Václav Havel, former President of Czech Republic who has died aged 75, with his wife Dagmar Havlová (bottom) at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin where he was presented with the inaugural Art for Amnesty ‘Ambassador of Conscience’ award in November 2003.
At his best, President Havel was a genuinely national leader with a dynamic understanding of Europe, a politician whose vision and wit embraced not just the art of the possible but of the impossible too, and a civic leader whose sense of what is worthwhile in life transcended materialism – massively important though that was for eastern Europeans whose aspirations had been denied for so long – to embrace the imaginative and intellectual. In an era in which Europe is now so often spoken of with a sneer, he is a reminder of a very recent time when Europe embodied something noble and liberating which was eagerly shared – even here.
Václav Havel: The Other Europe (Editorial, Guardian)