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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

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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.

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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

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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 June 2015<

entry-free

Prague vs. Moolah

Prague vs. Moolah

  • Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
  • When: June 2, 2015, 19:00 – 21:00

For a year now they have been mapping the dark side of the metropolis in a documentary series, revealing both the uncompromising world of Prague taxi drivers and the bureaucratic quirks of officialdom… The stories of both filmmakers about the difficulties of shooting and goings-on “behind the scenes” will be supplemented by the screening of key episodes.

Marek Orko Vácha: Freedom, Ethics and Responsibility

Marek Orko Vácha: Freedom, Ethics and Responsibility

  • Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
  • When: June 3, 2015, 19:00 – 21:00

The moment in the evolution of our kind when personal freedom emerged was perhaps the moment we can begin to speak about man. Freedom enables the emergence of ethics. It is the moment when, from a point of given instinctive behaviour, a never-ending ocean of possibilities opens up, the moment when we become aware it is possible to act differently.

Along with freedom arises its less popular flip-side: responsibility. Not only is it possible to act differently – above all the anxiety that it is possible to act badly arises. Freedom is not just a multi-coloured palette of possibility but rather a dizzying abyss of choice. Therefore the history of human freedom is, surprisingly, also the history of our efforts to transfer our freedom onto something or somebody else. In modern history ethics lies between two extremes: behaviourism on one hand, and genetic determinism on the other.

Karel Hvížďala: The Eighth Day of the Week, 52 + 1 Essays

Karel Hvížďala: The Eighth Day of the Week, 52 + 1 Essays

  • Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
  • When: June 4, 2015, 19:00 – 21:00

Presentation of the book Osmý den týdne, 52 + 1 fejeton (The Eighth Day of the Week, 52 + 1 Essays) by journalist and playwright Karel Hvížďala, which has just been issued by publishers Novela bohemica.

The collection of essays came into being as Hvížďala’s Saturday reflections for Czech Radio Plus between 2013 and 2015. It takes in everything from the end of the war, nationalisation, May Days, school years, illegal scouting, university studies, exile and the Velvet Revolution to the present day. Alongside remembrances of a youth in Prague’s Lesser Quarter, the author reflects on figures he has met and worked with: Karel Kryl, Bohumil Hrabal, Pavel Tigrid, Milan Kundera and Václav Havel.

The evening will be hosted by Petr Fischer, while among those giving the book a send-off will be Miroslav Barták, Jiří Lábus, Dáša Vokatá, Oldřich Kaiser and the man who inspired the radio series, Petr Dudek.

God and War?

God and War?

  • Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
  • When: June 5, 2015, 17:00 – 19:00

Why does a Christian cleric decide to serve in the army? What are his experiences of working among soldiers in the Czech Republic and on foreign missions? What issues is he confronted with? How does he experience his faith among those who have to be prepared to use weapons and kill? How is he affected by the fact that religious extremists use God’s name as a shield while carrying out inhumane actions?

Pavel Ruml, an Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren clergyman. He served as an army chaplain from 1999 and since 2013 has been chaplain at the army’s personnel section. He has taken part in foreign missions in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Iraq and Kosovo.

Also speaking will be Jan Pacner, a Roman Catholic cleric who has been an army chaplain since 2005 and from 2008 chaplain at the University of Defence in Brno. He has taken part in a foreign mission in Kosovo.

The lecture is being held as part of the event Days of Faith 2015.

Steve Crawshaw: Small Acts of Resistance

Steve Crawshaw: Small Acts of Resistance

  • Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
  • When: June 8, 2015, 19:00 – 21:00

Nonviolent change – and mischief. Those are the twin themes of Small Acts of Resistance: How Courage, Tenacity and Ingenuity Can Change the World, co-written by Steve Crawshaw and John Jackson with a preface by Vaclav Havel.

