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 May 2015<>
entry-free
Zdena Erteltová Philipsová and Petition Editions
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: May 4, 2015, 19:00 – 21:00
Petition Editions (Edice Petice in Czech), which was established by Ludvík Vaculík in 1972, was one of the most important samizdat series.
Zdena Erteltová Philipsová (1934–2007), who copied 120 titles for the series, also wrote for Petition Editions, Kvart and Alef. In a filmed interview she discusses how she, Ludvík Vaculík, Ivan Klíma, Petr Kabeš, Jiří Gruša and other writers published samizdat – and how the StB secret police developed methods to bully and intimidate her over the years.
Confirmed guests include Eda Kriseová, Jan Vodňanský and Ivan Klíma, who will read his short story Jak Zdena stavěla dům (How Zdena built a house).
Ondřej Němec: Václav Havel the Transformations of Czech Society in Photography III
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: May 5, 2015, 19:00 – 21:00
A series presenting the work of documentary photographers whose work captured Václav Havel over many years. The third evening belongs to Ondřej Němec, who has primarily focused on photographs of Václav Havel, his interaction with the underground in the 1970s, the relatively informal early period of his presidency and the final years of his life.
He will also present his book Torzo (Torso), brought out by publishing house Revolver Revue in 2014, of photographs primarily taken in the 1970s and 1980s but affected by flooding years later.
The Underground Phenomenon: Ivan Černega, Karel “Kocour” Havelka and Miroslav “Skalák” Skalický
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: May 6, 2015, 10:00 – 12:00
A series of lectures on the Czech underground as a social, political and historical phenomenon organised by the Historical Sociology department at Charles University’s Faculty of Humanities and the Václav Havel Library and headed by sociologist Nicolas Maslowski.
The Cost of Revolution
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: May 6, 2015, 19:00 – 21:00
What has the Maidan given and taken from Ukraine…
A meeting with the Ukrainian journalist, translator and literary critic Oleksandr Boychenko. The discussion will be chaired by Ukrainian Studies expert Lenka Víchová. Interpretation provided.
Petr Borkovec: This Day Too Will Be Part of the Story
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: May 7, 2015, 19:00 – 21:00
Reading by the author from his as yet unpublished short story collection Lido di Dante and an expanded edition of his collection Milostné básně (Love Poems).
“The beach car park was lit as far as a row of rhododendrons, in which the light disappeared. A little further, in the black water, laughter and drunken English were heard; she had seen them during the day: two German women and three Italians. The two were just old and fat enough that with a little sinfulness (suffice to stretch a foot differently, lift the legs a little higher, divide one’s attention between the two and make sure the portions were balanced) they could have made wonderful, simply wonderful concubines.”
Exhibition of photographs by Ondřej Němec: The Underground
- Where: Old castle Dačice, cinema Dačice
- When: May 9, 2015, 14:00 – 16:00
Organised by the Dačice Municipal Authority in cooperation with the Václav Havel Library. Followed at 15.00 by a presentation in the 3D cinema of a comic book about Magor and the screening of footage from the Festival of the Second Culture at Hrádeček.
Cabinet Havel: Our Leaders’ Visions
- Where: National Theater Prague, historical building, main entrance
- When: May 11, 2015, 17:00 – 19:00
A vision of the future, an emphasis on spiritual values in leading society and the placing of long-term gains ahead of immediate ones were themes that ran throughout the life and work of Václav Havel.
Whether as citizen, artist, member of the persecuted opposition or president, he put these important questions not just to politicians and representatives of influential domestic and diplomatic institutions but above all to himself. All these years later, we too want to put such questions to our representatives.
Confirmed guests: Martin Stropnický and Ivan Gabal.
Chaired by Renata Kalenská and Petr Oslzlý. In cooperation with the theatre Divadlo Husa na provázku.
The unknown Snow White!
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: May 12, 2015, 19:00 – 21:00
Reading by poet Viki Shock, who following last year’s “lightly funereal love story” Zahradníkův rok na hřbitově (Zahradník’s Year in the Cemetery) presents a new book of crazy short stories, Sněhurka, jakou svět neviděl! (The unknown Snow White!), a psychopathological-analytical variation on the classic short story in the guise of a Freak Show. One-man-band Ruce naší Dory will provide accompaniment on acoustic guitar.
Seven Years in the Gulag
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: May 13, 2015, 19:00 – 21:00
Launch of František Polák’s book Sedm let v Gulagu. Vzpomínky pražského advokáta na sovětské pracovní tábory (Seven Years in the Gulag: A Prague Lawyer’s Memoir of Soviet Labour Camps) (Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes, 2015).
A former legionnaire in Russia, František Polák was a lawyer for workers and communist activists who in 1930 quit the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia in protest at the control of the party by Klement Gottwald’s radical wing. As a refugee from Nazism, he became a member of the Czechoslovak Army Corps in the East; however, he was later betrayed by its commanders and handed over to the Soviet NKVD secret police. He was imprisoned in the Gulag from 1939 to 1947. After his release and return to Czechoslovakia in March 1948 he escaped to the West with the aim of informing the world and his home country about the reality of the USSR, which he himself had for years refused to believe. Adam Hradilek will host the evening. In cooperation with the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes.
