Club / News / Program
Economist, philosopher and writer Tomáš Sedláček takes over as head of Václav Havel Library 03/03/25
“I’m proud that I have been given the trust to develop and cultivate the legacy of Václav Havel and that I can join the Library’s great team. I intend to put all my energies into building a world-class platform that will face forward and be attractive to the new generation of people who care about the spirit of Europe. I would like to bring Havel-style optimism and values back to the public sphere. That is desperately needed right now, and that too is why I regard my new role as a major commitment,” Tomáš Sedláček said in connection with his appointment as director of the Vaclav Havel Library today. More
Change in Library leadership 23/10/24
Today, Wednesday 23 October 2024, Milan Babík decided to resign from the post of director of the Václav Havel Library for personal reasons. The Board of Trustees have accepted his explanation with understanding: “Milan Babík has done a great deal of work. Since June, when he took over, he has succeeded in enriching the Library’s activities, including the launch of projects that should culminate in 2026 in connection with the 90th anniversary of Václav Havel’s birth,” said the chairman of the Board of Trustees, Gabriel Eichler. Until a successor to Milan Babík is chosen, the Board of Trustees, as the statutory body, will assume some of his responsibilities, working closely with the Václav Havel Library team.
Truth and love never rust 03/10/24
On the occasion of its 20th birthday, the Václav Havel Library is launching a new fundraising campaign. It aims to commemorate an important milestone in the VHL’s existence and to address new donors. The author of the communication concept TRUTH AND LOVE NEVER RUST is idea maker Martin Halaxa, while art director Jan Lesák is behind the graphic design. The campaign primarily draws on materials from the Library’s archive, which currently holds over 80,000 items. It is based on relatively little-known video footage of Václav Havel in various situations in his life, as well as images by photographers closely associated with him: Tomki Němec, Oldřich Škácha and Přemysl Fialka. The actor David Prachař has given his voice to the campaign, with musical accompaniment coming from the famous underground band Psí vojáci. More
Why Should We Care? 02/10/24
The conference in honour of the laureate of the Václav Havel Prize for 2024, provocatively entitled "What's it to us?", starts at two o'clock! The programme can be found HERE. We look forward to seeing you there!
Program for January 2023<>
entry-free
Punk and Hardcore!
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: January 5, 2023, 19:00 – 21:00
“Everything’s bad, back to the trees!” sang Modrý tanky in the late 1980s. They were one of the groups that led the punk rock revolution in Czechoslovakia between 1979 and 1989. Where and how did the movement begin? Who was involved? What were the punks all about? What did they sing about? What were their concerns? And what were their connections with disproportionately studied phenomena such as underground and alternative? These questions and more will be discussed by some of those who were there: Pavla Jonssonová from the band Dybbuk, Petr Bergmann, an activist and “rabid punk”, and Štěpán Stejskal, who documented the scene with his camera.
The event will be moderated by Radim Kopáč, author of the book Všechno je špatně, zpátky na stromy! Český punk a hardcore v textech 1979–1989 (Everything’s bad, back to the trees! Czech Punk and Hardcore in Texts, 1979–1989), which has just been issue by the Divočina publishing house.
Debate with Deník N: Presidential Finale
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: January 10, 2023, 19:00 – 21:00
The culmination of campaigning for the presidency, as seen by leading journalists. An analysis of the situation three days before the elections. Who has the greatest chance of success?
Restart – A Book About the Split of Czechoslovakia
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: January 16, 2023, 19:00 – 21:00
It is exactly 30 years since Czechoslovakia ceased to exist. The words most frequently used to describe that event are break-up, dissolution, separation, split. But might not it be better to see that historical moment as giving rise to two confident and successful states? That is, as a restart? With two nations that don’t despise one another, are not at one another’s throats and don’t squabble over attention but, on the contrary, respect one another and are cordial. Well-known names of various professions, experiences and age – Petr Fiala, Mikuláš Dzurinda, Michael Kocáb, Věra Jourová, Šimon Pánek, Pavel Kosatík, Tereza Nvotová, Pavel Rychetský and Karel Oliva – will ponder not only the breakup of Czechoslovakia but also what Czechs and Slovaks are going through at a time that demonstrates the importance of alliances and friendly relations.
The interviews in the book Restart, conducted by Czech Television journalists Jana Peroutková and Petr Švec, will come to life in a discussion that will also include the launch of the book.
Debate with Respekt
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: January 17, 2023, 19:00 – 21:00
Discussion series involving Respekt weekly editors and their guests. For details and the names of guests visit www.Václavhavel.cz prior to the event.
