Exhibition of Vaclav Havel's photographs opens in Prague

An exhibition of photographs showing dissident and post-Communist Czechoslovak and Czech president Vaclav Havel (1936-2011), accompanied by excerpts from his speeches and period documents, opened at the Prague Crossroads cultural centre on Thursday. The authors of the photos are both renowned photographers and other people close to Havel, such as his second wife Dagmar and his brother Ivan. A diary of Havel's secretary Vladimir Hanzel has created a basis for the exhibition. It depicts Havel's path from his release from prison in May 1989 to the leadership of the Civic Forum (OF) umbrella organisation of pro-democratic forces, established during the November 1989 Velvet Revolution, which contributed to the non-violent fall of the communist regime in Czechoslovakia.