Paris, the city of love. Many visiting couples wish to attach love locks to the Pont des Arts as a symbol of unbreakable love. We’ve all seen the photos of the bridge covered in padlocks with names inscribed on them. These locks however are not a long standing Parisian tradition like many believe.
Love locks attached to a bridge in Paris
What Happened?
Believed to have began in Asia before making their way to Italy and spreading like wildfire. These locks began popping up in 2008. Two years later the city of Paris started showing concern over the effects the locks were having on the bridges of the Seine. They worried about how the locks posed a threat to the preservation of the architectural heritage. In 2014 the Pont des Arts amassed 45 tonnes of pad locks and a portion of the bridge collapsed. The bridge was built during the reign of Napoleon I; so, with it’s preservation in mind city officials decided to completely remove all locks and attach panels to the bridge to prevent new locks from being attached.
Sign on the Eiffel Tower asking visitors to not attach locks
What Now?
When I visited in July 2018, the chainlink fences of the Pont des Arts had all been replaced with not a single lock in sight. This hasn’t stopped couples from attaching locks to literally everything else. It’s hard to cross any bridge, pass any railing or climb any staircase without seeing locks attached to them. Even the Eiffel Tower has locks attached to the fences of the stairs. Many bridges and monuments have started placing signs asking tourists not to attach locks. These signs have not always stopped tourists and the city of Paris remains vigilant in removing locks in prohibited locations. These locks pose the most danger to bridges and monuments. The weight can damage the structure making them unsafe, like with the Pont des Arts, or makes preservation of monuments harder. However, I don’t think Paris will see an end to the locks anytime soon as the popularity of these symbols of love continue to grow.
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