the lennon wall, prague
the lennon wall started in prague in a tiny little hard-to-find lane on velkopřevorské náměstí in prague’s malá strana quarter in 1980, when the world heard the news about the assassination of john lennon on december 8th of that year.
the world was stunned, and those hopeful peace and freedom lovers (and john disciples) took to painting this wall as an expression of grief using it almost like an altar. although the communist government at the time didn’t like it, they mostly turned a blind eye and it became a place of art and rremembrance to commemorate john. it’s a wonderful prague landmark, enjoyed by lennon fans and other tourists who just want to see what all of the fuss is about. it has changed over the years, sometimes displaying a big beautiful mural of john’s face and other times just containing basically graffiti.
the first time i actually found the wall was christmas eve, 2012. it was my second or third time looking for it (yeah, sort of pathetic) and when i finally found it, it was about dusk. candles were lit there. spending christmas eve at the lennon wall– a very quiet and special moment for me.
the wall has been in the news recently, as last monday (the 25th anniversary of the velvet revolution), prague and thusly, the internet was in an uproar because the wall had reportedly been vandalized. people were upset, pissed, even. what happened? the entire wall was white-washed with only, in black capital letters: “WALL IS OVER.”
but… are you seeing what i’m seeing? as a huge beatles and john & yoko fan, immediately this stood out to me as being a spoof on their slogan, “WAR IS OVER”, made most famous by their song “happy christmas, war is over” in 1971. same font and everything. couldn’t have been done better. finally! something artistic (and successfully humorous) on this wall for the first time in in awhile– bravo!
the gal who shared this on social media and brought it to my attention fell into the “upset” contingent. i thought she must be joking, but she wasn’t. and that’s not the only group who was upset. the knights of malta, the organization that actually owns this piece of wall, reported it as an act of vandalism, until the group of students who actually did it came forward and they talked it out. commenters online felt that the group painted over other peoples’ art.
hm. this is where it gets a bit subjective. for years there hasn’t been too much on the wall besides tourists signing their names. is that art? maybe, maybe not. i actually had to laugh at the thought that people were getting angry that someone painted over someone elses’ graffiti on a graffiti wall. surely, they were within their boundaries, or were they?
in any case, the lennon wall reminds a funky cool prague memorial to the man who brought songs and thoughts of peace to millions. i leave you with this tribute.
HAPPY CHRISTMAS, WAR IS OVER (if you want it)
from cynthia & alex in the czech republic, 2014
