooperation with the Alfréd Radok Awards Foundation dedicated to the strong friendship between the emergent writer Havel and Radok, a theatrical wizard who was not popular with the regime.
The evening will centre on a reading of a fragment of their correspondence; unfortunately all that has been preserved is Havel’s letters from his involuntary exile in Hrádeček to the director, who was in involuntary exile in Sweden. They paint an authentic picture of the stifling atmosphere in Czechoslovakia in the first half of the 1970s and of the rather hopeless situations the friends found themselves in. Havel concisely describes Radok’s work with actors in texts, reflecting the years that he spent as his assistant director. Guests who knew the two will deliver readings of the letters.
Cabinet Havel: Are we Safe?
- Where: National Theater Prague, historical building, main entrance
- When: December 4, 2014, 17:00 – 18:45
The second in a new debate series organised by the Divadlo Husa na provázku theatre and the Václav Havel Library entitled Cabinet Havel 2014/2015, or All we need is the truth.
This year, a century after the outbreak of WWI, are we on the threshold of a new conflict? Can world wars be prevented? Can the Czech Republic feel safe?
Guests: General Petr Pavel, chief of staff of the Czech Army, former defence minister Alexandr Vondra, and Jiří Rajlich of the Military History Institute.
Chaired by Renata Kalenská and Petr Oslzlý.
The entrance at the discussion is for free.
The debate will be followed by the premiere of Ariane Mnouchkine’s revolutionary montage 1789 or Perfect Happiness (created in cooperation between the National Theatre, Prague and Divadlo Husa na provázku; tickets on sale at the National Theatre) in the historic National Theatre building and on adjacent terraces. The event will conclude with Marta Kubišová singing A Prayer for Marta – this time in French. Directed by Vladimír Morávek.
Just Don’t Wake Me from My Dream
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: December 5, 2014, 19:00 – 21:00
Eugen Brikcius has brought out a new collection Jen se mi neprobuď ze sna (Just Don’t Wake Me from My Dream), whose vivid physicality corresponds to the title and spirit of his previous volume.
It contains love poetry – the poet could not deny his seduction by muses – but features the old-new phenomenon of necessary demise, the proximity of which was previously only apparent between the lines. Thanks to his interaction with muses, living towards death takes on a truly epicurean spirit. The animated body definitively becomes the personification of the word.
The evening is hosted by literary critic Radim Kopáč, Petr Minařík of publishers Větrné mlýny and Natascha Grilj, the director of the Austrian Cultural Forum in Prague.
The VHL at Knihex Book Fair
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: December 7, 2014, 10:00 – 20:00
The Václav Havel Library will be represented at Knihex, a trade fair for small publishers, for the first time this year.
Natural Architecture – The Quest for a Future
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: December 8, 2014, 18:00 – 20:00
Architect Martin Rajniš and a group of collaborators have for more than a decade created experimental buildings and sought possible paths towards the future development of architecture.
Those efforts have been receiving increased attention in the international context (Global Award for Sustainable Architecture, Paris 2014, Plischke Award, Vienna 2014, 3x nominations, in 1997, 2004 and 2008, for the Mies van der Rohe Award). The lecture will take in both individual buildings and possible future trends in the light of the accelerating changes we are going through. The evening will be chaired by Jan Macháček, journalist and chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Václav Havel Library.
The Iron Curtain – Horrors of the Past and Terrifying Visions of the Future
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: December 9, 2014, 19:00 – 21:00
A presentation of Czech translations of Anne Applebaum’s The Iron Curtain and Between East and West. The author explores the process by which communism was introduced in democratic societies after WWII, describing in a calm but devastating manner how political parties, churches, the media and other institutions of civic society were weakened and destroyed.
Using new archive materials, she explores the communist practices of intimidation, humiliation and murder that paved the way to power. She also recounts the stories of individuals in order to illustrate how quickly people were forced to make a decision – to fight, flee or collaborate.
Petruška Šustrová will discuss her work on the translations and later chair a debate.
