Václav Havel Boulevard Opens in Kiev

One of the Ukrainian capital’s central thoroughfares has been officially renamed after the iconic Czech president

Dave Park

Written by Dave Park Published on 11.11.2016 10:51:07 (updated on 11.11.2016) Reading time: 1 minute

Earlier this year, it was announced that Ivan Lepse Boulevard, a large thoroughfare in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev, would likely be renamed Václav Havel Boulevard after a successful campaign.

The city’s citizens had long supported brining Havel to Kiev’s streets. A public poll this summer was created to determine a new name for Ivan Lepse Boulevard, which had been named after the Bolshevik revolutionary.

Havel, interim president of Czechoslovakia after the fall of Soviet rule in 1989 and the first president of the newly-established Czech Republic in 1993, was the clear winner.

Yesterday, it became official, as city representatives announced that they had approved the name change, according to Ukraine Today. The new street name will immediately take effect.

Lepse, a prominent figure in the Ocotber Revolution and the rise of communism in the Soviet Union, died in 1929 and is buried in the Kremlin.

The Kiev boulevard is not the only international accolade awarded to the former Czech president, who would have turned 80 this year.

Streets in Jerusalem and the Polish cities of Gdansk and Opole also bear Havel’s name, and New York City rang in September 28 as Václav Havel Day earlier this autumn.

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