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Design for Václav Havel
Marking Havel's 90th birthday, this Riding School show presents the first post-Communist president through the objects that surrounded him — Bořek Šípek's furniture and glass, Theodor Pištěk's Castle Guard uniforms, and Havel's own study.
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For 24 years, the desk Václav Havel gave his New Year's addresses from sat under a tarp in a château attic near Opava. When Václav Klaus moved in, he cleared out his predecessor's look, and the Kolka family took Bořek Šípek's office home to Štáblovice. Plenty of families have an attic full of furniture too good to throw out; theirs held a president's office.
You walk in past a row of Šípek's red Olga chairs, linked by small shelves between the seats. Lightly restored, the office anchors this Riding School show for Havel's 90th birthday: Šípek's desk, chest of drawers and bookcase. Around it are things the Castle commissioned under Havel, never shown together before: Theodor Pištěk's Castle Guard uniforms, a Lancia Kappa.
Seznam Zprávy's Hana Slívová called the study the show's high point, and the NATO summit hammer, with two eggs for a head, strange and a little fairy-tale. Entry is free, daily 10am to 6pm until 17 January; a few days close early for state ceremonies.
Editor's pick
For Havel's 90th birthday, the Riding School gathers the objects around him: Bořek Šípek's furniture and glass, Havel's own study and Theodor Pištěk's Castle Guard uniforms, which the guards at the gate still wear.
Look for
Havel's office
Look for Šípek's desk, chest of drawers and bookcase with Bellini's Cab chair: the setting for many of Havel's New Year's addresses, back from 24 years in a château attic.
Havel's own sketches
Look for the president's drawings, including those for Šípek's Olga chair, which the curators show to make the case that he helped design these things.
The Castle Guard uniforms
Look for Theodor Pištěk's set of guard uniforms, shown alongside the uniform he designed for the president himself.
The President dinner service
Look for Jiří Laštovička's state service for official dinners, in dark blue, white and gold, with gilded lime leaves around the coat of arms.
The flying leopardess
Look for the design for a flying leopardess Havel had made for the space above the entrance to the President's Office.
Good for
- Cheap Culture
- Nerding Out
- Out-Of-Town Guests
Skip if
You want the Castle's historic halls: this is 1990s furniture, uniforms and tableware, not architecture.
Also at Prague Castle
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Image credits
9
- Design for Václav HavelJiří Jiroutek, CC BY 3.0
- Chronos. The Theme of Time in 16th- to 18th-Century PrintsCourtesy of National Gallery Prague – Schwarzenberg Palace
- Annette Messager: TragikomedieCourtesy of Kunsthalle Praha
- Radka Bodzewicz: FAUSTCourtesy of DOX Centre for Contemporary Art
- Prague CastleJanmad, CC BY 3.0
- Lobkowicz PalaceErudy, via Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
- National Gallery Prague – Sternberg Palacesvajcr / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
- National Gallery Prague – Schwarzenberg PalaceDiego Delso / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Kunsthalle PrahaLukáš Masner / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0