( CNN ) -- Admirers of the late Czech President Vaclav Havel lined Prague 's famous Charles Bridge Wednesday as his coffin was moved to Prague Castle ahead of his state funeral Friday . Havel , who helped bring down communism in Czechoslovakia 's 1989 Velvet Revolution , died Sunday , aged 75 . A fiercely independent thinker with a wry , playful sense of humor , Havel became president of Czechoslovakia after the fall of the Moscow-backed regime , and the first president of the Czech Republic when it split peacefully from Slovakia three years later . The long-time chain smoker , whose health was permanently damaged by time in prison under the Communists , died peacefully in his sleep Sunday , his spokeswoman Sabina Tancevova said . People poured into the streets of Prague with candles and flowers in memory of him that night . His longtime friend and translator Paul Wilson remembered Havel as `` a very shy and gentle man with a will of steel , who was fearless when confronting a regime that tried , relentlessly , to crush his spirit . '' Havel , an absurdist playwright turned political activist , spent four and a half years in prison for opposing Czechslovakia 's Communist government before emerging as a leader of the Velvet Revolution . A deeply serious thinker given to long , rambling statements in presidential speeches and conversation , Havel also had an impish sense of humor , reportedly whizzing through the long corridors of Prague Castle on a scooter after becoming president . A perennial contender for the Nobel Peace Prize , Havel never won , but he remained active in anti-communist causes from Cuba to China until his death . He urged Chinese authorities to release dissident Liu Xiaobo , whose Charter 08 call for greater political freedom in China was inspired by Czechoslovakia 's Charter 77 . Havel and other Czech dissidents attempted to deliver a letter to the Chinese Embassy in January 2010 , before Liu won the Nobel Peace Prize , but they found the doors closed and no one to receive it . It was an absurd scene that could have come out of one of the plays he wrote in the 1960s , poking fun at the Soviet-backed authorities who ruled his country at the time . Theater proved a potent weapon against Czechoslovakia 's Communist rulers , who stepped down without a shot being fired in the weeks after the Berlin Wall fell , signaling the defeat of the region 's authoritarian Moscow-backed regimes . Havel was unanimously elected president by the last Communist-run parliament of Czechoslovakia 22 years ago this month . His country joined NATO and the European Union under his stewardship , but he lost out on many of the major domestic political battles of his presidency , including his effort to keep Czechoslovakia together . U.S. President Barack Obama said he was `` was inspired by his words and leadership . ... Vaclav Havel was a friend to America and to all who strive for freedom and dignity , and his words will echo through the ages . '' But speaking to to CNN 's Jim Clancy in March , Havel expressed more modest wishes for how history would remember him . `` I would be glad if it was felt that I have done something generally useful , '' he said . `` I do n't care much about personal fame or popularity . I would be satisfied with the feeling that I had a chance to help with something in general , something good . That history gave me that chance . ''
The Saint Charles Bridge as the late dissident 's body is moved . Havel died Sunday at the age of 75 . His writings and activism helped overthrow Communism in Poland . He will be buried in a state funeral ceremony .