Chálid Biltagi: Havel and Egypt
- Where: Výstaviště Praha - Holešovice, Areál Výstaviště 67, 170 90 Praha 7
- When: May 14, 2015, 14:00 – 14:50
A meeting with Egyptian Czech Studies expert Chalid Biltagi, author of an Arabic translation of The Power of the Powerless (2012). The discussion will take in Václav Havel and Czech literature, but also the (in)comprehensibility of European thinking for the Arab world. Chaired by Lucie Němečková.
Václav Havel, You’re Really Annoying Us
- Where: Výstaviště Praha - Holešovice, Areál Výstaviště 67, 170 90 Praha 7
- When: May 14, 2015, 15:00 – 15:50
An overview of the Václav Havel Library’s latest book releases.
Sám sobě podezřelý – souboru osmi osobně laděných prezidentských projevů Václava Havla z let 1990–1995 (Suspicious to Myself – A Collection of Eight Presidential Speeches With a Personal Tone by Václav Havel, 1990–1995), Perzekuce Václava Havla. Dokumenty a dopisy z let 1968–1989 (The Persecution of Václav Havel: Documents and Letters, 1968–1989), Hovory v Lánech 1991 (Talks from Lány 1991) (the second volume in a book edition of the radio programme) and other parts of Pavel Juráček’s work. Anna Freimanová, Martin Vidlák, Jan Hron, Pavel Hájek and other guests will appear on stage.
Budapest + Prague + Warsaw = Bratislava
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: May 18, 2015, 19:00 – 21:00
A meeting of Czechoslovak, Hungarian and Polish leaders in Bratislava on 9.4.1990, which was also attended by representatives of Italy, Yugoslavia and Austria, centred on cooperation and the coordination of the foreign policies of the post-communist states with regard to integration into Western European structures.
The conference stemmed from a call made by Václav Havel at Poland’s Sejm and Senate on 25.1.1990, while the initiative took concrete form with the signature of a joint declaration by representatives of Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Poland at Hungary’s Visegrad on 14.2.1991.
Confirmed guests: Andrzej Jagodziński, Miroslav Kunštát, Ladislav Snopko and György Varga.
Part of the series Our return to the map of the world. Chaired by Luboš Palata.
Charismatic leader or authoritarian populist?
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: May 19, 2015, 16:45 – 19:00
Panel discussion is part of the conference "The Current Populism in Europe: A Threat to Liberal Democracy?" which is organized by the Faculty of Social Sciences, Heinrich Böll Stiftung, Goethe Institut and Václav Havel Library.
In the discussion there will be four presentations on various topics regarding authoritarian regimes and their populist attitudes. Giacomo Chiozza from Vanderbildt University in Nashville will speak about the myth of the strong leader in Russia, Tuba Eldem and Esin Kivrak Köroglu from universities in Ankara and Istanbul will discuss authoritarianism, democracy and populism in Turkey and Iranian human right activist Nasim Basiri will present current political development in Afghanistan. More information about the event including CVs of the speakers and detailed abstracts of their presentations are available on the web page of the conference: http://populism.fsv.cuni.cz/. The whole panel discussion will be in English.
The Evolution of Ethics
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: May 20, 2015, 19:00 – 21:00
An evening with Marek Orko Vácha.
The first part of the lecture will focus on the world of nature, “good deeds” within it and how to explain them, and bee-eaters, turkeys and vampires. The second part will be concerned with mankind and the question of why being kind to others is a good idea and whether it is possible.
Debate with Respekt: Should we Fear the State Attorney’s Office?
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: May 21, 2015, 19:00 – 21:00
Have state attorneys been liberated and begun to investigate corruption in the highest echelons of power? Or are they criminalising politics without justification?
Chaired by Respek journalist Ondřej Kundra. Lenka Bradáčová, Josef Baxa, Ivo Ištván and Jindřich Šídlo are confirmed guests.
Josef Michl: Society and Science in the USA
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: May 27, 2015, 18:00 – 20:00
Professor Josef Michl (University of Colorado, Boulder) is a world-renowned chemist who works with dozens of academic institutions around the world. His lecture will focus on science teaching from elementary school to university, as well as the funding of science and government scientific institutions.
In cooperation with the festival American Spring.
Prague Odyssey – The Future of the City as a Common Mission III
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: May 28, 2015, 19:00 – 21:00
A discussion series on the future of Prague as a successful, safe, healthy and competitive 21st century city.
In cooperation with the Prague Institute of Planning and Development.
Prague 2015
- Where: DOX Centre for Contemporary Art
- When: May 29, 2015, 13:30 – May 30, 2015, 14:00
Václav Havel European Dialogues
2nd Prague Conference, 29–30 May 2015
Time for Europeans Politics
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.
- 70751 records in total
- 27680 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
- 8260 of books
- 40576of 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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