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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 November 2016<>

entry-free

Tribute to Václav Havel in Prague 6 – Gala Opening

Tribute to Václav Havel in Prague 6 – Gala Opening

  • Where: Praha - Dejvice
  • When: October 5, 2016, 12:00 – December 18, 2016, 18:00

Celebration of what would have been the 80th birthday of the first Czech president, intended not only as a tribute from the citizens of Prague 6 to their famous co-citizen but above all as an expression of respect for a person who served freedom and democracy in an extraordinary way, his literary work and his lifelong work for human rights around the world.

An outdoor exhibition of large-scale photographs by Oldřich Škácha, prepared in cooperation with the Prague 6 Town Hall, the Václav Havel Library and Post Bellum, will be accompanied over the following weeks by a series of concerts, theatre performances, film screenings and other events involving the National Technical Museum, the theatres Dejvické divadlo, Divadlo Semafor, Divadlo na tahu, Klicperovo divadlo and Divadlo Sklep, and other institutions. The whole event runs until 18 December 2016 and looks set to be the most extensive commemoration of a life and body of work that to this day continue to inspire with an unexpected urgency.

For the latest information on the programme go to: www.praha6.cz and www.vaclavhavel-library.org

6. 11. Divadlo Semafor: The Beggar’s Opera, Divadlo na tahu production, directed by Andrej Krob

13. 11. Divadlo Semafor: Redevelopment, Klicperova divadla production, directed by Andrej Krob

17. 11. National Technical Library: Symphonic Salome, Prague Conservatoire Orchestra, conducted by Miriam Němcová

19. 11. Dejvické divadlo, Anti.kvariát: Five candles for Václav Havel, 3rd candle – The Macabre Rhymer, evening with the poet J. H. Krchovský

21. 11. Divadlo Semafor: Dejvická Live special: Václav Havel – The Man

Josef Kordík and Tereza Dubinová: Priest by Vocation

Josef Kordík and Tereza Dubinová: Priest by Vocation

  • Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
  • When: November 1, 2016, 19:00 – 21:00

At a swimming pool in 1969 he heard a voice: “You’re going to be a priest.” And from that moment it was clear, says Josef Kordík.

The book Svoboda jít s Bohem (The Freedom to Live with God) captures Roman Catholic priest Josef Kordík’s (1948) recollections of his youth, vocation to the priesthood, studies at a seminary in Litoměřice, parish work in the impoverished Sudetenland, involvement in the circle around Charter 77 and signature of the document, subsequent loss of state permit to perform religious activities, civilian employment as a locksmith and joiner, return to religious duties after November 1989, work as a chaplain at Valdice and building of a vibrant community at Železnice near Jičín. 

Tereza Dubinová, who also contributed to the book, is a Culture Studies expert and Hebraist.

Jáchym Topol will chair the debate and read excerpts.

Czechoslovak Exile Media: Between Reality, Propaganda and Myth

Czechoslovak Exile Media: Between Reality, Propaganda and Myth

  • Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
  • When: November 3, 2016, 19:00 – 21:00

During the Communist regime in Czechoslovakia, the exile media created a specific milieu. A reaction to the difficulty of critical discussion, it contributed to the continuity of independent Czechoslovak journalism and also strove to bring about the end of repression in the homeland.

The transformation of the exile media sphere after August 1968 will be discussed by former exile journalists Lída Rakušanová and Petr Brod and media historian PhDr. Petr Orság, Ph.D, who has thoroughly explored the subject in his new book Mezi realitou, propagandou a mýty: Československá exilová média v západní Evropě v letech 1968–1989 (Between Reality, Propaganda and Myth: Czechoslovak Exile Media in Western Europe, 1968–1969), which was issued this year by publishers Lidové noviny.

What it Means to be the Wife of a Political Prisoner

What it Means to be the Wife of a Political Prisoner

  • Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
  • When: November 4, 2016, 19:00 – 21:00

Debate with Anastasia Zotova, wife of Ildar Dadin, a Russian civic activist who was last year sentenced to three years in prison for repeatedly violating a law on public assembly (demonstrations again the 2012presidential election, LGBT activism, protests against the war in Ukraine). Dadin is currently serving his sentence in a penal colony in the town of Segezha in Karelia, where, for instance, Mikhail Khodorkovsky spent several years.