The book has already appeared in Arabic, Persian, Tibetan, Chinese and other languages – and now is out in Czech: Malé projevy vzdoru – Jak může odvaha, odhodlání a důvtip změnit svět. The author will tell stories and answer questions on protest, humour and change. Many of the stories come from his own experience as journalist (including East Europe Editor of The Independent from 1988 to 1992), and as a senior human rights advocate at Human Rights Watch and now Amnesty International. The event will be chaired by Mark Martin, director of Amnesty International in the Czech Republic.

In cooperation with the publishing house Anag.

Free entry without registration.

Beatrice Landovská: Kitty

Beatrice Landovská: Kitty

  • Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
  • When: June 9, 2015, 19:00 – 21:00

The first presentation of texts from Beatrice Landovská’s original theatre play Koťátka (Kitty) (2015), in the form of a staged reading by actors from the LaMy theatre group. The readings have been prepared by Vanda Zaplatílková Hutařová and Kristýna Čepková.

One of two time-lines in the play, from 1987 to 1990, explores the feelings of then young people born into families of the social minority known today as the “cultural and political dissent”.

“Orphans” of political prisoners and exiles, dilemmas of whether to remain in one’s homeland or leave, and the experience of everyday encounters with betrayal in the form of omnipresent StB agents are characteristic phenomena of the time and place.

Actors:  Helena Karochová, Roman Teprt, Karel Riegel, Marie Hásková, William Valerián, Mária Holbová, Adéla Koutná, Tereza Kaucká, Viktorie Hásková a Jakub Koudela

With my language I will break the silence

With my language I will break the silence

  • Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
  • When: June 10, 2015, 19:00 – 21:00

A now traditional reading by poets from around Europe, this time Czech, Hungarian, Austrian, Slovenian, Slovak and Serb writers, as part of the eight annual festival Stranou – European Poets Live (Veronika Dianišková, Radek Fridrich, Stanka Hrastelj, Marko Kravos, Ivan Matoušek, Marián Milčák, Duško Novaković, Ana Ristović, Dušan Savić, Ivo Svetina, István Vörös, Petra Žišt). Vlaďka Kužílková will read Czech translations.

Music: Půljablkoň (Marie Puttnerová & Michal Němec)

Hosts: Lenka Kuhar Daňhelová and Peter Kuhar.

As part of the Stranou Festival.

Debate with Respekt: Politicians and School Leaving Exams – Why Education Reform Has Not Been Achieved in the Czech Republic

Debate with Respekt: Politicians and School Leaving Exams – Why Education Reform Has Not Been Achieved in the Czech Republic

  • Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
  • When: June 11, 2015, 19:00 – 21:00

A quarter of students failed school leaving exams in mathematics last year. The Ministry boasts, however, that the new system works. It is now chiefly focused on reforming school financing. But is this what Czech education needs most?

Confirmed guests: Petr Fiala, chairman of the Civic Democrats, Klára Laurenčíková, expert on inclusive education, Česká odborná společnost na inkluzivní vzdělávání, Tomáš Feřtek, journalist at EDUin, Filip Jelínek, Czech Secondary School Union.

Filip Topol: Angus Burge

Filip Topol: Angus Burge

  • Where: Archa Theatre, Na Poříčí 26, Prague
  • When: June 12, 2015, 19:00 – 21:00

Ceremonial presentation of an album of pen drawings by Filip Topol from 1984 as part of a tribute concert. The “Knight’s Comics” Angus Burge is published by the Václav Havel Library in a limited edition of 300 copies.

Museum Night: The Hrádeček Phenomenon

Museum Night: The Hrádeček Phenomenon

  • Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
  • When: June 13, 2015, 19:00 – June 14, 2015, 01:00

The permanent exhibition on Václav Havel will be open the whole evening, supplemented by an audio-visual compilation put together from Václav Havel Library archival materials exploring the phenomenon of Hrádeček as a spiritual centre of the Czechoslovak dissent far exceeding the significance of a mere cottage in the Krkonoše foothills where Václav Havel often stayed.

On what values is our society based?

On what values is our society based?

  • Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
  • When: June 15, 2015, 19:00 – 21:00

Russian aggression, Islamist pressure and the strong distrust of citizens in democratic institutions places a question before our society – what values are most important to us? What are the cornerstones of our civilisation that we wish to cultivate and protect? On what values is the Czech Constitution founded, and are they still valid? The debate is organised by the European Values Initiative in cooperation with the Václav Havel Library.

Guests:

Daniela Drtinová, presenter of DVTV

Jan Kysela, constitutional lawyer, Faculty of Law, Charles University

Marek Orko Vácha, priest and philosopher

Milena Jabůrková, member of board of IBM CR, European Values Initiative

Chair: Jakub Janda, deputy director of the think tank European Values.

James Ragan: A View of the World from Vaclav Havel’s Balcony

James Ragan: A View of the World from Vaclav Havel’s Balcony

  • Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
  • When: June 16, 2015, 19:00 – 21:00

From the 1960’s, James Ragan had visited his family villages in then Czechoslovakia where he began his dissident writings against foreign occupation. As a published poet, playwright, screenwriter, and professor, he met newly- elected Czech President Vaclav Havel in 1991 in Los Angeles.

Acknowledging Ragan’s banned activism against communism, Havel extended his hand, saying, “We are colleagues,” and invited Ragan to return as a Czecho-Slovak and donate something back to the restored nation. Since that invitation, Ragan has returned to serve each summer for 22 years as Distinguished Visiting Professor of Poetry and Film at Charles University. As the subject of a 2014 documentary, Flowers and Roots, Ragan will discuss his early days of witness to communist oppression and his relationship as a poet-playwright with Havel. He will read poems from The Hunger Wall (Hladová zeď) written at Havel’s iconic family home at Rasinovo nabrezi.

Free entry without registration.

The cat that never sleeps

The cat that never sleeps

  • Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
  • When: June 17, 2015, 19:00 – 21:00

An unconventional and imaginative meeting with Jiřina Šiklová on the occasion of her 80th birthday.

The evening, in the form of one big expression of congratulations to this amazing lady of the dissent, will involve the presentation of a second, expanded edition of the book Kočka, která nikdy nespí (The cat that never sleeps), which was organised by Vilém Prečan as a tribute to her 10 years ago. A book of the letters of Jiřina Šiklová from prison (Ruzyně) 1981–1982 will also be presented.

The Czechoslovak Documentation Centre, the Charter 77 foundation and the Václav Havel Library have come together as organisers. One of the gifts will be a surprise for more than just the birthday lady!

VH Library Stand at the United Islands Festival

VH Library Stand at the United Islands Festival

  • Where: Kampa, Prague
  • When: June 19, 2015, 14:00 – June 20, 2015, 21:00

Vaclav Havel Library at international music festival.

VH Library stand at Knihex

VH Library stand at Knihex

  • Where: Náplavka, Prague
  • When: June 21, 2015, 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.

Cabinet Havel 2014/2015 or All we need is the truth

Cabinet Havel 2014/2015 or All we need is the truth

  • Where: National Theater Prague, historical building, main entrance
  • When: June 21, 2015, 17:00 – 19:00

Final debate in a series on the state of Czech society from November 2014 to June 2015.

Guests: Actors from the Divadlo Husa na provázku theatre

Presenters: Vladimír Morávek and Petr Oslzlý

In conclusion Gábina Vermelho and Tereza Marečková will sing Modlitba pro Martu (Marta’s Prayer).

This will be followed at 19:00 by the final performance of 1789, or Perfect Happiness and at 21:30 a concert by Big Beatles with all the soloists.

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.

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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.

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Conferences & prizes

Illustration

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.

Illustration

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.

Illustration

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.

