June 11, 2014

Paris bridge — Pont des Arts — collapses (partly) under the weight of 700,000+ "love locks."

"Love locks" are "padlocks engraved with a couple's initials, sort of the Parisian version of carving your names into a tree."

I think it looks like a pretty sweet community art project, but I'm not seeing whether the Pont des Arts was beautiful or boring before the locks were attached. They people who dislike it will point to this supposed collapse from the weight, but how much did the bridge collapse?

15 comments:

Edmund said...

An article in The Independent, linked in the source above, clarified the issue - the wire mesh on the bridge railing collapsed, not any of the structural supports. "A five feet long section of metal mesh fell inwards onto the bridge itself."

The locks were not likely to cause the structure of the bridge to collapse, as it carries multiple lanes of vehicular traffic.

Anonymous said...

Love locks should stay in the basement with the restraining chains, nipple clamps and duct tape.

Insufficiently Sensitive said...

Basically, the festoons of padlocks dangling off the bridge railings made it look like the used-hardware section of a junkyard.

The hardware equivalent of graffiti converted a nice bridge into the Pont des Shackles.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

If it will reopen tomorrow I suspect the only part that collapsed was the guardrail.

Anonymous said...

With this Love Lock I am proclaiming to the world that you are completely and fully locked to me, and I will never let you go. If you try to get away I will follow you: freedom is a gift only I can bestow, and I will forever refuse to even consider such an act. I know where your friends and family live -- know that I will always find you, and bring you back to the basement, and when I bring you back to the basement please realize there WILL be the Love Handcuffs a bit tighter than before, and a Love Spanking to be doled out with the Love Punishment Paddle.

FleetUSA said...

It is a light weight pedestrian bridge. The socialist mayors didn't want to upset the people and allow this form of graffiti.

SJ said...

[sarcasm]
I'm sure there's a potential tie-in to Chris Christie on this one.
[/sarcasm]

rhhardin said...

Two camels can carry twice the straw.

Jane the Actuary said...

This isn't just Paris -- apparently every European city has a bridge with "love locks." John Kass reports that people have tried to import the tradition to Chicago, and the city just cuts the locks off.

David said...

That article was semi-informative.

Terry said...

The Pont des Arts was boring before the locks were attached. A boring pedestrian bridge whose only valuable use was to get people to the other side (the bridges on either side of it have history and more style)

The locks are kinda cute but what really makes the bridge is that people flock to put their own locks there. It's busy with happy people.

Cheryl said...

We had some family photos made on and near this bridge a couple of years ago. There were a few locks and it was charming. But I saw a photo taken a month or so ago and it was completely full, solid with locks. Not charming anymore. If you scroll down here you can see how it looked in 2010.

I'm not really sad it collapsed. I'm sad that it started looking ugly.

D. B. Light said...

It's not just Europe. I've seen lovelocks on the Great Wall of China. A friend tells me they are also popular in the Philippines.

D. B. