Havel honoured at funeral ceremony
World leaders join Czechs in an emotional tribute to the nation’s first democratically-elected president, Vaclav Havel, at a pomp-filled funeral ceremony.
Prime Minister David Cameron attended Havel’s funeral, which draws to a close a week of public grief and nostalgia over the death of the dissident playwright who led the 1989 revolution that toppled four decades of communist rule.
Bells tolled from churches while a wailing siren brought the country to a standstill in a minute of silence for Havel, the hero of the Velvet Revolution.
World leaders
His wife Dagmar, family members, friends and leaders from dozens of countries gathered at the towering, gothic St Vitus Cathedral which overlooks Prague. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former prime minister John Major (pictured with Mr Cameron below) and French President Nicolas Sarkozy were among some 1,000 mourners who bowed their heads in front of the coffin draped in the Czech colours.
Europe owes Vaclav Havel a profound debt. David Cameron
In a message read at the funeral by the Vatican’s former diplomatic representative in Prague, Pope Benedict XVI praised Havel.
“Remembering how courageously Mr Havel defended human rights at a time when these were systematically denied to the people of your country, and paying tribute to his visionary leadership in forging a new democratic polity after the fall of the previous regime, I give thanks to God for the freedom that the people of the Czech Republic now enjoy,” he said.
Family funeral
At the end of the ceremony, Havel’s coffin is to be carried through the cathedral’s Golden Gate to Prague’s Strasnice crematorium for a private family funeral. The urn with Havel’s ashes will be buried at his family’s plot at the city’s Vinohrady cemetery alongside his first wife, Olga, who died in 1996.
Havel, whose final term in office ended in 2003, died on Sunday morning in his sleep at his weekend home in the country’s north. The 75-year-old former chain-smoker had a history of chronic respiratory problems dating back to his time in prison.
Since his death, Czechs have gathered spontaneously to lay flowers and light candles at key historic sites such as the monument to the 1989 Velvet Revolution in central Prague, and at Wenceslas Square, where Havel once spoke before hundreds of thousands of people to express outrage at the repressive communist regime.
Similar scenes of remembrance played out across the country – in a show of emotion not seen since the 1937 funeral of Tomas Garrigue Masaryk, Czechoslovakia’s first president after the nation was founded in 1918.
“Europe owes Vaclav Havel a profound debt,” Mr Cameron said ahead of today’s funeral. “Havel led the Czech people out of tyranny… and he helped bring freedom and democracy to our entire continent.”
Czechs packed a nearby courtyard at Prague Castle and an adjacent square to watch the funeral ceremony on giant screens.
“He was our star, he gave us democracy,” said Iva Buckova, 51, who had travelled from the western city of Plzen. “He led us through revolution. We came to see him for the last time.”
Lech Walesa
Prague Archbishop Dominik Duka, who spent time in jail with Havel under communism, was leading the funeral mass. He was joined by Vatican envoy Giovanni Coppa and bishop Vaclav Maly, Havel’s friend and fellow dissident. Poland’s former president Lech Walesa – who led the anti-communist Solidarity movement – also attended.
Czech President Vaclav Klaus, who was Havel’s political arch-rival, and two friends – Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg and former US secretary of state Madeleine Albright – were to pay tribute to Havel at the cathedral, which dates back to the 10th century and has not witnessed a state funeral since 1875.
The Czech Philharmonic Orchestra performed parts of Requiem by Czech composer Antonin Dvorak throughout the ceremony. Braving the freezing cold, thousands of mourners had waited in long lines every day since Monday to file past Havel’s coffin.
Several thousand people joined Havel’s widow, relatives and friends in a sombre procession through the capital on Wednesday as Havel’s body was transported to Prague Castle.
In his final years, Havel made only occasional public appearances, and would often say that he had insufficient time to resume his literary work.