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Václav Havel

Václav Havel
* 5. 10. 1936 Praha
† 18. 12. 2011 Hrádeček u Trutnova

1936
Foto
Václav Havel grew up
in a well-known, wealthy entrepreneurial
and intellectual family.
1951
Foto
Václav Havel completed primary schooling. Because
of his "bourgeois" background, options for
higher education were limited.
1951
Foto
Václav Havel worked as a chemical laboratory technician
while attending evening classes at a high school
from which he graduated in 1954.
1955
Foto
Václav Havel studied at the
Economics Faculty of the Czech
Technical University in Prague.
1960
Foto
Václav Havel began working at Prague's Theatre on
the Balustrade, first as a stagehand and later as
an assistant director and literary manager.
1963
Foto
Havel´s first play The Garden
Party was staged at Prague's
Theatre on the Balustrade.
1964
Foto
Václav Havel
married Olga
Splichalova.
1966
Foto
VH finished studies at at the
Theatre Faculty of the Academy of
Performing Arts in Prague .
1968
Foto
Václav Havel played an active role in
democratization and renewal of culture during the
era of reforms, known as Prague Spring.
1969
Foto
Havel's work were banned in Czechoslovakia. He
moved from Prague to the country, continued
his activities against the Communist regime.
1974
Foto
Václav Havel worked as a manual laborer
at a local brewery near Hrádeček in
the north of the Czech Republic.
1975
Foto
Václav Havel wrote an open
letter to President Gustav Husak,
criticizing the government.
1977
Foto
Václav Havel co-founded the Charter 77
human rights initiative and was one
of its first spokesmen.
1978
Foto
Václav Havel co-founded The
Committee for the Defense
of the Unjustly Prosecuted.
1979
Foto
Václav Havel was imprisoned several times
for his beliefs, his longest prison
term lasting from 1979 to 1983.
1989
Foto
Václav Havel emerged as one of the
leaders of the November opposition movement, also
known as the Velvet Revolution.
1990
Foto
Václav Havel is elected
President of Czechoslovakia on
December 29.
1993
Foto
Václav Havel is elected, after the
dissolution of Czechoslovakia, the first President
of the Czech Republic.
1996
Foto
On January
27, Olga
Havlova died.
1997
Foto
Václav Havel married Dagmar Veskrnova,
a popular and acclaimed Czech theatrical,
television and movie actress.
1999
Foto
Václav Havel enabled the entry of
the Czech Republic into the North
Atlantic Treat Organisation (NATO).
2003
Foto
Václav Havel left office after
his second term as Czech
president ended on 2 February 2003.
2004
Foto
Foundation of Václav
Havel Library in
Prague.
2004
Foto
The Czech Republic became the 35th
member State of the Council of
Europe on 30 June 1993.
2010
Foto
Václav Havel directed
a film adaptation of
his play Leaving.
2011
Foto
Václav Havel died at his
summer house Hrádeček in the
north of the Czech Republic.
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Educational projects

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Archive / Documentation centre / Research projects

Dokumentační centrum

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.

  • 70200 records in total
  • 27196 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
  • 8255 of books
  • 40254of 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.

Illustration

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”.

Illustration

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.

Illustration

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.

Illustration

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.”  

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All about Library

The Václav Havel Library works to preserve the legacy of Václav Havel, literary, theatrical and also political, in particular his struggle for freedom, democracy and the defence of human rights. It supports research and education on the life, values and times of Václav Havel as well as the enduring significance of his ideas for both the present and future.

The Václav Havel Library also strives to develop civil society and active civic life, serving as a platform for discussion on issues related to the support and defence of liberty and democracy, both in the Czech Republic and internationally.

The main aims of the Václav Havel Library include

  • Organizing archival, archival-research, documentary, museum and library activities focused on the work of Vaclav Havel and documents or objects related to his activities, and carries out professional analysis of their influence on the life and self-reflection of society
  • Serving, in a suitable manner, such as through exhibitions, the purpose of education and popularisation functions, thus presenting to the public the historical significance of the fight for human rights and freedoms in the totalitarian period and the formation of civil society during the establishment of democracy
  • Organizing scientific research and publication activities in its areas of interest
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Staňte se členy Klubu přátel Knihovny Václava Havla

We believe that we are succeeding in fulfilling the vision of Václav Havel, who, when he founded the Library, declared that it only makes sense as a living organism that occupies an unmissable place in the whole of public and political life. We see this as a commitment and inspiration for the future. We would like to use the footage of our hundreds of events in our own internet TV channel, expand our publication programme, develop more e-learning series, start organising workshops for teachers... But all this will require considerable financial resources. That's why we decided to turn to our visitors and supporters for support.

Pomozte nám inspirovat své okolí i Vy!
Přijdete se k nám a staňte se členem Klubu přátel Knihovny VH!

 

Podpořte nás
jednorázově
Přispět

Přítel

1000 KČ / měsíc
Přispět

Váš příspěvek nám pomůže s organizací pravidelných akcí pro veřejnost.

Patron

10000 KČ / měsíc
Přispět

Váš příspěvek nám pomůže rozvíjet náš ediční plán a publikační činnost

Partner

? Kontaktujte nás
pro další informace
Kontaktovat

Váš příspěvek nám pomůže s vývojem vzdělávacích miniserií, audivizuálních projektů, přípravou mezinárodních konferencí...

Support us

Financial donations

If you would like to support the work of the Václav Havel Library or its specific activities or projects by means of a financial donation you can do so via the VHL’s PayPal account

Or by bank transfer to:

ČSOB a. s., Na Poříčí 24, 115 20 Praha 1

  • Crown account number 7077 7077 / 0300 CZK
  • Euro account number 7755 7755 / 0300 EUR
  • Dollar account number 7747 7747 / 0300 USD

If an individual makes a donation of over CZK 1,000, or if a company makes a donation of over CZK 2,000, in one calendar year we will create for you a donation contract confirming the amount of the donation involved; the donor can use this to reduce their tax base in compliance with the law on taxation. For more information, contact us.

Donors with US citizenship can support us through the Vaclav Havel Library Foundation New York.

Donations and loans to the VHL archive

The Václav Havel Library administers an archive of written materials, documents, photographs, video recordings and other materials related to the life and work of Václav Havel. The archive is predominantly digital in form. If you or somebody close to you is the owner of original texts, photographs, speeches or other works produced by Václav Havel we would appreciate it greatly if you contacted us. We will oversee the digitalisation of these documents and place them in our digital archive. If you would like to keep possession of such documents or items, we will return them in perfect condition.  

If a copy or original is donated to the Václav Havel Library, the terms of donation and use will in all cases be agreed with the owner. The names of all donors or owners will be listed alongside the documentary materials in question.

Internships

We offer short and long-term internships at the Václav Havel Library to Czech and foreign students. Interns are particularly welcomed in the fields of library studies and archival science, arts management, journalism, Czech Studies and other areas of the humanities.

We welcome knowledge of English (German and French are also a plus), while knowledge of Czech is an advantage for foreign interns.

Internships range in duration from six weeks to one year, while it is possible to agree on individual duration depending on the requirements of schools. On completion of the internship, the participant receives a certificate with an appraisal. Internships take place on the basis of prior agreement with applicants and dates must be agreed around two months in advance. Václav Havel Library internships are unpaid and we do not cover transport or accommodation costs.

If you are interested in an internship at the Václav Havel Library, contact us at the email address:

Media and promotion cooperation with the VHL

The Václav Havel Library welcomes the mutual exchange of links and the publication of our banners and information about our events. For more information, contact us directly.

Volunteers

The Václav Havel Library welcomes volunteers who would like to assist in our work.  

Česká centraBakala FoundationRockefeller Brothers FundJan BartaAsiana GroupMoneta Money BankThe Vaclav Havel Library FoundationNadace Charty 77Sekyra FoudationVŠEMRicohP3chemTechsoup ČRNewton MediaHlavní město PrahaMinisterstvo kultury ČRMinisterstvo zahraničních věcí ČRUS EmbassyStátní fond kultury