This translation has been produced automatically and may contain errors and inaccuracies. If you notice anything, please let us know.<\/p>\n
October 5, 2026, marks the 90th anniversary of V\u00e1clav Havel\u2019s birth. The nEUROPA Gallery of Kultur Aktiv e.V. is marking this anniversary with an exhibition and accompanying program to honor this pioneer of democracy and human rights in East Central Europe\u2014a staunch European who, as president, also vigorously championed German-Czech reconciliation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Photographer Bohdan Holom\u00ed\u010dek (born 1943) met V\u00e1clav Havel on May 4, 1975, in Hr\u00e1de\u010dek and photographed him there for the first time. Havel liked the photos, and a friendship developed, along with a deep bond of trust between Bohdan Holom\u00ed\u010dek, V\u00e1clav Havel, and Havel\u2019s wife, Olga. Thus, Holom\u00ed\u010dek became the visual chronicler of Havel\u2019s activities, particularly at his private estate in Hr\u00e1de\u010dek at the foot of the Giant Mountains. There, he witnessed and documented Havel\u2019s meetings with theater people, writers, musicians, and dissidents, as well as their artistic and political engagement with the conditions of real socialism in Czechoslovakia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Holom\u00ed\u010dek remained Havel\u2019s loyal companion, even after Havel was elected President of Czechoslovakia on December 29, 1989, as the Civic Forum\u2019s candidate. Bohdan Holom\u00ed\u010dek took the last photographs of V\u00e1clav Havel in 2011, one week before his death. Through his photographs, he documented the rehearsals for Havel\u2019s latest play, \u201cAsanace\u201d (Eng.: Renewal\/Renovation), a production the author himself was unable to see performed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bohdan Holom\u00ed\u010dek\u2019s photographs are characterized by closeness and a strong sense of intimacy. They reveal far more of Havel\u2019s human greatness than official tributes ever could. The photographer does not see Havel primarily as a dissident, writer, or president. Holom\u00ed\u010dek portrays V\u00e1clav Havel as a human being.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This exhibition is sponsored by the Osts\u00e4chsische Sparkasse Dresden<\/a>. The \u201cGalerie nEUROPA\u201d project is funded by the Saxon State Ministry for Social Affairs, Health, and Social Cohesion<\/a>. This initiative is co-financed with tax revenues based on the budget adopted by the Saxon State Parliament as part of the \u201cWir f\u00fcr Sachsen\u201d<\/a> funding program.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This translation has been produced automatically and may contain errors and inaccuracies. If you notice anything, please let us know. October 5, 2026, marks the 90th anniversary of V\u00e1clav Havel\u2019s birth. The nEUROPA Gallery of Kultur Aktiv e.V. is marking this anniversary with an exhibition and accompanying program to honor this pioneer of democracy and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":12468,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","categories":[92,72],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12467","eventkrake_event","type-eventkrake_event","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-92","category-film","eventkrake-accessibility-0"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/neustadt-art-festival.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/eventkrake_event\/12467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/neustadt-art-festival.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/eventkrake_event"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/neustadt-art-festival.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/eventkrake_event"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neustadt-art-festival.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12467"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neustadt-art-festival.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/neustadt-art-festival.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neustadt-art-festival.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neustadt-art-festival.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}