John Lennon Wall – Prague, Czech Republic
I read yesterday that the John Lennon Wall in Prague recently got painted over in white. The only writing left on it is “Wall Is Over!” in reference to Lennon and Ono’s peace message “War Is Over!”
It made me reminisce on my visits to the wall on both of my trips to Prague. So I decided to take a look back at that wall’s more vibrant years (literally).
The John Lennon wall is super popular. In fact, it’s frequently listed as one of the top things to do in Prague. My friend and I love The Beatles and street art, so we knew we wanted to visited it while we were in the city.
It took us forever to find the wall. Prague’s Old Town streets are the furthest thing from an organized grid system. So even though we had directions, we got pretty lost trying to find it. We wandered down narrow, crisscrossing roads for a while before we finally turned a corner and luckily ran into it. While we were at the wall we noticed people’s excited faces as they finally turned the corner and saw it. I assume most people get just as lost as we did trying to find it!
I was expecting this huge, breathtaking wall, but it really wasn’t that. The whole wall was probably only about 20 feet long. But what’s great about it is that when you get up close, you can read so many notes in tons of different languages. People have been painting on this wall since the 1980’s, so there are constantly layers and layers of graffiti. Some are simple, like a name and date, and others are ornate paintings (mostly of Lennon).
Both times I’ve been, the wall has looked completely different.
It’s always covered in messages of love and peace from around the world. But as more and more people visit, older messages get covered up with new ones. But that’s what is nice about it. No two visits will be the same. In fact, I bet no two days will be the same. So many people visit it every day that new messages and drawings pop up daily.
But now, apparently, it has been completely painted white. As much as the article tries to make it a big deal, it really isn’t! This has happened before, probably multiple times. And I can guarantee that with the amount of people who visit it every day, it was completely re-covered in Lennon-inspired graffiti within 48 hours.
