“He’s in the right hands”: Havel’s widow entrusts legacy to Municipal Library
The Václav Havel Library ceased to exist in its hitherto form earlier this year, when both major donors and staff members departed. Further twists followed – and this week Havel’s widow entrusted Prague’s Municipal Library with preserving the legacy of the dissident dramatist-turned-president.
Last week, representatives of the First Presidential Library, a newly established entity with key members who were previously involved with the Václav Havel Library, held a news conference outlining their aims.
This group are still based in the building that housed the Havel Library and possess its digital archive and book collection.
But they were forced to come up with a new title after the democracy leader’s widow Dagmar Havlová stripped them of the right to use his name in June.
On Tuesday Mrs. Havlová ended speculation about her own plans by announcing her choice of institution to protect and cultivate the legacy of her late husband: Prague’s Municipal Library.
“It will safeguard the work of my husband, Václav Havel, and deliver continuity. It will look after his legacy in the future, which is also important. I should add that the estate of Václav Havel is still held by me, our foundation Vision 97, and my family.”
Tomáš Řehák, director of the Municipal Library, says he didn’t hesitate for a moment when Mrs. Havlová contacted him with the offer of cooperation. And he says his institution is well-placed to meet her expectations.
“We know how to do things on an international level, on a high level. We invite many important writers here to Prague, and we also want to export one of the biggest names in Czech literature abroad. But more than anything we are an open institution, open to everybody, and we would like to share the literary and political legacy of Václav Havel with the general public.”
Dagmar Havlová was one of the three original founders of the Václav Havel Library. Set up while the one-time leader of the Velvet Revolution was still alive, it was the first Czech institution created on the model of US presidential libraries, albeit on a rather more modest scale.
Events of recent months, which were evidently sparked by staff dissatisfaction with then director Tomáš Sedláček, have garnered a lot of headlines.
Mrs. Havlová says it is a relief for her to be able to move on from this turbulent period.
“The Library, which was in private hands, had 15 directors in a period of 22 years – and that’s not good. The fact that things will now be looked after by an institution that runs so perfectly, that will continue to operate well, tells me that I have put my late husband into the right hands.”
Tomáš Řehák says the Municipal Library will next month reveal concrete plans regarding how it will make use of the license bestowed on it by Václav Havel’s widow.