During the evening there will be a screening of a documentary on Dadin’s case entitled One for All (dir. Luysa Kazaryan, 2016, Russian, English subtitles, 13 min).

Also taking part in the discussion with Anastasia Zotova will be Anna Šabatová, the Ombudswoman.

Moderated by Anton Litvin.

In cooperation with the Kulturus festival and the organisation Open Russia.

Visegrad Writes, Reads and Debates

Visegrad Writes, Reads and Debates

  • Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
  • When: November 7, 2016, 19:00 – 21:00

Literary gathering with writers from the Visegrad states: poet, translator and teacher Radek Malý (Czech Republic), poet, translator and teacher Katalin Szlukovényi (Hungary), poet and translator of Czech/Slovak literature Zbigniew Machej (Poland) and prose author and film/television director Peter Krištúfek (Slovakia).

Chaired by Tereza Semotamová.

Organised in cooperation with the Arts and Theatre Institute. The gathering is part of the Visegrad literary residency programme. Partner organisations are the Art and Theatre Institute, Villa Decius, Petőfi Irodalmi Múzeum and the Centre for Information on Literature.

Debate with Respekt

Debate with Respekt

  • Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
  • When: November 8, 2016, 19:00 – 21:00

Discussion with Respekt editors and their guests on a topical issue. More information will be posted at least one week before the event at www.vaclavhavel-library.org

The Situation of Refugees in Hungarian Politics

The Situation of Refugees in Hungarian Politics

  • Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
  • When: November 10, 2016, 19:00 – 21:00

Evening with András Kováts, director of the non-profit organisation Menedék – Hungarian Association for Migrants, which has for several years been active in the fields of international migration, asylum and social integration, on the current political and social situation in Hungary, the result of October’s anti-migration referendum, the Hungarian government’s position on the “refugee crisis”, changes being implemented by the government and the political role of Viktor Orbán.

Chaired by Renátó Fehér. 

Meeting with Madeleine Albright

Meeting with Madeleine Albright

  • Where: Faculty of Arts, Charles University, Prague
  • When: November 11, 2016, 11:00 – 13:00

Madeleine Albright will discuss the presidential elections, this time those in the US, with Michael Žantovský.

Salon Dürrenmatt

Salon Dürrenmatt

  • Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
  • When: November 15, 2016, 16:00 – 18:00

It is 26 years since Václav Havel met Friedrich Dürrenmatt and this evening will recall Dürrenmatt, one of the greatest Swiss novelists of the last century. Alongside a documentary film on his work and an on-stage debate on his influence on Czechoslovakia at that time, there will also be a rendering of Dürrenmatt’s famous speech Switzerland – A Prison, which he delivered on the occasion of the presentation of the Gottlieb Duttweiler Prize to Václav Havel.

Taking part in the discussion will be Václav Havel Library director Michael Žantovský, Swiss ambassador Markus-Alexander Antonietti, Madeleine Betschart, director of the Centre Dürenmatt Neuchâtel, and Prof. Dr. Milan Tvrdík of the Institute of Germanic Studies at Charles University’s Faculty of Arts.

Simultaneous interpretation into Czech and German provided.

In cooperation with the Swiss Embassy in Prague.

Lubomír Kotek: This was Husákland

Lubomír Kotek: This was Husákland

  • Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
  • When: November 16, 2016, 17:00 – 19:00

Evening with the photographer Lubomír Kotek, who documented everyday life through the sacred symbols of the Communist regime, as well as capturing everyday reality on shabby streets, on gloomy squares, in school classrooms, at compulsory public meetings, at military reviews and also in private.

Discussing the adventurous life of Lubomír Kotek, covert chronicler of socialism, will be Jáchym Topol.

Theatre on the Balustrades in the Absurd Times of an Absurdist Theatre

Theatre on the Balustrades in the Absurd Times of an Absurdist Theatre

  • Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
  • When: November 16, 2016, 19:00 – 21:00

Veterans of the golden age of Divadlo Na zábradlí (Theatre on the Balustrade) in the 1960s will discuss how Jan Grossman presented the greats of absurdist drama to Prague audiences and how he and Václav Havel created their own variation on that form of theatre.

