Events: April 2025
March 2025
May 2025
Václav Havel’s Unveiling
April 1, 2025, 19:00
Václav Havel’s one-act play from 1975 deals with the true meaning of happiness. Is it a beautiful apartment with all possible amenities, good food and drink, a beautiful wife and a mindful husband? Or is cold dinner and hot schnitzel on Saturday enough for happiness? The latest production of Unveiling is directed by Radek Bár, a long-time member of the Divadlo na tahu theatre company. Cast: Tereza Tobiášová, Vojtěch Efler, Tomáš Zámečník.
Jan Slavík, Banned Historian
April 4, 2025, 19:00
Jan Slavík (1885–1978), an idiosyncratic historian who was one of the outstanding figures in Czech historiography of the interwar period, was defined by his critical attitude toward the political situation, a stance that brought hardships. The 140th anniversary of Slavík’s birth also offers a reminder of the tangled paths of both Czech historiography and his work; like him, it was blacklisted during the former regime (even though it could not be published for being “Bolshevik” during the German occupation). Debate participants: Jaroslav Bouček, Martin Kučera, Jakub Rákosník, David Svoboda. Historian Michal Macháček will moderate. More
Discussion: 80 Years Since the Liberation of Buchenwald – The Fate of the Survivors
April 7, 2025, 19:00
The liberation of Buchenwald concentration camp on 10 April 1945 ended the suffering of thousands of prisoners, including hundreds of children, who were saved by Czech political prisoner Antonín Kalina. What fate awaited the survivors? How did courage, solidarity and hope manifest themselves in such inhuman conditions? These questions will be discussed by Israeli writer Limor Regev, author of a forthcoming book about Antonín Kalina, and Michal Šmíd, administrator of the Memory of Nations portal and editor of the Memory of Nations magazine. The evening will be moderated by Martin Groman, journalist and co-host of the podcast Přepište dějiny. More
Debate N: Why Do(n’t) We Care About Unaffordable Housing?
April 8, 2025, 19:00
While housing affordability is a recurring theme in election campaigns, concrete measures are successfully kept on the back burner by governments. Why do voters accept this recurring cycle of promises and inaction? And who pays the most? Prokop Vodrážka, an editor at Deník N, will discuss these questions with his guests.
The Fragility of Democracy
April 9, 2025, 14:30
Salome Zourabichvili, a Georgian politician and the first female president of her country, is set to visit the Czech Republic at the invitation of the Václav Havel Library and of Pavel Fischer, Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Security of the Senate of the Czech Parliament. Following parliamentary elections in Georgia in October 2024, the pro-Western president said the result had been manipulated by Russia, pledging to remain in office until new elections were held. However, MPs from the ruling Georgian Dream party, which has a majority in parliament after October’s elections, installed Mikheil Kavelashvili as the country’s new president. The director of the Václav Havel Library, Tomáš Sedláček, will conduct an interview with Salome Zourabichvili on recent developments in the country, the backsliding of democracy and Georgia’s geopolitical importance at the Václav Havel Library at 2:30 pm on Wednesday 9 April 2025. More
Jiří Suk and Historian Martin Groman – A Debate
April 10, 2025, 19:00
Jiří Suk, a historian and political scientist, has brought out a new volume of Velké dějiny zemí Koruny české (The Great History of the Czech Crown Lands), in which he maps the years 1956–1967; this has been described as a “period of thaw” and saw gradual destalinization in the Soviet Union and its satellites. The book’s political, economic and cultural history is accompanied by explorations of everyday life under socialism, from assessments of living standards to housing, work, and health to the intimate zone of the family and religious belief. The author of the book Kriegel: Voják a lékař komunismu (Kriegel: Soldier and Doctor of Communism), journalist Martin Groman, will discuss the book, and how the new edition of The Great History came about, with Suk.
Slovak Poetry Face to Face
April 11, 2025, 19:00
This musical and poetic evening featuring poetry by six prominent contemporary Slovak poets, as performed by the Agadir Music and Poetry Theatre, will present a wide range of expression, from natural impressionism to relationship poetry to reflective and existential verse. Poets Rudolf Jurolek, Juraj Kuniak, Peter Mišák, Erik Ondrejička, Milan Richter and Ján Zambor will take part, while Václav Buchta will serve as moderator.
America and Trump
April 14, 2025, 19:00
What is the future of our strategic partnership with the United States? Is the Western alliance collapsing? What is the relationship between the spirit of Europe and the spirit of Donald Trump’s present-day US? Fundamental issues surrounding the future of the democratic world will be discussed by Petr Kolář, former Czech ambassador to the United States and Russia; Kateřina Březinová, American studies scholar, historian and head of the Ibero-American Centre at the Department of International Relations and European Studies at Prague’s Metropolitan University, Václav Dejčmar, economist, philanthropist, and investor in projects of the RSJ company, co-owner of the Dox Prague contemporary art center, and occasional producer. Václav Havel Library director Tomáš Sedláček will moderate the discussion.
Debate with Respekt
April 15, 2025, 19:00
A discussion on a topical issue featuring editors from the weekly Respekt and their guests. For details please visit www.vaclavhavel.cz prior to the event.
Bořek Šípek and Prague Castle (and Beyond)
April 22, 2025, 19:00
A lecture focused on Bořek Šípek (1949–2016), one of the leading European designers of the postmodern era, who became Prague Castle architect in the era of Václav Havel. However, in addition to his interventions at the seat of the Czech president he also designed a number of interiors and buildings in various countries. Zdeněk Lukeš, an architectural historian, will reminisce about postmodernism in architecture and design, as well as his own collaboration with Šípek at Prague Castle and at university, and works by Šípek that remain largely unknown in Czechia.
In Conversation With… Marcus Mucha
April 23, 2025, 19:00
Marcus Mucha is the great-grandson of the Czech art nouveau giant Alphonse Mucha and serves as executive director of the Mucha Foundation, which recently reopened its Mucha Museum at the renovated Prague centre Savarin Palace. Marcus, a Cambridge graduate, previously enjoyed a successful career in Hollywood, where he worked closely with Morgan Freeman. In Conversation With… is a series of occasional talks at the Václav Havel Library hosted by Ian Willoughby, a journalist with Radio Prague International.
The Free Academy: Zuzana Ozaniak Střížová. Our Immunity Can Do Miracles, But Stress Changes All the Rules
April 24, 2025, 19:00
The immune system is crucial for our survival: It protects us from infections, promotes healing and actively fights cancer cells. Just as the heart gives us a warning in the form of high blood pressure or an accelerated heart rate, our immune system also sends signals when something is wrong. Unfortunately, we often ignore them. Chronic stress has a devastating impact on immunity, contributing to immunodeficiency, inflammation, autoimmune diseases and cancer. Yet we do not avoid it in modern society and the sense of being irreplaceable can cost us our health and life. More
Fifková, Matějčková: Will We Be Who We Are?
April 28, 2025, 19:00
Presentation of book-length interview More
Upcomming events
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