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Joan Baez sang at an outdoor memorial to Václav Havel at Prague Castle on Tuesday evening, in one of a series of events commemorating the first anniversary of the late president’s death. The US folk musician, who had appeared with Mr. Havel in the Czech capital on the 20th anniversary of the start of the Velvet Revolution, led a sing-along of We Shall Overcome. Baez had previously been in Prague three months ago to take part in the ceremonial launch of Forum 2000; her programme this time around includes event linked to the launch of a Czech-language version of her memoirs.

Events have been held around the country in remembrance of the late president Vaclav Havel on the first anniversary of his death. A mass is to be celebrated in memory of the country’s first post-communist president in the Church of Our Lady before Týn and around 300 people joined a commemorative procession through the city centre on Tuesday. People have been lighting candles in places associated with the late president and in the Moravian metropolis Brno members of the public attended the unveiling of a wax heart made of the thousands of candles lit in the wake of Václav Havel’s death a year ago. A requiem mass celebrated by Cardinal Dominik Duka was held at the Church of St. Anne on the eve of the anniversary and broadcast live by Czech Television.

Among the organizations keeping the legacy of the country’s first post-communist president alive is the Václav Havel Library, which was established back in 2004 but has boosted its activities since he passed away in December last year. This year the Václav Havel Library began expanding – starting the process of opening a branch in the United States. Masha Volynsky reports.

A series of events have been held in Prague and elsewhere in the Czech Republic observing the first anniversary of the death of Václav Havel, who led the country to democracy in 1989’s Velvet Revolution. The commemorations have included the unveiling of a new plaque to the late president at a statue of Woodrow Wilson in the capital.

Among those closest to Václav Havel was Michael Žantovský. The two were among the founders of the opposition Civic Forum in the whirlwind period of the Velvet Revolution, which toppled Czechoslovakia’s Communist regime after four long decades. Soon after Mr. Havel was elected president on December 29 1989, he made Mr. Žantovský his press spokesperson – and part of a team at Prague Castle that had to learn double-quick how to run a country.

A new plaque commemorating late ex-president Václav Havel close to the Woodrow Wilson Memorial in Prague was unveiled on Monday evening. Several dozen people were present including Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg and former defence minister Alexandr Vondra. The plaque was paid for by 258 Czech and Slovak artists living in the United States and the project was put together by the American Friends of the Czech Republic. As soon as the weather allows, the plaque will receive permanent moorings at the site. Speaking at the unveiling, the foreign minister – a close friend of Mr Havel’s – noted that his influence abroad had always been greater than many at home realised.

City councilors are weighing the possibility of renaming a Prague bridge or part of an embankment street after late President Václav Havel, Mlada fronta Dnes reports. According to the daily, part of Rašínovo nábřeži near where Mr Havel once had an apartment could be renamed in his honour. Councilor Lukáš Manhart told the paper the renaming was a possibility but provided few details. At least one other city councilor expressed support for the idea. Earlier this year Prague’s Ruzyně international airport was renamed after the late president.

Petr Hájek, the controversial vice chancellor to current president Václav Klaus, has issued harsh criticism of the late Václav Havel, the playwright and former dissident and president, who died a year ago on December 18. In a TV interview, Mr Hájek indirectly compared the late president to fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, suggesting that Mr Havel’s politics had been undemocratic and had favored a non-elected elite. In a recently-published book Mr Hájek slammed Václav Havel as having been “in the service of Satan”. The vice chancellor is no stranger to controversy: in the past he has questioned, for example, who was behind the 9/11 attacks. German daily Die Welt this week dubbed the vice chancellor “court jester” to outgoing president Václav Klaus.

The chairman of TOP 09, Karel Schwarzenberg is one of three candidates for president nominated by a party in Parliament. The blue-blooded Mr. Schwarzenberg is – at 75 – also the oldest of those in the running. But his closeness to the late Václav Havel and doddery but decent image could stand him in good stead in the polls.

A tapestry dedicated to the late Czech president Václav Havel and financed by some of the world’s biggest rock stars was unveiled on Sunday at Prague’s recently renamed Václav Havel Airport. The massive artwork is based on a tribute to Mr. Havel by the Czech-born illustrator Peter Sís, while its creation was overseen by Amnesty International.