Helsinki became the first city in Nordic countries to receive this memorial as a part of a worldwide project initiated by the Czech ambassador to the US, Petr Gandalovič, and the architect and designer Bořek Šípek, with the aim to create a network of places in public spaces that can contribute to meeting and holding of genuine dialogue – places, where it will be possible to hold discussions and reflect in the spirit of the ideals and philosophy of Václav Havel. 

The memorial comprises two chairs linked by a round table with a tree growing through its centre. Havel’s Places have been installed all over the world: in the United States, Japan, Peru, in more European countries (e.g. France, Spain or Ireland), there are many throughout Czechia.

This Havel´s Place was inaugurated on the 50th anniversary of the Helsinki Conference, where the Helsinki Final Act was signed. Later on the document laid the foundation for declaration of Czechoslovak citizens, mainly dissidents, Charter 77, calling on Czechoslovakia's communist authorities to respect the international human rights agreements they had signed. Václav Havel was one of the first spokesmen of Charter 77.

The memorial is placed in Makasiinipuisto Park in front of Helsinki Central Library Oodi: in the intersection of the Parliament House reflecting Václav Havel as a statesman, the Oodi Library representing Václav Havel as a writer, and Finlandia Hall where the Final Act of the Helsinki Conference was signed.

The unveiling ceremony was followed by screening of the documentary “Václav Havel – Living in Freedom“ in Maijansali of Helsinki Central Library Oodi.

This biographic documentary from 2014, directed by Andrea Sedláčková, tells the life story of Václav Havel, Czech writer, playwright, political dissident, leading figure of the political changes in November 1989, last President of Czechoslovakia and first President of the Czech Republic. The ambition of the film makers has not been to map out history through an account of Havel´s life, but to draw his film portrait, with the story narrated by Václav Havel himself. By means of shots and photographs, they offer the viewer a look into Havel´s eventful life, all its stages and the roles he played in them – from childhood, compulsory military service and the beginnings of his theatre career to the Chartist and presidential periods.

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We would like to thank to all the donors and the City of Helsinki that took care of all the ground work necessary for establishing Havel´s Place in Helsinki.

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This Václav Havel´s Place in Helsinki has been kindly sponsored by: Quercus Foundation, VAFO Group, Teemu Lehto, Ivan and Hugo Chadima, Tomáš Vlasák, Gabriela and Petr Babický, Hannah and Jiří Balaštík, Miroslava and Jiří Voříšek, Marek Vinš.

The screening of the documentary has been kindly sponsored by VAFO Group, a leading European producer of superpremium pet food.

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