The Sun Sets in the Morning
- Where: Prague Crossroads, Zlatá 1, Prague
- When: December 10, 2014, 19:00 – 21:00
Presentation of a new volume in the Václav Havel Library Notebooks series, an anthology of contemporary Romany prose entitled Slunce zapadá už ráno (The Sun Sets in the Morning), by the female writers Eva Danišová, Irena Eliášová, Jana Hejkrlíková and Iveta Kokyová.
Editor Karolína Ryvolová will introduce the book.
Organised by the Open Society and the Michael Kocáb Foundation as part of the event Roma Spirt. To register send an email to registrace@vaclavhavel-library.org until 5 December.
Debate with Respekt: November 89, the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes and the Dispute over the Interpretation of History
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: December 11, 2014, 19:00 – 21:00
The current disputes at the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes have reopened the issue of where, 25 years after the fall of communism, Czech society stands with regard to totalitarianism and its interpretation. Monika MacDonagh-Pajerová, Adrian Portmann, Jaroslav Spurný, Michal Uhl have confirmed their participation.
Chaired by Tomáš Sacher.
Václav Havel in Photography and Film
- Where: Old castle Dačice, cinema Dačice
- When: December 13, 2014, 14:00 – 17:00
The launch of an exhibition of photographs by Karel Cudlín at Dačice’s Old Chateau will be followed by a screening of Andrea Sedláčková’s film Life According to Václav Havel at the local cinema.
In cooperation with the town of Dačice.
Women in Politics After ‘89
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: December 15, 2014, 19:00 – 21:00
A debate, chaired by Jana Šmídová, considering the last 25 years from the perspective of female participation in political events. Women who were engaged in public matters prior to November 1989 and in the course of the last quarter century will share their experiences.
Confirmed participants: Jana Chržová; Květoslava Kořínková, a university teacher who served in the first post-communist governments and is a member of the Czech Association of Scientific and Technical Societies; and Miluše Horská, deputy speaker of the Czech Senate and university teacher.
The event is being organised by Fórum 50 % in cooperation with the Václav Havel Library with the support of the Open Society Fund Prague, from the programme Let’s Give Women a Chance, which is financed by the Norwegian Funds.
Josef Topol: What a Poet Knows About
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: December 16, 2014, 19:00 – 21:00
Presentation of O čem básník ví (What a Poet Knows About), a freshly published book by dramatist and poet Josef Topol (b.1935), a life-long friend of Václav Havel’s.
The collection, issued by the Torst publishing house, contains important essays on poetry, studies and reflections on theatre, drama and scenography, commentaries on his own plays, pieces about visual artists and photographers, brief reminiscences and other short essays and interviews. It is a highly valuable publication that supplements Topol’s dramatic, poetic and translation work. Torst editor-in-chief Jan Šulc and friends of the writer’s will present the book.
Memory of Dissent VI – Collective memory
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: December 17, 2014, 10:00 – 12:00
The lecture series Memory of Dissent is organised by the Historical Sociology department at Charles University’s Faculty of Humanities and the Václav Havel Library and headed by sociologist Nicolas Maslowski.
Cabinet Havel: Do We Need Heroes? Do We Need Authorities? Do We Need a Vision?
- Where: Goose on a String Theatre, Zelný Trh 9, Brno, Czech Republic
- When: December 17, 2014, 17:00 – 19:00
On courage and cowardice, heroism and treason… respect and disrespect, esteem and contempt… with vision and without vision… Jiří Stránský and Jan Urban have promised to take part.
Chaired by Renata Kalenská and Petr Oslzlý.
Following the Cabinet, a ceremonial reprise of a production of Prase aneb (A Pig, or) Václav Havel's Hunt for a Pig will take place at 19:00. The piece was written by Václav Havel, discovered in his desk by Petr Oslzlý and directed by Vladimír Morávek.
Shared Space – The Creation of the City as Dialogue V
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: December 17, 2014, 19:00 – 21:00
Another in a series of popularising events focused on the main paradigms in the creation of cities of the 21st century.
The evening is taking place in cooperation with the Prague Institute of Planning and Development.
