Menu Search VHL web CS
Václav Havel
Zpět na začátek

Club / News / Program

Illustration

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

Illustration

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.

Illustration

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

Illustration

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 April 2019<>

entry-free

Poverty and Debt in Czech – The Parameters of Social Policy

Poverty and Debt in Czech – The Parameters of Social Policy

  • Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
  • When: April 1, 2019, 18:00 – 20:00

A resolution of poverty and social exclusion in the Czech Republic is further away once again. In 2018 a safety net of benefits for the impoverished fell apart, while towns in northern Bohemian and northern Moravia have unleashed a tsunami of declarations of so-called benefits-free zones. Parliament has pushed through “new” rules on debt relief that have made insolvency inaccessible to hundreds of thousands of people facing multiple distraint actions. It has become clear that over 600,000 people are active in the grey economy in the Czech Republic. At the same time, the government has withdrawn a draft law on social housing and wants to support the construction of monitored social housing, which would represent state hostels, and to make ill-conceived changes to the benefits that are the central pillar of housing policy in the Czech Republic and represent a safety net for over 200,000 households in the country…

In this debate on current social policy, we will discuss the visible impact these events and decisions are already having in the field and what effects can be anticipated in the future, as well as what resolutions and measures the government needs to introduce to improve the situation surrounding social exclusion.

Debate participants: Martin Šimáček, Institute for Social Inclusion, director; Alena Zieglerová, ISI, employment expert; Jaroslav Valůch, ISI, security expert. Special guest: Martin Nekola, Centre for Social and Economic Strategies, Department of Public and Social Policy, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University, Prague.

Organised by the Václav Havel Library in cooperation with the Institute for Social Inclusion.

Magnesia Litera IV

Magnesia Litera IV

  • Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
  • When: April 2, 2019, 19:00 – 21:00

Readings by authors nominated across seven categories in the annual Magnesia Litera literary awards: Vendula Borůvková: 1918 aneb Jak jsem dal gól přes celé Československo (1918, or How I Scored a Goal Across the Entire Czechoslovakia) (Children and Young Adults category), Štěpán Hobza: Ferrari v džungli (A Ferrari in the Jungle) (DILIA Litera prize for Discovery of the Year) and Pavla Horáková: Teorie podivnosti (A Theory of Strangeness) (Prose).

Introduced by Pavel Mandys of organisers Litera.

Lenka Marečková: Long Live Society!

Lenka Marečková: Long Live Society!

  • Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
  • When: April 4, 2019, 19:00 – 21:00

Presentation of the book Ať žije společnost (Long Live Society!), an anthology of three poetry collections by Lenka Marečková.

The writer, a Charter 77 signatory, was convicted and imprisoned in the 1980s at the age of 20 for her poetry criticising the country’s then political system.

In the book’s foreword, Marečková, who is today a lawyer, writes: “Democracy, sometimes reduced to mere mechanisms and instruments, is threatened both by growing problems and crises and linked calls for security (in the form of a strong nation or strong leader) and by the evisceration of its content. If we regarded the previous regime as totalitarian, we can observe today that what was sown then has now germinated and is thriving in a way we didn’t anticipate then and couldn’t have foreseen. Today nobody will lock me up over poetry. At the same time, I don’t believe that today’s injustices are lesser. They’re just different. What’s worth doing today? Way back, shouting sufficed… Let’s look at where the roots of our troubles lie. At changes that would be worthwhile. At what needs to be abandoned and what transformed. Let’s search together for the causes of this situation, ways forward and functioning alternatives. It’s time to break the cycle.”

Introduced by Jáchym Topol. Hosted by the book’s editor Martin Machovec.

Music and vocals: Dáša Vokatá and Oldřich Kaiser.

Organised by the Václav Havel Library in cooperation with the Kalich publishing house.

Republic Café: 50 Seasons of Divadlo Husa na provázku

Republic Café: 50 Seasons of Divadlo Husa na provázku

  • Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
  • When: April 8, 2019, 19:00 – 21:00

For 50 years now, Brno’s Divadlo Husa na provázku (Goose on a String Theatre) has been not only active in creative terms but also socially engaged. What that meant in the past and the company’s direction today will be discussed by its longstanding dramaturge Petr Oslzlý, the director of its Centre for Experimental Theatre, Miroslav Oščatka, and artistic chief Anna Davidová.

The journalist and poet Karel Škrabal, a member of the Brno literary group Vítrholc, will moderate.

Organised by the Václav Havel Library in cooperation with Divadlo Husa na provázku.

