If Walls Could Talk

The Meet Art event in Prague revitalised the iconic wall owned by the Order of Malta, that spreads a message of hope, originally painted in 1980 in honour of Beatles frontman John Lennon.

The John Lennon Wall in Prague’s Malá Strana – a symbol of free speech and the non-violent resistance of the Czech youth in the 1980s – has been reinvigorated with new paintings completed by local and international artists. O wned by the Order of Malta and located During Communist rule, John Lennon’s songs at Velkopřevorské náměstí (Grand Priory and many other western pop music were banned. Square), the wall became a unique Musicians and citizens were often arrested if listening centrepiece for the city when young artists and to or playing his music, but their support for Lennon activists took to the wall in 1980 honour of Beatles persevered through the communist rule. frontman John Lennon, who was murdered in Communist authorities worked to whitewash December that year. the portraits and lyrics of Lennon – even installing

Lennon was admired for his music that preached security cameras and posting guards – but the happiness and freedom, something the local youth did activists were persistent, with their artistic ventures in not have during the Totalitarian-Communist era. part facilitated by The Order of Malta.

The Order has permitted graffiti on the wall, located on one side of an enclosed garden, since the 1980s. According to Czech news outlet Prague.TV, the wall became a lone outpost for free speech for almost a decade, with authorities repeatedly painting the wall, until the Velvet Revolution.

Now, the wall – filled with the lyrics of Beatles songs and portraits of Lennon – has been revitalised with new artwork, undertaken as part of an event called Meet Art.

Two-dozen artists took part in the event to create the new murals on a 150-squaremetre section of the wall.

The new images include late Czech president Václav Havel as a young man wearing a T-shirt with the phrase “A Future of Freedom,” a map of the world with “All You Need is Love” in 30 languages, and a large number 30 with the zero as a smiley face.

Works also include a variation on the red-and-yellow multilingual Prague logo, but using the names of Lennon and Yoko Ono as the text.

The event was organized by Pavel Šťastný and co-organised by the Czech Chamber of Commerce.

Šťastný said the event was meant to return the wall to its original mission and make passers-by want to add a poem.

“The brightly coloured Lennon Wall in the heart of Prague on Kampa was a prerevolutionary symbol of freedom in the Czech Republic,” Šťastný said on Facebook.

Over the past 30 years, the wall became one of the tourist’s most sought-after locations in Prague, although it has been losing its original artistic vision. That is why the first event of the celebrations of 30 Years Of Freedom will be the recovery of artistic vision and symbolic meaning of the Lennon Wall.”

Visiting artists came from Oman, Slovakia, Serbia, Canada and the United Arab Emirates.