John Lennon Wall, Prague

Despite never setting foot in Czechoslovakia, John Lennon's messages of peace managed to penetrate the iron curtain and stir the souls of its residents. Enter the John Lennon Wall, a posthumous shrine born from the ashes of Lennon's untimely demise in 1980. An anonymous artist boldly defied Communist rule by adorning the wall with Beatles lyrics and the iconic image of the singer himself. Naturally, such subversive acts were deemed criminal by the powers that be.

The wall became a perpetual battleground, as authorities futilely attempted to erase the messages of dissent only to find them springing back to life like weeds in a concrete garden. Czech students took to the wall in 1988 to air their grievances, inciting clashes with the very security forces tasked with silencing their voices. Ironically, that movement was labeled "Lennonism," only to disparage its members as drunken lunatics and pawns of Western propaganda.

Fast forward to 2014, when a group of local art students whitewashed the wall, proclaiming the "Wall Is Over" and inviting the current generation to fill the void with their own musings. Prague's artistic community eagerly rose to the challenge, transforming the wall into a canvas of expression once more. The Beatles imagery was restored in 2019, a nod to the Velvet Revolution's anniversary.

Under the watchful eye of new regulations, spray painting on the wall is strictly forbidden. Instead, individuals are encouraged to express their freedom and love using more delicate mediums like pencils, markers, or chalk.