The Power of Reason in a Crazy Time
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: January 18, 2023, 19:00 – 21:00
Why do people choose to ignore the truth? How to have worthwhile internet discussions? Can one understand the behaviour of those who see things differently? And what can each of us do to make the earth a better place to live?
These questions and more will be discussed by Ján Markoš, chess grandmaster, theologian and author of the new book Síla rozumu v bláznivé době (The Power of Reason in a Crazy Time). Joining him in conversation will be TV presenter Václav Moravec, media education teacher Michal Kaderka and award-winning teacher Magdalena Málková.
The discussion will be chaired by Jakub Sedláček, an editor with publishers Paseka, which has just issued a Czech translation of the Slovak bestseller.
The Crimean Peninsula: From Crossroads of Culture to Russian Colony
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: January 19, 2023, 19:00 – 21:00
The peninsula surrounded by the Black Sea has always been a bustling crossroads between Europe and Asia, its aura stemming from its history of ethnic and religious coexistence. Crimea never belonged to any one ethnic group and this made it dependent on nearby empires, which gradually narrowed down to two rivals – the Ottoman Empire and Russia. A key era for the peninsula was the Crimean Khanate, which came to an end with annexation by Catherine the Great in 1783. How does Putin’s intervention in 2014 compare with that move? What happened to the Crimean Tatars? And why do Russians believe that Crimea was and is Russian?
These questions and more will be answered by the authors of the book Poloostrov Krym (The Crimean Peninsula), Helena Ulbrechtová and Radomír Vlček from the Czech Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Slavonic Studies, writer Jiří Padevět and journalist and Russia expert Libor Dvořák.
Petříček, Fischer, Matějčková: You Are All Going to Die
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: January 23, 2023, 19:00 – 20:00
Presentation of a book of interviews
In a book of dialogues in the Socratic sense, Miroslav Petříček and Petr Fischer enter the marketplace, meaning the public arena. They speak in a natural, comprehensible language and seek answers to complex questions – about freedom, responsibility, refugees, orientation in today’s world, the chaos it brings, how a nearby, virtually real-time war does to us, how it is changing us, and how much. Thinkers aren’t here to save the world. Yes, says Petříček, we have achieved enormous economic growth that should also spell intellectual and spiritual growth, although that is not the case. So we ask, where is it, why aren’t we receiving it? Why doesn’t material certitude deliver spiritual certitude?
Though both the debate participants ponder death, the interviews in Všichni umřete (You Are All Going to Die) speak against fear, against panic. It is a joyous book about serious matters.
In the introduction Tereza Matějčková implies that philosophy does not make us stronger – perhaps our comprehension of the meaning of freedom even makes us weaker. But that makes us more perceptive…
Echo from the Library
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: January 24, 2023, 19:00 – 21:00
Debate series with editors from the weekly Týdeník Echo and their guests in cooperation with the Václav Havel Library. Discussion chaired by Dalibor Balšínek. For details and the names of guests visit www.Václavhavel.cz prior to the event.
Havel, Europe and the World
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: January 25, 2023, 19:00 – 21:00
The role of the Václav Havel Library in the Czech Republic’s public diplomacy
In the spirit of Václav Havel’s legacy, the Václav Havel Library is actively involved in public diplomacy and events beyond the Czech Republic’s borders. We have been running the Václav Havel European Dialogues – an opportunity to discuss the issues facing Europe and its citizens – for some eight years. We have been presenting the Václav Havel Human Rights Prize in cooperation with the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and Nadace Charty 77, with an associated international conference, for 10 years. Two years ago we also launched the Václav Havel Transatlantic Dialogues, now renamed Havel-Albright Transatlantic Dialogues. Since 2017 we have been a member of the European Parliament’s Network of Political Houses and Foundations of Great Europeans.
In 2022 we were involved in the conception of the Czech Republic’s presidency of the Council of the European Union, which had the umbrella slogan – borrowed from Havel – of “Europe as a Task”. Sixteen Václav Havel European Dialogues were prepared in 12 countries of the European Union and in Egypt during the year. Havel-Albright Transatlantic Dialogues took place in three locations in Europe and the United States. And this year’s Václav Havel Human Rights Prize conference, under the title Crime and Punishment, focused on the issue of punishing war crimes committed as part of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.
An attempt to summarise the insights gleaned from all these events, and the importance of the former president’s legacy, will be made during an evening focused on Havel, Europe and the world by the minister for European Affairs, Mikuláš Bek, the director general of the Czech Centres network, Ondřej Černý, the director of the Czech Centre Paris, Jiří Hnilica, and Jiří Přibáň, professor of law at Cardiff University.
