In the competition for the design of Vaněk's bench, Dostálová and Pištěk won

Prague - Prague 6 has selected the design of the bench named after Ferdinand Vaněk, the central figure of many theatrical plays by playwright and former president Václav Havel, in an architectural competition. The winning design featuring a red brewery barrel motif will likely be placed in front of the National Technical Library building. This was announced today in a press release by Jan Lacina (STAN), the deputy mayor of the district and chair of the jury.

The city hall announced the competition as part of the celebrations for Havel's posthumous 80th birthday. There were 22 original designs to choose from. The winning work by the duo of architects Ley Dostálová and Petr Pištek, according to the judges, evokes imagination and creates a slightly absurd atmosphere. The red color, on the other hand, evokes the former totalitarian regime. The seating surface of the bench, measuring 1989 millimeters in length, references the pivotal year in Czech history. "One could say that this modest reminder allows us to repay a long-standing debt to our esteemed citizen," said Lacina.

Havel first used Vaněk as his stylized alter ego in the play Audience in 1975, and since then he has used him ten more times. Ferdinand is a dissident, possessing some traits of his creator, and all Vaněk's plays were born during the normalization period. The character of Vaněk has also been used in plays by some of Havel's friends and associates such as Pavel Kohout, Jiří Dienstbier, and Pavel Landovský; an international Vaněk work includes the play Rock'n'roll by Tom Stoppard.

This year's double anniversary of Václav Havel is being commemorated throughout the year by many people and institutions. A significant portion of the events took place in October around the anniversary of Havel’s birth. Others will follow in December in remembrance of Havel's death.