Prague Airport celebrates Václav Havel with exhibitions and installations

Prague's Václav Havel Airport dedicates the month of October to the ninetieth anniversary of the birth of the playwright, dissident and former Czech president after whom the airport is named. Starting from 1 October 2026, passengers and visitors can discover his figure through three exhibitions, publications, sound installations and initiatives distributed in the terminals.

Born in Prague on October 5, 1936, Václav Havel is told first and foremost through photography. In the Art Zone of Terminal 2, accessible in the public area, the exhibition Václav Havel: A Story in Images, created with Czech Photo, traces different moments of his public and private life. The images show him as a statesman, dissident and playwright through the shots of photographers including Karel Cudlín, Ondřej Němec, Alexandra Mlejnková, Jan Třeštík and Dan Materna, curator of the exhibition.

A second tour, "Václav Havel's Prague", was created together with the Presidential Library. Set up in the public concourse between Terminal 1 and Terminal 2, it can also be visited by those who do not have to take a flight and presents 18 places in the Czech capital related to Havel's life.
After the security checks of Terminal 2, at Pier C, Travellers will find the exhibition "Václav Havel and Poland", organized with the Polish Institute in Prague and dedicated to the relations between Havel, Poland and his society.

The initiatives also continue outside the exhibition spaces. Havel's works in Czech and English will be available in the airport libraries , which passengers can borrow and read during their stay in the terminal. The volumes are located near the Poesiomat and in the relaxation area of Terminal 2. The Poesiomat itself will offer recordings and readings taken from Havel's writings, transforming the waiting time into an opportunity to get closer to his literary production and his thought.

Havel's legacy already present in the airport
The link between Václav Havel and Prague Airport does not start with the 2026 celebrations. The airport has been named after him since 2012 and is home to several permanent installations. In Terminal 2 there is the anamorphic portrait of Václav Havel, made using over three thousand objects related to his legacy. In the same terminal there is also the Forum Havlum, conceived as a small theatrical space in which literary and political quotations are proposed.
Beyond the security checkpoints is also visible "The Flying Man", the large tapestry by artist Petr Sís dedicated to freedom and human rights and created with the support, among others, of Sting, Peter Gabriel and members of U2.