John Lennon Alley (Ulička Johna Lennona), Bardejov

John Lennon Alley (Ulička Johna Lennona) is a short lane and small park in the old centre of Bardejov, eastern Slovakia, near the Basilica of St Giles. Local Beatles fan Pavol Zajac began shaping it around his family home in the 1980s. The house facade carries forged reliefs of Lennon, and a memorial concert takes place there every 8 December.

A fan's house that became a street

The memorial is one man's project rather than a civic monument. Pavol Zajac started building it at his family home in the 1980s, while Czechoslovakia was still a socialist state and private tributes to Western rock stars were unwelcome. The authorities disliked the park because it promoted Western culture, and according to a 2021 Plnielanu.sk feature they set it on fire. Zajac kept going.

Today the lane beside the house is marked on maps as Ulička Johna Lennona, and the green patch next to it as Park John Lennona. Local press describes the alley as the shortest street in Bardejov and the park as the smallest in town.

What to look for

• The facade: Zajac's house is covered in three-dimensional graphics and forged metalwork. On the western wall, the musical notation of two Beatles songs is worked in metal.
• The relief of John and Yoko: A relief portrait of Lennon with Yoko Ono sits on the house, forged by Juraj Polák together with Zajac. Nearby is a metal triptych of scenes from Lennon's life.
• The park stones: Stones in the little park carry the names of the four band members and the titles of Beatles albums.
• The gallery: The basement of the house holds a gallery about the Beatles and Lennon. No opening hours are published, so treat it as something you may or may not find open.

The 8 December concert

Every year on the anniversary of Lennon's death, Zajac hosts a memorial concert in the alley. In December 2015, for the 35th anniversary, dozens of fans gathered to sing songs from the 1960s and 1970s. In 2018 the concert started at 6 pm for the 38th anniversary, and Dnes24 reported that the tradition was then more than 15 years old. By 2020, Košice:Dnes put it at almost 20 years. During the pandemic Zajac marked the date by lighting a candle instead.

The alley draws visitors from Slovakia, Poland and the Czech Republic. Another Lennon tribute in eastern Slovakia, the John Lennon statue in Prešov, is in the same region, and the map shows both.