Havel90: Czech Republic celebrates the legacy of Václav Havel

With numerous cultural events, debates, exhibitions and commemorative activities, the Czech Republic is remembering Václav Havel. The former president would have turned 90 on Monday, 5 October.

Across the Czech Republic, Václav Havel is being remembered in these days. To mark his 90th birthday, numerous events are taking place, including exhibitions, discussions and the unveiling of several commemorative plaques. The main focus of the celebrations is on Monday, 5 October – the birthday of the former dissident, playwright and first president of the Czech Republic.

18 December will also mark the 15th anniversary of Havel’s death. An overview of the events is provided by the “Havel90” project, which is supported, among others, by the Dagmar and Václav Havel Foundation Vize 97 and the 1st Presidential Library.

Photo: Knihovna Václava Havla

At the Wallenstein Palace in Prague, Senate President Miloš Vystrčil will unveil a commemorative plaque on Monday together with former First Lady Dagmar Havlová. It bears a quotation from a speech Havel gave during his first visit to the Senate in 1997, in which he highlighted the importance of the upper chamber of parliament.

Prague 6 is also commemorating the former president. At 12 noon, another commemorative plaque is due to be unveiled on a house in U Dejvického rybníčku Street. Havel lived there in the 1970s together with his then wife Olga.

Photo: Praha 6

The “Havel90” project will also begin in the afternoon at Vítězné náměstí. Part of it is the exhibition “Milí spoluobčané” (“Dear Fellow Citizens”), which combines photographs by Oldřich Škácha with quotations by Václav Havel.

Debates on democracy, media and artificial intelligence

A full week of events begins at the 1st Presidential Library on Monday. Discussions are planned on topics including democracy and totalitarianism, information wars, artificial intelligence and the role of the media.

Prague Castle is also taking part in the celebrations. From October to January, the “Havel ALIVE!” festival will be held there, featuring discussions, film screenings, concerts and educational programmes.

Special trams in Prague and Brno

The former president is also being commemorated on public transport. In Prague, a specially designed tram marking the Havel anniversary is due to be presented on Monday morning at the Planetárium Praha stop. A special Havel tram is also running in Brno.

Photo: Prague Airport

Václav Havel Airport hosts several exhibitions

Prague Airport is also extensively commemorating the man after whom it is named. Since the beginning of October, several themed exhibitions and other activities have been on display at Václav Havel Airport.

Together with the 1st Presidential Library, the exhibition “Praha Václava Havla” (“Václav Havel’s Prague”) was prepared. It presents 18 places in Prague connected with Havel’s life. The exhibition is located in the publicly accessible connecting corridor between Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 and can therefore also be visited without a flight ticket.

Photo: Prague Airport

Works by Havel in Czech and English are also available in the airport libraries. A so-called Poesiomat plays audio excerpts from his texts. On 5 October, special visuals marking his 90th birthday are also due to be shown on screens in the terminals.

Prague Airport has borne Václav Havel’s name since 2012. Several works of art in Terminal 2 already permanently commemorate the former president. These include an anamorphic portrait made up of more than 3,000 objects, the small theatre installation “Forum Havlum” and the monumental tapestry “Létající muž” (“Flying Man”) by artist Petr Sís.

Václav Havel was born in Prague on 5 October 1936. The playwright and dissident was one of the best-known representatives of the opposition to the communist regime and was elected president of Czechoslovakia following the Velvet Revolution in 1989. From 1993 to 2003, he served as the first president of the independent Czech Republic. Havel died on 18 December 2011 at the age of 75.