Dissident Charter 77 Celebrates 30 Years With Exhibition In National Museum

29 January 2007, 16:17 - History
The appearance of Charter 77 on the political horizon of the Communist Czechoslovakia marked an essential dividing line in the development of the country just 30 years ago, in 1977. Czech are now commemorating that it is now 30 years after the Charter was published by the group of dissidents.

The published text and the following hysteria of the Communist regime and secret police plus the existence of the "movement" of the Charter 77, all of that is now presented at the exhibition in the National Museum. The exhibition Charter 77 in its times, history and Charter 77 show the era of the 1970s: "normalization" in the Communist regime, time without time, and also hopes, that the Charter brought to the substantial part of the society.

Visitors of the exhibition that started last week and will be open until 25 March 2007 could see several documents related to the activity of Charter 77, samizdat printings or objects related to the Charter 77 activists.

The authenticity of that era is caught on photographs of photographer Ivan Kyncl, whose photos are breathing the atmosphere of the late 70s. Visitor could also see some portraits of Czech poet Jaroslav Seifert, laureate of the Nobel Prize for literature (1984). His appreciation helped to large promotion of Czechoslovak dissent around the world.

Most of the exhibits and documents come from the Czechoslovak Documentation Centre 1948-1989 that was founded in Schwarzenberg in Western Germany in 1986. The Centre moved under the roof of National Museum in 2003.

The Chairmain of the Center, Czech historian Vilem Precan says about the Charter 77: "It was a flash whose light elucidated the fact that history never ends and that it always remains open. The ideological orientation of Charter 77 – the principle of the indivisibility of liberty and the universal validity of human and civil rights which it professed was in itself a radical challenge to the totalitarian communist regime."

"The Charter remains an evidence of the value of personal resolve – people became signatories of the Declaration of Charter 77 from January 1, 1977 mostly because of their own personal integrity; they said their “no” and “yes”, because they could not keep quiet in the face of the official lie," Precan continues.

The Charter is a part of history. Not only that of Czechoslovakia (or Czech Republic), but also of the whole world.

(The photograph says "Havel is behind bars. Vivat Havel!")

WHERE: National Museum (Pantheon), Wenceslas Square 68, Prague 1

WHEN: 24 Jan 2007 - 25 Mar 2007 | open daily 9am - 5pm

TIP: Find out more of Czech history.