Challenges, Paradoxes, Plays: Václav Havel – Protest
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: December 18, 2014, 18:00 – 19:30
To sign, or not to sign? A play on a complicated question with an even more complicated answer. This one-act play concerns a persistent dilemma which is just the kind of devilish question that characterises the writer’s work as a dramatist. On the third anniversary of Václav Havel’s death we remember the lesser-known “Vaněk play” Protest from 1978. Staging by the Divadlo na tahu theatre. Directed by Andrej Krob and featuring Karel Beseda and Radek Bár.
This series of evenings dedicated to Václav Havel’s dramatic texts has been prepared by Anna Freimanová. This season we are presenting the author’s shorter or forgotten plays, screenplays and drafts.
Photo (c) Jano Vozar
Havel Channel
Havel Channel je audiovizuální projekt Knihovny Václava Havla, jehož cílem je šířit myšlenkový, literární a politický odkaz Václava Havla, bez ohledu na vzdálenost, zeměpisné hranice či nouzové stavy. Jeho páteř tvoří debaty, vzdělávací projekty a rozhovory. Velký prostor je věnován též konferencím, autorským čtením, záznamům divadelních inscenací a koncertům. Audiovizuální projekt Knihovny Václava Havla Havel Channel se uskutečňuje díky laskavé podpoře Karel Komárek Family Foundation.
Publications / E-shop
The central focus of the Library’s publishing programme is the life and work of Václav Havel, his family and close collaborators and friends. For clarity, the programme is divided into six series: Václav Havel Library Notebooks, Václav Havel Library Editions, Student Line, Talks from Lány, Václav Havel Documents, Works of Pavel Juráček and Václav Havel Library Conferences. Titles that cannot be incorporated into any of the given series but which are nonetheless important for the Library’s publishing activities are issued independently, outside the series framework.
Diary IV. 1974–1989
399,- CZK
Foolish Writing
299,- CZK
Havel to the Castle
149,- CZK
Kilián Nedory
199,- CZK
Case for a Novice Headsman
199,- CZK
I am not sad. Audience & Vernissage
129,- CZK
To the Castle and Back
249,- CZK
I am the Gypsy Baron
299,- CZK
Conferences & prizes
Václav Havel European Dialogues
The Václav Havel European Dialogues is an international project that aims to initiate and stimulate a discussion about issues determining the direction of contemporary Europe while referring to the European spiritual legacy of Václav Havel. This idea takes its main inspiration from Václav Havel’s essay “Power of the Powerless”. More than other similarly focused projects, the Václav Havel European Dialogues aims to offer the “powerless” a platform to express themselves and in so doing to boost their position within Europe.
The Václav Havel European Dialogues is planned as a long-term project and involves cooperation with other organisations in various European cities. Individual meetings, which take the form of a conference, are targeted primarily at secondary and third-level students, as well as specialists and members of the public interested in European issues.
Prague 2022Olomouc Prague 2023PragueMnichov 2020Brussels 2020Prague 2019Brussels 2019Prague 2018Brussels 2018Europe at the Crossroads (e-book)Prague 2017Brussels 2017Prague 2016Brussels 2016Prague 2015Brussels 2015Brussels 2014Berlin 2014Prague 2014 - J. GauckBruges 2014Prague 2014
Václav Havel Human Rights Prize
The Václav Havel Human Rights Prize is awarded each year by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in partnership with the Václav Havel Library and the Charta 77 Foundation to reward outstanding civil society action in the defence of human rights in Europe and beyond.
