Friday, January 25, 2013

The John Lennon Wall

On the last day of the trip I tagged along with Karla, Mary and Katie.  They wanted to walk across the Charles Bridge to see the John Lennon Wall.  I have to be honest, I did not even know this wall existed but since I have always been a fan of the Beetles and Lennon I thought it would be neat to go.  Little did I know just how great it would be!  Here is what the Lonely Planet says about the Lennon Wall:

After his murder on 8 December 1980 John Lennon became a pacifist hero for many young Czechs. An image of Lennon was painted on a wall in a secluded square opposite the French Embassy (there is a niche on the wall that looks like a tombstone), along with political graffiti and Beatles lyrics.
Despite repeated coats of whitewash, the secret police never managed to keep it clean for long, and the Lennon Wall became a political focus for Prague youth (most Western pop music was banned by the communists, and some Czech musicians were even jailed for playing it).
Post-1989 weathering and lightweight graffiti ate away at the political messages and images, until little remained of Lennon but his eyes, but visiting tourists began making their own contributions. The wall is the property of the Knights of Malta, and they have repainted it several times, but it soon gets covered with more Lennon images, peace messages and inconsequential tourist graffiti. In recent years the Knights have bowed to the inevitable and now don’t bother to whitewash it any more.














Thanks Karla, you made the last day in Prague really great!

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