Grand Priory Square & the Lennon Wall
Why is it significant?
Stand in front of the wall and let it hit you: layer upon layer of colour, faces of John Lennon, peace signs, hearts, names, slogans in twenty languages, painted over each other so many times that the paint itself must be centimetres thick.
Key Facts
| Place | Grand Priory Square & the Lennon Wall |
|---|---|
| Address | Velkopřevorské náměstí, 118 00 Praha 1, Czechia |
| Geo Coordinates | 50.08620, 14.40670 |
| Part of Walk | Prague's Secret Lesser Town: Kampa, the Devil's Stream & the Embassy Garden of 1989 |
| Generated | Generated |
Stand in front of the wall and let it hit you: layer upon layer of colour, faces of John Lennon, peace signs, hearts, names, slogans in twenty languages, painted over each other so many times that the paint itself must be centimetres thick. Behind it, ironically, lies the quiet garden of one of the oldest religious orders in the world.
This square belongs to the Knights of Malta, the Order of St John. They came to Prague in the twelfth century, under King Vladislav the Second, and were given the task of guarding the approach to the stone Judith Bridge, the predecessor of Charles Bridge. Their church, Our Lady beneath the Chain, stands just around the corner with its two massive Gothic towers, and the Baroque palace on this square is still the seat of their Grand Prior.
The wall became famous in December 1980. When John Lennon was murdered in New York, young Praguers painted his portrait here, along with Beatles lyrics. Under the communist regime, Lennon stood for peace, freedom and everything Western rock music promised. The police painted over the wall again and again, and every time the portraits and the slogans came back, sometimes overnight. In the late 1980s young people gathered here to sing, and the gatherings turned into clashes with the police.
Look closely at the faces of the people adding their own lines today: a couple writing their initials, a student copying a lyric, an old man reading the layers like a newspaper. The wall is never finished. That is its whole meaning. And one more detail most visitors miss: listen for the water. Behind the little bridge at the end of the wall turns an old mill wheel, on a stream with a very strange name.
Before Kampa, though, a short detour north to a garden that almost nobody finds. Walk through Lázeňská street to Mostecká, and just before the towers of Charles Bridge turn left into U Lužického semináře. Look for a plain gate in a long wall... and listen for a peacock.