The evening will be hosted by Michael Žantovský, director of the Václav Havel Library.
The Free Academy: Kateřina Šedá
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: January 26, 2023, 19:00 – 21:00
Art. Community. Participation.
“My adult son rests in my bed. Repairmen address me as young lady, even though I’m 69. I’ve eaten tailor’s chalk 1x daily for 30 years because I believed I’d get slim that way…”
In this talk the social architect and internationally acclaimed artist Kateřina Šedá will focus on working with the community; using current projects as examples, she will show how the public may be made active and what can be achieved through participation.
Help from the North: The Czech Dissent and Friends from Norway and Scandinavia
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: January 31, 2023, 19:00 – 21:00
What was behind the strong wave of Swedish, Norwegian and Danish aid to the Czech dissent in the wake of the publication of Charter 77? Who launched it, how was it organized and how did it help democracy to return in the country? Conversely, how and who should we help today? Alongside Czechs who were there, this unique debate will feature Norwegian diplomat Øyvind Nordsletten, journalist Alf Skjeseth, Urban Westling from Sweden’s August 21 Committee, Morten Nielssen of the Danish organisation Dialog med Charta 77 and Frode Bakken from Norway’s Stottefondet for Charta 77. Adam Drda will chair the discussion.
Organised by Post Bellum in cooperation with the Václav Havel Library and the Embassy of the Kingdom of Norway.
Havel Channel
Havel Channel je audiovizuální projekt Knihovny Václava Havla, jehož cílem je šířit myšlenkový, literární a politický odkaz Václava Havla, bez ohledu na vzdálenost, zeměpisné hranice či nouzové stavy. Jeho páteř tvoří debaty, vzdělávací projekty a rozhovory. Velký prostor je věnován též konferencím, autorským čtením, záznamům divadelních inscenací a koncertům. Audiovizuální projekt Knihovny Václava Havla Havel Channel se uskutečňuje díky laskavé podpoře Karel Komárek Family Foundation.
Publications / E-shop
The central focus of the Library’s publishing programme is the life and work of Václav Havel, his family and close collaborators and friends. For clarity, the programme is divided into six series: Václav Havel Library Notebooks, Václav Havel Library Editions, Student Line, Talks from Lány, Václav Havel Documents, Works of Pavel Juráček and Václav Havel Library Conferences. Titles that cannot be incorporated into any of the given series but which are nonetheless important for the Library’s publishing activities are issued independently, outside the series framework.
Care of the State
229,- CZK
Pin-back button with a heart motif
50,- CZK
Magnet "Havel to the castle"
60,- CZK
Postcard: Václav Havel, 1970s
15,- CZK
Conferences & prizes
Václav Havel European Dialogues
The Václav Havel European Dialogues is an international project that aims to initiate and stimulate a discussion about issues determining the direction of contemporary Europe while referring to the European spiritual legacy of Václav Havel. This idea takes its main inspiration from Václav Havel’s essay “Power of the Powerless”. More than other similarly focused projects, the Václav Havel European Dialogues aims to offer the “powerless” a platform to express themselves and in so doing to boost their position within Europe.
The Václav Havel European Dialogues is planned as a long-term project and involves cooperation with other organisations in various European cities. Individual meetings, which take the form of a conference, are targeted primarily at secondary and third-level students, as well as specialists and members of the public interested in European issues.
Prague 2022Olomouc Prague 2023PragueMnichov 2020Brussels 2020Prague 2019Brussels 2019Prague 2018Brussels 2018Europe at the Crossroads (e-book)Prague 2017Brussels 2017Prague 2016Brussels 2016Prague 2015Brussels 2015Brussels 2014Berlin 2014Prague 2014 - J. GauckBruges 2014Prague 2014
Václav Havel Human Rights Prize
The Václav Havel Human Rights Prize is awarded each year by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in partnership with the Václav Havel Library and the Charta 77 Foundation to reward outstanding civil society action in the defence of human rights in Europe and beyond.