Invited to share their recollections are then members of Divadlo Na zábradlí Marie Málková, Hana Smrčková, Jan Přeučil and others.

Evening hosted by Anna Freimanová.

Václav Havel’s Living Room

Václav Havel’s Living Room

  • Where: National Theatre Piazzeta, Prague
  • When: November 17, 2016, 13:00 – 15:00

As part of celebrations of the 27th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution we are opening for visitors “Václav Havel’s Living Room” – a space for sitting, public readings, buying books, listening to Václav Havel’s speeches and other activities. The “Living Room” is one element of the project Thanks for Being Able To – Národní Promenade 2016, when for the third time Národní will be converted into a promenade, a pedestrian zone full of street art, concerts and other arts events.

With this large-scale street celebration contemporary students express their gratitude to those who brought about freedom and democracy and those capable of treating them responsibly today.

For more information go to: www.dikyzemuzem.cz

Theatre Night at the Václav Havel Library

Theatre Night at the Václav Havel Library

  • Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
  • When: November 19, 2016, 19:00 – 21:00

As part of this year’s Theatre Night, we are offering visitors two titles, both of which are in their own way archival.

19:00 Václav Havel: Ela, Hela and the Hitch

Student theatre production of a 1961 Václav Havel micro-play performed by the Charlieho foxíci company from the George of Poděbrady Grammar School in Poděbrady.

Starring: Tereza Soběslavová, Lenka Skalická and Kateřina Urbánková.

Old ladies are hitching for the first time. They have their ethical principles, their flowerpots, their planter boxes, their rollmops, their crosses and habits and their social position.

19:30 Václav Havel: Temptation

Video production filmed almost 30 years ago in “field” conditions in the deep totalitarian period

Divadlo na tahu (Na Tahu Theatre, director Andrej Krob

Premiere 14. 4. 1988

As a banned playwright, there was no way Václav Havel could see his play on stage in 1985. Therefore Andrej Krob decided to use new “dissident” video cameras to shoot Temptation with friends of his and Václav’s. All involved learned camera and microphone work, acting and editing “on the hoof”. However, in the end the author was pleased with the two-and-a-half-hour production, praising the creators for not losing the meaning of the play despite the naïve rawness of the video. By contrast he found the authenticity of the amateur actors to be exceptional.

Starring Ivan M. Havel and Lukáš Hraběta. Also featuring Karel Bureš, Jarmila Bělíková, Aleš Duda, Sylvie Krobová, Jana Sekyrová, Petr Taťoun, Jiří Mrázek, Dagmar Havlová-Ilkovičová, Ivan Sekyra, Petruška Šustrová, Jan Kašpar and others.

Edgar Dutka: Mother Disappeared

Edgar Dutka: Mother Disappeared

  • Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
  • When: November 21, 2016, 19:00 – 21:00

The screenwriter, director, dramaturge and novelist Edgar Dutka presents Matka Vzala Roha (Mother Disappeared), a new collection of short stories with an autobiographical tone capturing the fate of a family marked by the Communist regime. In 1948 Dutka’s mother was arrested. The following year she was sentenced to six years in a Communist jail for people smuggling, escaped and emigrated to Australia. It was 20 years before, in 1968, she saw her son, whose childhood was spent in a children’s home and with foster parents, and 40 years before she saw her daughter. His mother’s escape from prison and from the country is the subject of the first and longest piece in Dutka’s new book. In it the recipient of the State Literature Prize loosely follows on from his U útulku 5 (At Shelter 5) (Prostor, 2003), which was nominated for a Magnesia Litera prize.

The evening is hosted by editor Denisa Novotná and Aleš Lederer, owner and director of the Prostor publishing house, while the writer will be accompanied by singer-songwriter Jiří Dědeček and actor Michal Pavlata.

Abortion as a political issue

Abortion as a political issue

  • Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
  • When: November 22, 2016, 19:00 – 21:00

The new abortion law in Poland, which was discussed this autumn and which sparked mass demonstrations, has split Polish society into a number of camps. Views are divided according to social class, religious persuasion and education, as well as political, local and regional affinity.

