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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 2024<

entry-free

Jan Horník: The West Must Be Destroyed

Jan Horník: The West Must Be Destroyed

  • Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
  • When: June 3, 2024, 19:00 – 21:00

Thirty years ago, Aleksandr Dugin began promoting the restoration of the Eurasian empire. At the time, his ideas seemed marginal. However, in the era of Vladimir Putin, whom Dugin considers a key figure in world history, it is no longer advisable to ignore his theories. Dugin’s visions are coming true faster than we would like. Most dangerous is the goal of destroying the US-led West. Are we approaching a third world war? Jan Horník will present Dugin's Fourth Political Theory and discuss its potential influence in Russian and world politics with guests Tomáš Poyar, diplomat and security analyst, and Michel Romantzov, political geographer, educator and columnist.

Stanislav Škoda will host the evening.

Organised in cooperation with the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes.

Stranou – European Poets Live

Stranou – European Poets Live

  • Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
  • When: June 5, 2024, 19:00 – 21:00

From the word to the word. Now traditional readings within the festival Stranou – European Poets Live. Appearing will be Gyrðir Elíasson (Iceland) / Marta Bartošková (CR) / Markéta Hejná (CR) / Vid Karlovšek (SLO) / Aleš Kozár (CR) / Klára Krásenská (CR) / Maciej Melecki (PL) / Joanna Oparek (PL) / Selma Skenderović (SLO) / Iryna Zahladko (UA-CR).

Lenka and Peter Kuhar will serve as hosts.

Miroslav Ivanov Prize Presentation

Miroslav Ivanov Prize Presentation

  • Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
  • When: June 6, 2024, 19:00 – 21:00

We cordially invite you to the ceremonial presentation of the 24th edition of the Miroslav Ivanov Prize for non-fiction literature (for 2023). The Miroslav Ivanov Prize has been awarded since 2001 to the writers of the most outstanding publications in the field of non-fiction. It is run by the Club of Non-Fiction Authors with the support of the town of Jaroměř. Fifty-four titles from 25 publishing houses were submitted in this year’s edition. The evening will be moderated by Marie Hodinářová.

The VH Library at Knihex

The VH Library at Knihex

  • Where: Kasárna Karlín, Prague 8
  • When: June 8, 2024, 10:00 – 20:00

As is now traditional, a VH Library stand with both new and tried and tested titles will be present at Kasárna Karlín for the Knihex festival of small publishers.

The Free Academy: Veronika Tuckerová

The Free Academy: Veronika Tuckerová

  • Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
  • When: June 10, 2024, 19:00 – 21:00

An intimate relationship toward the great son of the Jewish people? Kafka in Czechoslovakia

In her lecture, Veronika Tuckerová will focus on the specific nature of the Czech reception of Kafka in Czechoslovakia during communism. Despite the fact that Kafka’s work was not published after 1948, apart from in the 1960s, it did not disappear from the consciousness of Czech readers. In fact, quite the contrary: It was disseminated in samizdat in old and new translations and acquired meanings that added to the broad range of interpretations of Kafka common in the Western world. The lecture will focus on the prison letters of Václav Havel, Jiřina Šiklová and Milan Šimečka.

Veronika Tuckerová is a German Studies and Slavic scholar. Born in Prague, she graduated from Columbia University in New York and has been at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts since 2013. Her research interests include the Czech reception of Franz Kafka, the dissent and visual art. She has published in the Journal of World Literature, New German Critique, Brücken and other journals. She is a long-time contributor to Revolver Revue. Her book Reading Kafka in Prague is set for publication by the Bloomsbury Academic publishing house in New York.

Debate N: The US Elections, Czechs and Journalists

Debate N: The US Elections, Czechs and Journalists

  • Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
  • When: June 11, 2024, 19:00 – 21:00

The United States is facing a crucial presidential election. Would a win for Joe Biden or Donald Trump make a perceptible difference to Czechs? What is the mood among the US people? What is going on in American politics, and what role does the media play in all this? Deník N editor Jana Ciglerová will be joined by American Studies scholar Jana Sehnálková from the Department of American Studies at Charles University, former Czech Radio Washington correspondent Jan Kaliba and Kateřina Vodvářková from the foreign desk of the Nova TV station.

The (Royal Garden) Party. 20 years of the Václav Havel Library at Prague Castle’s Royal Garden

The (Royal Garden) Party. 20 years of the Václav Havel Library at Prague Castle’s Royal Garden

  • Where: Pražský hrad – Míčovna, Praha 1 – Hradčany
  • When: June 13, 2024, 10:00 – 21:00

For 20 years now, there has been a place on the map where dialogue is conducted free of censorship or prejudice, where liberty shakes hands with independence, responsibility and respect for human rights, where learning about modern history is intertwined with an understanding of the principles of democracy and civil society – the Václav Havel Library is 20! Come and celebrate this anniversary with us and our friends and supporters! To mark the occasion we have prepared a special and multifarious evening at Prague Castle’s Royal Garden, mixing up theatre performances, concerts, discussions, readings, photography displays, exhibitions, outdoor chess, theatrical fairground attractions and countless surprises. Don’t hesitate to come! All are welcome at the (Royal) Garden Party! The (Royal) Garden Party is organised by the Václav Havel Library in cooperation with the Prague Castle Administration.