The Shadow of Jiří Křižan, Josef Somr and Pavel Batěk

The Shadow of Jiří Křižan, Josef Somr and Pavel Batěk

  • Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
  • When: April 9, 2019, 17:00 – 19:00

Ceremonial presentation of the audiobook Stín (The Shadow)

The audiobook (Tebenas, 2019) brings to life the eponymous novel by Jiří Křižan (published by the Václav Havel Library last year) in the most economical and intense manner possible. The voices of actors Josef Somr and Pavel Batěk, the music of Raven and Robert Tamchyna’s direction together invigorate this story of an abandoned country boy brought up by an old-world and fair-minded grandfather, which is interspersed with “dumb” tales from the Auxiliary Technical Battalions (unarmed alternative military service). The narration gives the listener an almost physical sense of what it was like to grow up on the margins of society as a stigmatised “class enemy” and second-class “former person”.

Participants in the presentation: Josef Somr (grandfather), Pavel Batěk (grandson) and Raven (music). Moderated by Robert Tamchyna (director).

Debate with Respekt

Debate with Respekt

  • Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
  • When: April 9, 2019, 19:00 – 21:00

Discussion between Respekt editors and their guests on a topical issue. For more information go to www.vaclavhavel.cz

50 Years Since Eliyahu Rips’ Protest

50 Years Since Eliyahu Rips’ Protest

  • Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
  • When: April 11, 2019, 19:00 – 21:00

“I didn’t believe that the Prague Spring could ignite a spark in Latvia or in the Soviet Union. But when everybody is in prison and a fellow inmate manages to escape, you’re also delighted. However, after the occupation, that delight turned to bitterness… My act stemmed from absolute bitterness. I ceased believing that communism could collapse in the way it later did. It seemed that that evil would remain here forever.” Eliyahu Rips, 2008

Meeting with the Israeli mathematics professor Eliyahu Rips, who on 13 April 1969, inspired by Jan Palach, set himself on fire in central Riga in protest at the occupation of Czechoslovakia. The evening will also include a talk by historian Petr Blažek on cases of self-immolation linked to the Soviet invasion.

Moderated by Adam Hradilek of the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes.

Organised by the Václav Havel Library in cooperation with the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes.

Radka Denemarková: Hours of Lead

Radka Denemarková: Hours of Lead

  • Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
  • When: April 15, 2019, 19:00 – 21:00

“I had to write this book because I understood that I am living in a time when something essential is fracturing and changing and I don’t know what. Beneath me tectonic shifts are taking place but what is this ‘something’ that’s happening in China and which the whole world secretly admires? The worst of communism and the worst of capitalism have embraced. This functions economically and doesn’t have a name. Václav Havel and his philosophy have an important role in the novel. I have become friends with people connected to the dissident anthology DanDu, who in very trying circumstances are building on the work of Václav Havel. I was deeply ashamed in front of them because my country’s politicians are enchanted by China and claim it’s a stable and harmonious society. However, everything that can be conceived beneath the term brutal police state I encountered there …”

The substantial novel Hodiny z olova (Hours of Lead) is inspired by the author’s visits to China.

Dana Pfeiferová will chat to writer Radka Denemarková about her new book and a host of topical issues. 

Evenings With Reporters: Poles and Czechs 30 Years After / Change

Evenings With Reporters: Poles and Czechs 30 Years After / Change

  • Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
  • When: April 16, 2019, 19:00 – 21:00

Everything’s going to be different from now on! The rapid transition to capitalism and pluralism kick-started in 1989 impacted on the everyday lives of every family and on thinking about the orientation of the state. The philosopher and journalist Dariusz Karłowicz and the ex-director of Czech Radio’s Vltava station Petr Fischer will discuss how Polish and Czech societies have changed, looking at the clash of the old and new worlds and the search for models and paths to the future. Prior to 1989, we were building better futures – what kind are we building today?

For Central European countries 1989 was both a new starting line and a challenge to get to grips with numerous internal problems. Thirty years after the fall of communism Polish and Czech journalists and public figures are discussing the transformations in their countries. This anniversary debate series has been created by the Václav Havel Library and the Polish Institute in Prague.

Supported by the Czech Foreign Ministry’s Czech-Polish Forum.

The debate will take place in Czech and Polish, with simultaneous interpretation provided.

Lost in Translation IV

Lost in Translation IV

  • Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
  • When: April 17, 2019, 19:00 – 21:00

Does anybody read or write reviews?

The latest in a series of discussions dedicated to the art of translation looks at literature in translation in various media and on social networks. Book reviews have all but vanished from the daily press and are less and less common in magazines. And does anybody at all read them? Does anybody purchase books on the basis of reviews? Or is book promotion migrating from classic media to social media such as Instagram, Facebook and YouTube? What is the specific situation in this regard of literature in translation and what future does it have in a world in which there is a growing shift from paper to digital?