11th Year of the Prize (2023)10th Year of the Prize (2022)9th Year of the Prize (2021)8th Year of the Prize (2020)7th Year of the Prize (2019)6th Year of the Prize (2018)5th Year of the Prize (2017)4th Year of the Prize (2016)3rd Year of the Prize (2015)2nd Year of the Prize (2014)1st Year of the Prize (2013)History of the prize
Havel - Albright Transatlantic Dialogues
Since the first Václav Havel Transatlantic Dialogues at GLOBSEC and FORUM 2000 conferences last year, we have lost another stalwart advocate of the transatlantic bond and of the need to face threats to democracy and international order together on both sides of the Atlantic, the former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. In view of the close bond between Václav Havel and Madeleine Albright and, after Havel's death, between the Secretary and the Library, the Václav Havel Library, with the approval of Madeleine Albright's family, renamed and rebranded the program as The Havel-Albright Transatlantic Dialogues (HATD), after the two major figures with roots in Central Europe who have personified the bond. Together, Václav Havel and Madeleine Albright symbolize the transatlantic relationship and the fundamental values underpinning it perhaps better than any other two people in recent history. The upcoming Dialogues “The Indispensable Woman: The Legacy of Madeleine K. Albright”, at the FORUM 2000 conference on September 1, and at the “Havel and our Crisis” conference at Colby College, ME, on September 28, will thus become venues for a well-deserved tribute to the pair we all respected and admired.
Transatlantic Dialogues 2021Transatlantic Dialogues 2022HATD 2022 Prague
Václav Havel
Educational projects
Archive / Documentation centre / Research projects
The Václav Havel Library is gradually gathering, digitizing, and making accessible written materials, photographs, sound recordings and other materials linked to the person of Václav Havel.
- 70973 records in total
- 27902 of events in the VH's life
- 2831 of VH's texts
- 2125 of photos
- 403of videos
- 568of audios
- 6604of letters
- 15101of texts about VH
- 8269 of books
- 40709of bibliography records
Access to the database of the VHL’s archives is free and possible after registering as a user. Accessing archival materials that exist in an unreadable form is only possible at the reading room of the Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, 110 00 Prague 1, every Tuesday (except state holidays) from 9:00 to 17:00, or by prior appointment.
We will be glad to answer your queries at archiv@vaclavhavel-library.org.
Havel in a nutshell
The virtual exhibition Václav Havel in a Nutshell places the life story of Václav Havel in the broader cultural and historic context in four chronologically distinct chapters with rich visual accompaniment. The exhibition is supplemented by the interactive map Flying the World with Václav Havel, which captures in physical form Havel’s global “footprint”.
Vladimir Hanzel's revolution
Collage of recollections, images and sound recordings from Vladimír Hanzel, President Václav Havel’s personal secretary, bringing the feverish atmosphere of the Velvet Revolution to life.
Václav Havel Interviews
A database of all accessible interviews given to print media outlets by the dramatist, writer and political activist Václav Havel between the 1960s and 1989. The resulting collection documents the extraordinary life story of an individual, as well as capturing a specific picture of modern Czechoslovak history at a time when being a free-thinker was more likely to lead to jail than an official public post.
Pavel Juráček Archive
The Pavel Juráček Archive arose in February 2014 when his son Marek Juráček handed over six banana boxes and a typewriter case from his father’s estate to the Václav Havel Library. Thousands of pages of manuscripts, typescripts, photographs, documents and personal and official correspondence are gradually being classified and digitalised. The result of this work should be not only to map the life and work of one of the key figures of the New Wave of Czechoslovak film in the 1960s, but also to make his literary works accessible in the book series The Works of Pavel Juráček.
The aim of the Václav Havel Library is to ensure that Pavel Juráček finds a place in the broader cultural consciousness and to notionally build on the deep friendship he shared with Václav Havel. Soon after Juráček’s death in 1989 Havel said of him: “Pavel was a friend of mine whom I liked very much. He was one of the most sensitive and gentle people I have known – that’s why I cannot write more about him.”
All about Library
Podpořte nás
We are well aware that freedom and democracy must be nurtured. Here at Ostrovní 13, but also on the audiovisual platform Havel Channel, we strive to do so through our own educational programmes, talks, discussion meetings, books, exhibitions, concerts, theatre performances. We honour Václav Havel's legacy and wish that the Library be a living organism and open to all. That is why our programme is free of charge for everyone. This would not be possible without regular financial support from our supporters. Become one of them...
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Help us expand the archive
The Vaclav Havel Library manages an archive of writings, documents, photographs, video recordings and other materials related to the life and work of Vaclav Havel. This archive is predominantly in digital form. If you or someone close to you owns any original texts, correspondence, photographs, speeches or any other work by Vaclav Havel, we would be grateful if you could contact us.
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