The Lennon Wall is an ordinary garden wall in a small Malá Strana square, opposite what is now the French embassy, and its life as a monument began in December 1980. After John Lennon was killed, someone painted his portrait here, and students began adding lyrics and grievances at a time when Western pop was discouraged and public complaint was not possible. The police painted it out; it came back overnight, repeatedly, for most of the decade. The land belongs to the Knights of Malta, who tolerated the painting throughout.
Forty years of that turnover buried the wall under layer after layer of paint, and by 2019 it was being sprayed faster than anyone could read it. That autumn the Order and the district closed it, repaired the surface and reopened it as a curated gallery: more than thirty invited artists painted the murals you see, and they are renewed roughly twice a year. Spray cans are banned and the square is watched. Visitors write in marker or chalk, in the white gaps left between the paintings.