These questions will be discussed by: Jakub Pavlovský, bookstagrammer; Lukáš Růžička, PR Paseka publishing house; Monika Zavřelová, MF Dnes journalist and reviewer.

Moderated by Tereza Semotamová.

Organised by the Czech Literary Translators’ Guild in cooperation with the Václav Havel Library.

Vendulka Voglová: Escape to Freedom

Vendulka Voglová: Escape to Freedom

  • Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
  • When: April 18, 2019, 20:00 – 21:00

Evening with Ondřej Kundra dedicated to the life of Vendulka Voglová, who became a symbol of the Holocaust thanks to a photograph by Jan Lukas.

At the moment the well-known Czechoslovak photographer released the shutter of his camera Vendulka Voglová was due to die within months. However, the picture that later made the 12-year-old girl a symbol of the Holocaust might never have been taken. Vendulka was Jewish and Lukas was afraid to develop the photo; if the Nazis had found it, he would have ended up in a concentration camp like Vendulka and her family.

Nearly 80 years later the journalist Ondřej Kundra succeeded in tracking Vendulka Voglová down in the US, where she had emigrated after the war, and persuaded her to speak about her troubled life and friendship with Lukas. His gripping report delivered a personal, and exceptional, account of the most painful events of the 20th century.  

Flickers of Freedom, or The Late ‘80s in the Photographs of Miloš Fikejz

Flickers of Freedom, or The Late ‘80s in the Photographs of Miloš Fikejz

  • Where: Lucerna Gallery, Štěpánská 61, Praha 1
  • When: April 24, 2019, 17:00 – 21:00

Ceremonial exhibition launch.

Reportage photography from a 1988 festival in Lipnice where Václav Havel appeared in public for the first time in 19 long years. Portraits of artists ostracised by the regime (Ivan Klíma, Vlasta Chramostová, Pavel Juráček). Photographic documentation of an interview given by Václav Havel to the “underground” Lidové noviny and the “Sand Pit” action organised by the pranksterish Society for a Merrier Present. The atmosphere of November 1989 in the streets of Prague. The theatres strike. Following the path of the “Havel to the Castle” poster – today quite iconic – that was made from a photograph by Miloš Fikejz…

This exhibition in honour of the late film journalist, encyclopaedist and photographer Miloš Fikejz (1959–2019) has been organised by the Václav Havel Library in cooperation with Galerie Lucerna. It runs until 22 May 2019.

Long Journey Home: A Prague Love Story

Long Journey Home: A Prague Love Story

  • Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
  • When: April 25, 2019, 19:00 – 21:00

A launch and reading from this memoir, recently published in Canada, in which a four-year-old girl survives a harrowing escape across the heavily armed border of Czechoslovakia with her mother and brother after the Communist takeover in 1948, leaving everything behind to flee to freedom in Canada.

Years later, as a young woman living in Toronto, she is drawn to her country of birth and returns to Prague, finding love, danger, heartbreak and her family's legacy.

The book is introduced by its author, Helen Notzl in discussion with David Vaughan.

The event is held in English. 

Organised in cooperation with Canadian Embassy in Prague.

Carnations and Velvet

Carnations and Velvet

  • Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
  • When: April 30, 2019, 19:00 – 21:00

Meeting with Portuguese guests who as young students came to support the democratisation of Czechoslovakia in December 1989. In a discussion with Velvet Revolution student leaders, they will recall a gathering on Prague’s Národní boulevard, where the Portuguese presented those in attendance with 50,000 roses. There will also be special recollections of Václav Havel, whom the students met during their stay and via whom Havel invited the president of Portugal, Mário Soares, to his inauguration.

Speakers: Álvaro Beleza, Diogo Cabrita, António Tavares, José Campelo, José Viegas, Paulo Barros Vale and, from the Czech side, Monika Pajerová and Martin Mejstřík.

Moderator: Jakub Železný 

The discussion has been organised in connection with the opening of the exhibition Carnations and Velvet: Art and Revolution in Portugal and Czechoslovakia 1968–1974–1989 at Prague’s Municipal Library. 

Taking part in the evening will be the Czech Republic’s ambassador to Portugal, Petr Šelepa.

Organised by the Václav Havel Library and the Prague Municipal Library.

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.

Zpět na začátek

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.

Zpět na začátek

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.

Zpět na začátek

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.
Zpět na začátek

Educational projects

Zpět na začátek

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.”  

Zpět na začátek

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
Zpět na začátek

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