Wall Is Over: Prague's Lennon Wall covered by tarps, will re-emerge as a gallery for professional artists

Prague’s John Lennon Wall as it has existed since the 1980s has ended. Scaffolding and blue tarps now cover the wall, which is undergoing a renovation that will cost 250,000 CZK. After that is completed, most of the wall will be a protected open-air gallery with paintings by professional artists. Only a small section will be available to the public.

The damaged cornice
of the top of the wall will be fixed and missing tiles will be
replaced. The portal will be made more secure, and the structural
support for the wall will be strengthened.

Originally, more
extensive repairs were planned, but these would have extended into
early 2020, which the order felt was too long to keep the wall shut
down.

Prague 1 Deputy
Mayor Petr Hejma said that the new rules for the wall are currently
being developed. “We want to declare the Lennon Wall a memorial
place. Visitors will be obliged to behave in a certain way on the
spot, which will be enforced by the Municipal Police,” he said.
Busking for money will not be allowed, due to complaints from local
residents about noise. “Of course we will not stop anyone from
taking their guitar with their friends and going to sing Beatles’
songs. But we will not support targeted busking,” he said.

Prague 1 will
install security cameras near the wall and strengthen police patrols.

Among the people to
visit the wall were Lennon’s widow, Yoko Ono, in 2003 and original
Beatles drummer Pete Best in 2010.

In 2014, the wall
made international news when a group of artists painted it white save
for the inscription “Wall Is Over,” a pun on Lennon’s peace
campaign “War Is Over.”

Just weeks later,
though, an environmental group painted the wall white again save for
a few spaces such as Havel’s face, and added large environmental
slogans. That quickly vanished under layers of random scribbling. A
new portrait of Lennon by an unknown artist was added on May 1, but
defaced soon after.

Another portrait
added over the summer managed to survive until the renovation
started.

The wall also inspired similar Lennon Walls in Hong Kong during the recent protests there. Messages relating to freedom in Hong Kong also sprang up on the Prague wall in both English and Cantonese. Pro-Beijing messages began to appear just before the scaffolding went up.