The Václav Havel Library to collect a legacy for future generations

havel-zamyslen.jpg

Imagine being allowed to sneak into history’s attic and open up any box, trunk, parcel, notebooks, diaries or photo albums you choose. What would you look at first? What if your discoveries shattered your perception of historical events? How would your new insights affect you personally?

“We need young people to understand what was going on here.”

— Václav Havel

Someday soon, you may be able to find out, once The Václav Havel Library emerges from the dream and the plans into something more concrete: a four-dimensional building with public access. The collection will include the famous dissident-and-former-president’s writings, plus writings and other materials from the entire communist period through today.

In the meantime, you can get a little teaser taste of the fare to come, when an exhibition of photographs and some published materials opens in mid-December at Hergetova Cihelna, Cihelná 2b, Prague 1, Malá Strana.

The idea for the library is modeled on the American tradition of presidential libraries, a separate monument to each president, filled with the leaders’ personal memorabilia plus official documents of the era, all available to academic researchers, historians, tourists, and school children on field trips.

However, The Malá Stranaversion of the presidential library will be slightly different. It’s envisioned as being not only a library, research center, and archive; but will also sponsor activities such as publishing. It will further function as a think tank, with perhaps its biggest task to make Czech history of this period understandable to the young generations. “We need young people to understand what was going on here,” Mr Havel has been quoted as saying.

Where the money will come from

Anxious to remain free and independent, the Library is partially funded from local individual and corporate donations and sponsors, and international institutions. However, these sources account for only a part of the Library’s cost of operation and administration. Other support will come from the Library’s publishing activities and cultural events, and fundraising events held by supporters of the Library.

Individuals and companies may make donations to The Václav Havel Library. A taste of the types of materials the library will include may be obtained from the book, Prague- Washington-Prague, by Václav Havel . It reveals a collection of dispatches from the American Embassy in Prague to the US State Department during the passionate days of November-December 1989. In addition, a cycle of various public readings, in Czech, will be held throughout the year at the Municipal Library of Prague.

© 2010 3PMedia/ Prague Publishing Partners. All rights reserved. RSS Feed