Club / News / Program
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
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.
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
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 March 2023<>
Blood Transfusion at Prague Castle
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: March 2, 2023, 19:00 – 21:00
In a number of respects, the new presidential administration of Petr Pavel is likely to more resemble the presidential era of Václav Havel than those of his direct predecessors in a substantial way. Just like Václav Havel, Petr Pavel will enter the position as a citizen candidate without major political experience, with all the advantages and disadvantages that entails. Like Havel’s initial team, his presidential team will likely be characterised by its civic pedigree – both determined to differentiate themselves from their predecessors’ rhetoric, style of work and approach. Similarly to Václav Havel, Petr Pavel wishes to emphasise openness, including the physical openness of the seat of the president itself. Just like the first Czech president, the new head of state wants to maintain a constant, open dialogue with both the media and the general public.
These similarities, as well as the unavoidable differences between the present and the days of 30 years ago, will be discussed by the designated head of the Office of the President, Jana Vohralíková, the designated presidential spokesperson, Markéta Řeháková, and architect Josef Pleskot, who should oversee the transformation of Prague Castle into the open and welcoming head of state’s residence, for all Prague residents, Czech citizens and visitors from abroad.This will be followed by recollections from Karel Schwarzenberg, who was Václav Havel’s head of office in 1990–1992, Havel’s first press spokesman, Michael Žantovský, and architect Miroslav Masák, who advised Havel on issues linked to the transformation of Prague Castle.
Debate N: What Will the Green Deal Mean for CR?
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: March 7, 2023, 19:00 – 21:00
The collocation Green Deal really inflames passions. What will it mean in real terms for the Czech economy? And does the energy crisis mean it will be necessary to compromise on some of its stated ambitions?
Guests: Kateřina Bohuslavová, director of the ESG department at ČEZ Group; Kateřina Davidová, Centre for Transport and Energy; and Ladislav Miko, advisor to the minister of the Environment
The discussion will be moderated by Deník N economics editor Jan Úšela.
Václav Havel’s One-Act Plays
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: March 8, 2023, 19:00 – 21:00
The theatre company Motýlí divadelní společnost presents one-act plays by Václav Havel, directed by Hana Hlinková. Havel’s first play An Evening with the Family, the more well-known Unveiling and its epilogue Five Aunts, from Havel’s later period, reflect the changing and at the same time constant banality of human life and interpersonal relationships. Václav Havel’s plays are part of the permanent repertoire of the amateur theatre company MDS, as time does not diminish the urgency or humour of their message.
Czechoslovaks in the Gulag: KGB Archives in Ukraine
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: March 9, 2023, 19:00 – 21:00
What can the former KGB archives in Ukraine reveal about Czechoslovakia and the ethnic Czechs persecuted in the USSR? What have historians from the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes, in cooperation with Ukrainian partners, succeeded in discovering? How do historians and archivists work in Ukraine against the backdrop of Russian aggression? These questions will be answered by those working on the project Czechoslovaks in the Gulag – Adam Hradilek, Jan Dvořák, Anna Chlebina and Jaroslav Formánek – but also their Ukrainian partners: the director of the Archive of the Security Service of Ukraine, Andriy Kohut, and the director of the State Archival Service of Ukraine, Anatolii Khromov.
The evening will also include the official launch of the Digital Archive of NKVD/KGB Documents on Czechoslovak History, introduced by the aforementioned along with colleagues from the Department of Cybernetics at the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen.
The event will be interpreted into Ukrainian.
A Partnership With No Limits: China and Russia
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: March 16, 2023, 19:00 – 21:00
A partnership with no limits. That is what Beijing and Moscow call their ever closer mutual relations. It is clear that one of the pair gains more from the relationship, especially since the beginning of Russia’s aggression toward Ukraine and the war. Who that is, and why, will be discussed by sinologist and director of the Sinopsis project, Martin Hála, and the radio editor and Russia expert Libor Dvořák.
Kateřina Procházková of Sinopsis will moderate.
Organised by Sinopsis in cooperation with the Václav Havel Library.
Debate with Respekt
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: March 21, 2023, 19:00 – 20:30
Discussion between editors of the weekly Respekt and their guests. For more information and the names of guests visit www.vaclavhavel.cz prior to the event.
Magnesia Litera I
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: March 22, 2023, 19:00 – 21:00
Writers nominated in the literature categories of the Magnesia Litera awards will read from their books. A cross-section of the Litera for prose, Litera for poetry, Litera for journalism and DILIA Litera for debut of the year organised by the Literaassociation and moderated by Pavel Mandys.
Big Book Thursday Gathering and Signing Session
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: March 23, 2023, 17:00 – 19:00
We cordially invite you to a gathering and signing session with writers from the 23rd edition of Big Book Thursday. Taking part will be writers Petra Hůlová, Michael Žantovský, Martin Jonáš, Pavel Pawluscha Novotný, Roman Kulich, Petra Klabouchová and Eva Kubátová as well as translators Tomáš Havel and Michal Prokop. Some of the authors will send short video greetings from overseas. Czech Television arts presenter Jiří Svoboda will moderate.
Echo from the Library
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: March 28, 2023, 19:00 – 21:00
Debate series with editors from the weekly Týdeník Echo and their guests in cooperation with the Václav Havel Library. Lenka Zlámalová will chair the discussion. For the theme and the names of guests, visit www.vaclavhavel.cz prior to the event.
Magnesia Litera II
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: March 29, 2023, 19:00 – 21:00
Writers nominated in the literature categories of the Magnesia Litera awards will read from their books. A cross-section of the Litera for prose, Litera for poetry, Litera for journalism and DILIA Litera for debut of the year organised by the Literaassociation and moderated by Pavel Mandys.
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.
Diary IV. 1974–1989
399,- CZK
Foolish Writing
299,- CZK
Havel to the Castle
149,- CZK
Kilián Nedory
199,- CZK
Case for a Novice Headsman
199,- CZK
I am not sad. Audience & Vernissage
129,- CZK
To the Castle and Back
249,- CZK
I am the Gypsy Baron
299,- 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.
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.
- 67912 records in total
- 25028 of events in the VH's life
- 2831 of VH's texts
- 2125 of photos
- 403of videos
- 567of audios
- 6603of letters
- 15101of texts about VH
- 8126 of books
- 38964of 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”.
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.”
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
Library, documentation centre
Ostrovní 13, 110 00 Praha 1
Tel.: (+420) 222 220 112
info@vaclavhavel-library.org
Opening hours:
every Tuesday
from 9:00 till 17:00
Invoicing address
Knihovna Václava Havla, Foundation Fund
Ostrovní 13, 110 00 Praha 1
IČO 27169413 / DIČ CZ 27169413
Mailing address
Knihovna Václava Havla, Foundation Fund
Ostrovní 13, 110 00 Praha 1
Bank account
| 7077 7077 / 0300 CZK | IBAN: CZ61 0300 0000 0000 7077 7077 |
| 7755 7755 / 0300 EUR | IBAN: CZ40 0300 0000 0000 7755 7755 |
| 7747 7747 / 0300 USD | IBAN: CZ66 0300 0000 0000 7747 7747 |
| SWIFT CODE: CEKO CZPP | |
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!
Přítel
Váš příspěvek nám pomůže s organizací pravidelných akcí pro veřejnost.
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Partner
pro další informace
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