Lennon's Wall: freedom in colors or just a tourist attraction?
With the revolution and the opening of the borders, Prague has become a major tourist destination since 1989. The city's attractiveness in the early 1990s was not only in its well-preserved historical architecture but also in the fact that traces of the previous communist regime still existed. The Lennon Wall became one of the main attractions, demonstrating to tourists its repressive nature and the forms of resistance against it. The wall and its references to the hippie movement also symbolized the exuberant nature of Prague as a new tourist destination, which was also famous for its cheap alcohol and bohemian atmosphere.
After the coup, foreign tourists not only visited Lennon's Wall in large numbers, but also interfered significantly with its contents. Writing, painting, spray-painting, and the removal of visitor inscriptions and signatures continued throughout the 1990s, leading to the destruction of the plasterwork of the Maltese Garden Wall, which was only restored in 1998. Some owners of privatized or restituted houses and flats in the vicinity of the wall even suggested that the wall should be re-covered with poster board as it had been in 1981. Others, on the other hand, saw the growing popularity of the Lennon Wall among tourists as a business opportunity.
In 2019, on the 30th anniversary of the fall of the communist regime, an event called Meet Art took place, where about 20 artists, led by artist and designer Pavel Šťastný, painted and decorated the wall with the words "Freedom" and "All you need is love" in 30 languages.
The wall was subsequently to be more closely monitored by cameras and police, and any vandals were to be prosecuted. As time has shown, this intention of the Prague administration has backfired, as has the artistic solution of the artists around Št'astný, which did not last long on the wall.
After 2000, the wall became one of the main Prague landmarks mentioned in tourist guides. The appearance of Lennon's Wall has changed many times and gradually it has become a place that has little in common with its original form and atmosphere. After 2000, some even began to refer to it as the "Tourist Wall".
The Commercialization of Malá Strana and the Transformation of the Lennon Wall
One witness described the changes in Malá Strana in the period shortly after the coup as follows:
"New tenants began to move into the newly renovated houses in Malá Strana, hotels, hostels, apartments, and tourist shops were built. Ordinary shops such as a dairy, a shoe repair shop, and a stationery shop disappeared. Suddenly, Malá Strana was polished and dilapidated, and the windows of the houses remained blind in the evening. Lennon Wall became a subtle and gradual open-air exhibit. It became one of many empty cans with no contents. The city decided to "valorize" it with would-be works of art that are untouchable and protected by law, completely negating its purpose."
The Wall gradually became a global symbol of the struggle against unfreedom, and especially communist oppression. It inspired and connected social and political movements in different parts of the world. The Lennon Wall continues to contribute to human belonging and to open up fundamental questions of human freedom, peace and the relationship between art and society.
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In 2010, former Beatles drummer Pete Best also signed the wall, having been invited to Prague by the National Museum in connection with the ongoing Beatlemania exhibition at the Czech Museum of Music. The public and media interest was further stimulated by another accompanying event when a violent police intervention was staged against the participants of the annual meeting at Lennon's Wall. This publicity event fulfilled its intended purpose, with record attendance at the exhibition.
Source: BLAŽEK, Petr; LAUBE, Roman; POSPÍŠIL, Filip. Lennonova zeď v Praze: Studie, rozhovory, dokumenty. Praha: Muzeum paměti XX. století, 2020. 536 s. ISBN 978-80-907989-0-8.
