Celebrating John Lennon’s Life Around the World
The brutal murder of John Lennon 34 years ago cut a giant hole in the hearts of music fans and peace advocates worldwide. And though the sadness will never quite go away, the world has responded with an overwhelming number of memorials to honor his life and legacy. So in celebration of Lennon’s life, REBEAT takes a tour of the most famous and beautiful tributes to a man whose music changed the world.
Strawberry Fields (New York, NY)
Featuring the iconic “Imagine” mosaic, Strawberry Fields in New York City’s Central Park is one of the most recognized and visited Lennon memorials in the world. Mere steps from the Dakota (where John Lennon and Yoko Ono lived, and where Lennon was shot), Strawberry Fields was funded by Yoko Ono and dedicated on October 9, 1985 — Lennon’s 45th birthday.
Most people don’t realize that Strawberry Fields is more than the mosaic: it spans 2.5 acres and is designated as one of the few quiet zones in the Park. Residents and visitors are often found reading, meditating, and walking through the space, and the mosaic is nearly always decorated with flowers and other tributes. On the anniversaries of Lennon’s birth and death, the area draws huge crowds of people who gather to sing Beatles songs and celebrate John’s message of peace.
John Lennon Peace Monument (Liverpool, UK)
An 18-foot metal sculpture located in the heart of Liverpool, the monument was unveiled on October 9, 2010, by Lennon’s first wife Cynthia and eldest son Julian. The sculpture itself is abstract, but the white feather at the top is significant, especially to Julian: “Dad once said to me that should he pass away, if there was some way of letting me know he was going to be OK — that we were all going to be OK — the message would come to me in the form a white feather.”
The Peace Monument may be the most prominent Lennon memorial in Liverpool, but it’s just one of many tributes scattered around the city. Planes now land at the Liverpool John Lennon Airport, dedicated to him in 2001 with a statue and a new motto, “Above us only sky,” a lyric from “Imagine.” Once in Liverpool, tourists will find a bronze statue of Lennon standing outside the original location of the Cavern Club in Mathew Street, a place that looms large in Beatles history.
Imagine Peace Tower (Reykjavik, Iceland)
On an island off the coast of Reykjavik sits the Imagine Peace tower, a light sculpture and memorial from Yoko to John. It is described as “a Tower of Light which emanates wisdom, healing, and joy. It communicates awareness to the whole world that peace and love is what connects all lives on Earth.”
Every year from October 9 to December 8, 15 searchlights form a tower of light that reaches miles into the sky. The base of the sculpture is a wishing well with the words “imagine peace” carved in 24 languages. And the wishing well contains actual wishes — Yoko Ono collected over a million of them from around the world. The sculpture is a stunning and highly original work of art that Ono has called “the most beautiful thing John and I have done.” (By the way, Yoko is still collecting wishes; just send them to the Imagine Peace website or tweet them to @IPTower.) For those who can’t make it to Iceland, a live feed lets the world see the tower whenever it’s active.
Parque John Lennon (Havana, Cuba)
This is a fascinating place for a memorial, considering that Fidel Castro once thought the Beatles were the epitome of Western materialism and banned their music. (Of course, that didn’t stop widespread smuggling of the banned songs.) But decades later, Castro’s feelings about John Lennon took a 180-degree turn. He began to feel a kinship with Lennon after his murder, believing that his outspoken stance against war, as well as his advocacy for the working class, mirrored his own and was representative of Cuba’s relationship with the United States.
Castro said, “I share his dreams completely. I too am a dreamer who has seen his dreams turn into reality.” (Somehow, I’m not sure John would have agreed.) The Parque John Lennon, featuring a bronze likeness lounging on a park bench, has become a popular tourist destination; one particular tourist, Beatles’ producer George Martin, made a point of visiting the park on a trip to Cuba and had a touching moment with his old friend.
Lennon Wall (Prague, Czech Republic)
Like Cuba, Czechoslovakia’s (now the Czech Republic) Communist government banned Western music. Also like Cuba, that didn’t stop the nation’s youth from devouring the contraband tapes that secretly passed through the country. Lennon was a hero to Czechoslovakia’s peace activists — a fellow revolutionary who shared in their fight for freedom. The day after his murder, mourners created the world’s first Lennon memorial, painting his likeness and scrawling Beatles lyrics on a wall near the French embassy.
Contributing to the wall was a brave, rebellious, and dangerous act — the penalty was jail time for “subversive activities against the state.” Though the government installed surveillance cameras and continually whitewashed the wall, nothing stopped Prague’s youth from repainting it again and again. Today, years after the ban on Western music was lifted, the Lennon wall lives on, a living symbol of non-violent protest that grows and changes with each new contribution.
These are only a few of the hundreds of John Lennon memorials around the world. Statues and gardens honoring him can be found everywhere from Peru to Japan, and personal tributes in the form of art exhibits, music, and plays celebrate Lennon’s legacy in new and creative ways every day. While we may never transcend the sadness of losing him so young and so tragically, these memorials are a beautiful reminder of John Lennon’s impact on the world through his music and his message of peace.
