A huge, very colourful wax heart was displayed in honour of Vaclav Havel, at the beginning of February in the small Prague square in front of the National theatre. It will stay there until the 10th of April. The artists behind the creation were Lukas Gavlovsky and Roman Svejda, who used thousands of candles which the people of the Czech Republic lit in memory of the president in the days following his death. “With this work we want to celebrate the ideas and the greatness of Vaclav Havel,” explained the two artists.
The homage was no coincidence. Havel-the velvet revolutionary, who lead the velvet revolution without even breaking the glass of a window, would basically rely on the heart of a man. “It is what allows man to approach the truth, what is good and what is right,” as he said.
It was common for him to mark his signature with a heart. When in 2003 he left the presidency he had a huge heart lit up in neon on the summit of Prague castle.
One month on from his death, there are many ways in which not just the Czech republic but the whole world commemorated the man, who has already gone into history as a master of our time.
The czech government is bringing forward their proposals to dedicate his name to the airport of Prague Ruzyne. It was the director Fero Fenič who suggested it a few days after his death and his idea was immediately backed by thousands of citizens with an online petition on the internet. The minister of transport, Pavel Dobeš, has already offialized a government proposal and should things go to plan, it should be formalised within a few months. By the end of the year we should already be able to see the new emblem of “Václav Havel Prague International Airport”.
Staying true to journalistic duties it must also be said that not everyone, not even his dedicated followers agreed with the form of commemoration. This indeed is the case with Vladimir Hanzel, already a close collaborator of the ex-president, who firstly underlined that Havel hated travelling by plane, and added thatr it was something too commercial to celebrate a personality of the kind. “Havel’s name should be used for a cultural or educaitional insitution.” The discord and dissapproval seems destined to be unheard by the government. Lady Dagmar Havlova, among others, has already said that she agrees with the Havel airport.
Having already been approved by the Chamber of deputies, the senate procedures in making a law aiming to underline the important role of the ex-dissident and hero of the velvet revolution in getting the freedom and democracy of his people. There are only three cases of such laws being approved, but they were at the times of Czechoslovakia. They were the laws in honour of Tomas G. Masaryk, Edvard Benes and the slovak Milan Rastislav Stefanik, for the contribution these three statesmen made to the birth and history of czechoslovakia.
Numerous big cities in the world were also prompt in commemorating the figure of Havel. This is the case in Paris, where the socialist mayor Bertrand Delanoë announced his name will be given to a library which will be erected in the Pajol zone, the 18° arrondissement. This is evident in Brussels too where one of the European parlament buildings will be dedicated to Havel.
It is worth mentioning, the debate which erupted over the mourning period, between the charta 77 foundation and the presidential library of Havel, on which of these two insitutions should have the privilege of organizing the future international Vaclav Havel award. The representatives of the Foundation and the Library, after a few exchanges regarding the controversy, they made it clear that they wanted to clear the matter up straight away, probably already in the month of March. However, from the tones and and topics used up to now, it would not be surprising if the quarrel about the Havel ended up even in court.