Discussing the issue of abortion, whose enactment in law was one of the central issues of female emancipation in the last century, and the current political, social and legal situation in Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and the related Catholic Church, will be L'ubica Kobová, Polish political scientist and journalist Maciej Ruczaj, Jan Smiggels Kafková, chairwoman of the Czech Women’s Lobby, and Catholic priest Marek Orko Vácha.

Hosted by Czech Radio journalist Hana Biriczová.

Czech Silver: We Need a Charter 2016

Czech Silver: We Need a Charter 2016

  • Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
  • When: November 23, 2016, 19:00 – 21:00

Discussion evening with political scientist Milan Znoj, psychotherapist Helena Klímová, sociologist Jiřina Šiklová and other leaders of the project Czech Silver (České stříbro), which is focused on civic responsibility, the direction of contemporary society and ways in which we can influence events around us.

Czech Silver is a travelling exhibition project presenting the inspirational stories of 12 women who have, each in their own way, been socially engaged throughout their lives. Jiřina Šiklová in an interview on the project: “Today’s society may be saturated, but it lacks substance, an idea that it could follow.” Helena Klímová: “Every society needs a renewal of rituals and values after 20 years.”

For more go to www.ceskestribro.eu.

Evenings with Polish Reporters VI: The Assassination from Apricot City

Evenings with Polish Reporters VI: The Assassination from Apricot City

  • Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
  • When: November 24, 2016, 19:00 – 21:00

Does Turkey belong to East or West? Are we capable of comprehending its contemporary face? The Polish reporter Witold Szabłowski and the Turkish Studies expert and first Czech ambassador to Turkey Tomáš Laně will discuss a dynamic country where Islam meets Islamophobia, conservatism meets postmodernism and a thirst for Europe meets euro-scepticism.

Witold Szabłowski’s reportage debut The Assassination from Apricot City: Reportage from Turkey met with great success in Poland and internationally and was translated into English, German, Russia and now Czech (Dokořán a Jaroslava Jiskrová – Máj, 2016). Bára Gregorová will introduce the book, which drew on the author’s experience of a yearlong stay in Turkey.

The final gathering this year in a discussion series held by the Polish Institute in Prague and the Václav Havel Library in which we explore the phenomenon of the Polish school of literary reporting and its most notable contemporary representatives. 

One Day Something Will Rebel in Our Green Grocer: Essays on The Power of the Powerless

One Day Something Will Rebel in Our Green Grocer: Essays on The Power of the Powerless

  • Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
  • When: November 29, 2016, 19:00 – 21:00

The Power of the Powerless is one of the most important and frequently discussed dissident texts. It was written in 1978 in the singular conditions of a Communist dictatorship. Nevertheless it is clear that, even nearly 40 years after its first publication in samizdat and with those circumstances now a memory, it has not lost any of its power to inspire, as attested to by new translations into languages such as Arabic and Ukrainian.

What was it about Havel’s essay that spoke to and didn’t speak to its age? And what can it offer the contemporary period? These framework questions will be considered by sociologist Miloš Havelka, political essayist Petr Pithart and literary historian Roman Kanda, who – alongside 27 other domestic and international authors – have contributed to the new book Jednoho dne se v našem zelináři cosi vzbouří. Eseje o Moci bezmocných (One Day Something Will Rebel in Our Green Grocer: Essays on The Power of the Powerless). The volume has been prepared for publication by Jiří Suk and Kristina Andělová from the Contemporary History Institute at the Czech Academy of Sciences. 

Jana Krejcarová: This is Reality

Jana Krejcarová: This is Reality

  • Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
  • When: November 30, 2016, 19:00 – 21:00

Jana Krejcarová-Černá – femme fatale of the Czech underground, muse of Egon Bondy and author of shocking erotic poetry.

But also of noteworthy prose. The publication of her collected works, the book Tohle je skutečnost (This is Reality) (Torst, 2016), will be presented by its editor and the author of a biography of Krejcarová-Černá, Anna Militz, and the editor Jan Šulc.

The discussion will be chaired by literary critic Radim Kopáč.

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.

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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.

  • 70140 records in total
  • 27137 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
  • 40246of 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!

 

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Váš příspěvek nám pomůže s organizací pravidelných akcí pro veřejnost.

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Váš příspěvek nám pomůže rozvíjet náš ediční plán a publikační činnost

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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