After his murder on 8 December 1980 John Lennon became a pacifist hero for many young Czechs. An image of Lennon was painted on a wall in a secluded square opposite the French Embassy, along with political graffiti and Beatles lyrics
Despite repeated coats of whitewash, the secret police never managed to keep it clean for long, and the Lennon Wall became a political focus for Prague youth (most Western pop music was banned by the communists, and some Czech musicians were even jailed for playing it).
Post-1989 weathering and lightweight graffiti ate away at the political messages and images, until little remained of Lennon but his eyes, but visiting tourists began making their own contributions
The wall is the property of the Knights of Malta, and they have repainted it several times, but it soon gets covered with more Lennon images, peace messages and inconsequential tourist graffiti. In recent years the Knights have bowed to the inevitable and now don’t bother to whitewash it any more
It is a growing trend in European cities for couples to secure a padlock onto a bridge as a token of love. Some locks feature handwritten or engraved initials or messages on them
The local legend is that two star-crossed lovers - just like Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet,” - came from two prominent Czech families caught in a feud. They planned to meet at the bridge for a kiss and when the families discovered their secret, the unfortunate pair were killed
The legend inspired many locals and tourists to visit the bridge and add their own love lock to the collection to represent their eternal adoration. There are also locks on Charles Bridge
With a height of 318m the Petřín Hill is a network of eight parks offering magnificent panoramas of Prague.
We reached the top by the funicular railway
With views over the Vltava
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