12th Year of the Prize (2024)11th Year of the Prize (2023)10th Year of the Prize (2022)9th Year of the Prize (2021)8th Year of the Prize (2020)7th Year of the Prize (2019)6th Year of the Prize (2018)5th Year of the Prize (2017)4th Year of the Prize (2016)3rd Year of the Prize (2015)2nd Year of the Prize (2014)1st Year of the Prize (2013)History of the prize
Havel - Albright Transatlantic Dialogues
Since the first Václav Havel Transatlantic Dialogues at GLOBSEC and FORUM 2000 conferences last year, we have lost another stalwart advocate of the transatlantic bond and of the need to face threats to democracy and international order together on both sides of the Atlantic, the former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. In view of the close bond between Václav Havel and Madeleine Albright and, after Havel's death, between the Secretary and the Library, the Václav Havel Library, with the approval of Madeleine Albright's family, renamed and rebranded the program as The Havel-Albright Transatlantic Dialogues (HATD), after the two major figures with roots in Central Europe who have personified the bond. Together, Václav Havel and Madeleine Albright symbolize the transatlantic relationship and the fundamental values underpinning it perhaps better than any other two people in recent history. The upcoming Dialogues “The Indispensable Woman: The Legacy of Madeleine K. Albright”, at the FORUM 2000 conference on September 1, and at the “Havel and our Crisis” conference at Colby College, ME, on September 28, will thus become venues for a well-deserved tribute to the pair we all respected and admired.
Transatlantic Dialogues 2021Transatlantic Dialogues 2022HATD 2022 Prague
Václav Havel
Educational projects
Archive / Documentation centre / Research projects
The Václav Havel Library is gradually gathering, digitizing, and making accessible written materials, photographs, sound recordings and other materials linked to the person of Václav Havel.
- 78061 records in total
- 32330 of events in the VH's life
- 2831 of VH's texts
- 2125 of photos
- 407of videos
- 569of audios
- 6583of letters
- 15100of texts about VH
- 8602 of books
- 43779of bibliography records
Access to the database of the VHL’s archives is free and possible after registering as a user. Accessing archival materials that exist in an unreadable form is only possible at the reading room of the Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, 110 00 Prague 1, every Tuesday (except state holidays) from 9:00 to 17:00, or by prior appointment.
We will be glad to answer your queries at archiv@vaclavhavel-library.org.
Havel in a nutshell
The virtual exhibition Václav Havel in a Nutshell places the life story of Václav Havel in the broader cultural and historic context in four chronologically distinct chapters with rich visual accompaniment. The exhibition is supplemented by the interactive map Flying the World with Václav Havel, which captures in physical form Havel’s global “footprint”.
Gallery of key figures of Oldřich Škácha
The Gallery of Key Figures of Oldřich Škácha presents unique and previously unknown photographs of Ludvík Vaculík, Jan Werich, Milan Kundera, Marta Kubišová and many other important personalities as an authentic and original source of knowledge about our modern history.
Vladimir Hanzel's revolution
Collage of recollections, images and sound recordings from Vladimír Hanzel, President Václav Havel’s personal secretary, bringing the feverish atmosphere of the Velvet Revolution to life.
Václav Havel Interviews
A database of all accessible interviews given to print media outlets by the dramatist, writer and political activist Václav Havel between the 1960s and 1989. The resulting collection documents the extraordinary life story of an individual, as well as capturing a specific picture of modern Czechoslovak history at a time when being a free-thinker was more likely to lead to jail than an official public post.
Pavel Juráček Archive
The Pavel Juráček Archive arose in February 2014 when his son Marek Juráček handed over six banana boxes and a typewriter case from his father’s estate to the Václav Havel Library. Thousands of pages of manuscripts, typescripts, photographs, documents and personal and official correspondence are gradually being classified and digitalised. The result of this work should be not only to map the life and work of one of the key figures of the New Wave of Czechoslovak film in the 1960s, but also to make his literary works accessible in the book series The Works of Pavel Juráček.
The aim of the Václav Havel Library is to ensure that Pavel Juráček finds a place in the broader cultural consciousness and to notionally build on the deep friendship he shared with Václav Havel. Soon after Juráček’s death in 1989 Havel said of him: “Pavel was a friend of mine whom I liked very much. He was one of the most sensitive and gentle people I have known – that’s why I cannot write more about him.”
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Support us
We are well aware that freedom and democracy must be nurtured. Here at Ostrovní 13, but also on the audiovisual platform Havel Channel, we strive to do so through our own educational programmes, talks, discussion meetings, books, exhibitions, concerts, theatre performances. We honour Václav Havel's legacy and wish that the Library be a living organism and open to all. That is why our programme is free of charge for everyone. This would not be possible without regular financial support from our supporters. Become one of them...
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Help us expand the archive
The Vaclav Havel Library manages an archive of writings, documents, photographs, video recordings and other materials related to the life and work of Vaclav Havel. This archive is predominantly in digital form. If you or someone close to you owns any original texts, correspondence, photographs, speeches or any other work by Vaclav Havel, we would be grateful if you could contact us.
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