After John Lennon's murder on 8 December 1980 he 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
(there is a niche on the wall that looks like a tombstone), 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).