Memorial to Jan Kaplický held in Prague

A public memorial was held in Prague on Tuesday for the architect Jan Kaplický, who died suddenly two weeks ago at the age of 71. Among a number of speakers at the ceremony at the Prague Crossroads deconsecrated church was Dagmar Havlová, wife of Václav Havel, who read a letter from the former president to Mr Kaplický’s daughter Johanka to be read on the girl’s 12th birthday; she was born just hours before her father’s death. The architect’s family have organised a private funeral and have not released any details.

Jan Kaplický, who was born in Prague and spent much of his life in London, was the founder of the innovative Future Systems design studio. He is perhaps best known for the Selfridges building in Birmingham and the media centre at the Lord’s Cricket Ground in the British capital.