Havel’s widow gives Prague public library rights to his name

The rights to use Václav Havel’s name are moving to Prague’s Municipal Library, weeks after the institution formerly known as the Václav Havel Library was forced to rename itself.

Havel’s widow, Dagmar Havlová, announced Monday that she would grant the municipal library the license free of charge. She said she chose it because it can make the former president’s work accessible to a broad public and provide long-term care for his legacy.

The announcement came at an event on Mariánské náměstí marking what would have been Havel’s 90th birthday this year. The square is home to the municipal library’s central branch.

The decision follows a dispute over the direction of the former Václav Havel Library, which Havlová co-founded in 2004. After leaving the organization, she withdrew its permission to use her late husband’s name. Its board renamed it the First Presidential Library earlier this month.

The institution has said it will continue collecting, preserving and presenting material connected to Havel despite the change. It remains at its headquarters on Ostrovní Street in central Prague.

The loss of permission to use Havel’s name has affected some of its activities. The First Presidential Library has said it can no longer take part in organizing the Václav Havel Human Rights Prize under its previous arrangements.

Monday’s announcement identifies where Havlová wants the rights to his name to go. It does not mean that the First Presidential Library is closing or that its collections are being transferred to the municipal library. Details of how the municipal library will use the license have yet to be announced.

The dispute had followed tensions over the library’s leadership and plans for its future. Most of its staff resigned this spring, and major donors withdrew their support. Director Tomáš Sedláček later stepped down as the organization sought to stabilize its operations.

Havlová had said earlier this month that she had entrusted the license to another organization she trusted, without identifying it. Monday’s announcement ends that uncertainty, while leaving two Prague institutions with roles in presenting Havel’s work.

A playwright and leading communist-era dissident, Havel became Czechoslovakia’s president after the 1989 Velvet Revolution and later served as the first president of the independent Czech Republic. He died in 2011.