The Garden Party: Student Finale

The Garden Party: Student Finale

  • Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
  • When: June 17, 2024, 19:00 – 21:00

A film made for the 60th anniversary of The Garden Party recreates the atmosphere of the Divadla Na zábradlí/Theatre on the Balustrade, where the play premiered in 1963, in the recollections of those who worked on the production. At the same time, the documentary also shows how The Garden Party is perceived by today’s students at DAMU drama school, who have staged the play twice this year, reimagining it in their own way. What unites the two generations, and what divides them? Does Václav Havel as a playwright still have something to say today? Or has The Garden Party completely lost its lustre?

Director: Vojtěch Petřina, producer: Ester Josefína Vandasová, camera: Matouš Bičák, Anastazia Bonadyha, editor: Saava Dolomanov, sound: Josef Korbel, music: Lukáš Brabec, interviewees: J. Přeučil, V. Just, M. Málková, J. Klusák, J. Bernard

Milena Jesenská and Felice Bauerová: Their Influence on Kafka’s Oeuvre

Milena Jesenská and Felice Bauerová: Their Influence on Kafka’s Oeuvre

  • Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
  • When: June 18, 2024, 19:00 – 21:00

Writers Magdaléna Platzová and Monika Zgustová will introduce you to both the lives of Milena Jesenská and Felice Bauerová and the influence the women had on Kafka’s literary work. Petr Vizina will serve as host.

Organised in cooperation with the Jewish Museum in Prague.

Women’s Artistic Dissent – Book Discussion and Tribute to Eda Kriseová and Eva Švankmajerová

Women’s Artistic Dissent – Book Discussion and Tribute to Eda Kriseová and Eva Švankmajerová

  • Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
  • When: June 19, 2024, 19:00 – 21:00

​Discussion with Brenda Flanagan and Hana Waisserová, authors of Women’s Artistic Dissent. The book is dedicated to Eda Kriseová, Eva Švankmajerová and other creative women who, via their writing, art and attitudes to life, created and expanded the scope of freedom not only in communist Czechoslovakia but also in the male-dominated dissent.

Featuring: Brenda Flanagan, American writer and poet, professor of creative writing at Davidson College in North Carolina; Eda Kriseová, writer and journalist, former advisor to President Václav Havel; and Hana Waisserová, associate professor at the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures and the Harris Center for Judaic Studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

The evening will be hosted by Michaela Stoilova, Russian Studies expert, teacher and director of the organisation Cyril Mooney Value Education.

The VH Library at Knižní Lázně

The VH Library at Knižní Lázně

  • Where: Mariánské Lázně
  • When: June 22, 2024, 10:00 – June 23, 2024, 19:00

The Václav Havel Library will have a stand at this book fair, which features a range of small publishers and rich accompanying programme and takes place on the main colonnade in the centre of Mariánské Lázně.

Ukraine as Task

Ukraine as Task

  • Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
  • When: June 25, 2024, 19:00 – 21:00

A discussion forum with Rostislav Prokopjuk on Ukraine’s past, present and future.

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

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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.

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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.

  • 71258 records in total
  • 28185 of events in the VH's life
  • 2831 of VH's texts
  • 2125 of photos 
  • 403of videos
  • 568of audios
  • 6599of letters
  • 15101of texts about VH
  • 8275 of books
  • 40807of 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.

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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”.

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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.

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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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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...
Václav Havel

Support us with a financial donation

Does our work make sense to you and do you want to support the activities of the Vaclav Havel Library?

You can easily make a one-time payment by scanning the QR code.

Would you like to contribute regularly? Then we invite you to become a member of the Friends of the Vaclav Havel Library Club. What are the benefits of membership? Find out more.

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.

You can donate in other ways too

Supporting a specific charitable or public benefit organization whose activities you appreciate or have been supporting for a long time is also possible through a will. This form of donation is quite common abroad, but in the Czech Republic this tradition is only just taking root.

Share information about us

The Vaclav Havel Library is open to media and promotional cooperation, mutual sharing of links, publishing our banners or information about our events.

For more information, please contact us.

Donations have their rules

At the Vaclav Havel Library, we uphold a transparent, responsible and ethical way of dealing with all those who contribute to fulfilling our purpose and implementing our strategy. Our code of ethics summarizes the basic rules of donations.

Get involved in volunteering

Would you like to get involved as a volunteer? That's great. We welcome anyone who wants to help our work.

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