Thanks to Václav Havel, Prague Castle opened up to ordinary people

Prague - When Václav Havel was first elected president at the end of 1989, the seat of the head of state was largely inaccessible to the public. Since then, however, Prague Castle has changed and opened its gates one by one. "We want the Castle to become what it perhaps was during the time of Rudolf II," Havel said after opening the first forbidden door. His successor in the presidential office, Václav Klaus, continued to open the grounds to regular visitors after Havel's passing.
During the communist presidency of Gustáv Husák, only the castle courtyard and part of the Old Royal Palace were accessible, and it was also possible to walk into the Golden Lane. From 1975 to 1989, the public could visit only about a third of the extensive complex; at that time, Prague Castle functioned as an inaccessible bastion, and the highlight of entertainment, according to those who remember, were Sunday promenade concerts in the Garden Na Valech.
The first forbidden areas fell immediately after Havel's arrival; at his request, the metal "fortifications" that covered the fence around the former presidential villa disappeared, and the gates of the Royal Garden, adjacent to the residence, were opened. Shortly after November 1989, the Ball Game Hall, previously unknown to the public, and the Belvedere, where exhibitions are held today, were also made accessible. The previously inaccessible tower of St. Vitus Cathedral was also included in the tour route.
The castle gardens and the Deer Moat underwent significant changes as well; it had been inaccessible because a shelter had been built in it. Of the extensive Baroque terraced gardens, the Ledebour and Small Pálffy Gardens opened first in June 1995. They were followed by the Large Pálffy Garden, Kolowrat Garden, and Small Fürstenberg Garden. Public Days at the Castle began to be held, during which people could look into the Spanish Hall, Plečnik's Column Hall, or the Throne Room.
Just like during the First Republic, Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk (Josip Plečnik) had his castle architect; Bořek Šípek collaborated with the president from 1992. His first commission for the Castle was a prototype chair for the Spanish Hall. He designed offices for Havel at the Castle and at the Lány chateau. He also designed, for example, the entrance to the presidential office, the interior of the Picture Gallery, and improvements to the technical background of the Spanish Hall and Rudolf Gallery.
In addition to Šípek, Eva Jiřičná, who designed the New Orangery, also contributed to the new appearance of the Castle. The uniforms of the Castle Guard, designed by the famous costume designer Theodor Pištěk, survived the era of Václav Havel at Prague Castle. After Václav Klaus took office in 2003, there were thoughts of changing them, and voices again arose calling the uniforms unhistorical or in poor taste, but ultimately everything remained the same.
The Castle under Václav Havel also increasingly hosted exhibitions and other cultural events. One of the largest projects was the grand exhibition "Josip Plečnik, architecture for a new democracy" in 1996. In April 2001, an extensive project "Ten Centuries of Architecture" was launched. Successful exhibitions during Havel's presidency included "Rudolf II. and His Era," and the tradition of the Summer Shakespeare Festival also began.
However, the changes at Prague Castle did not end with Havel's departure; the complex continued to open up under Václav Klaus. In 2004, for example, the exhibition "The Story of Prague Castle" was opened in the long inaccessible part of the Old Royal Palace, and three years later, the so-called Masaryk Viewpoint was made accessible. And since last year, the production gardens, which serve as the backdrop for the castle gardeners and where ornamental plants for decorating the Castle are grown, have occasionally been opened to the public.