Havel honoured by Czestochowa

Former town mayor Tadeusz Wrona recalled in an interview with the Catholic Information Agency that Vaclav Havel visited the Black Madonna shrine in Czestochowa on 8 September 1992.

Havel came there during his private visit to Poland at the invitation of President Lech Wałęsa.

He served as President of Czechoslovakia until that that country’s division into two separate states in July 1992, and as such held no political post at the time he came to Poland. A visit to the Marian shrine in Częstochowa was made at his personal request.

The naming follows a move by politicians in the Baltic city of Gdansk at the end of last year which also saw an avenue named after the late Czech president. (mk/jb)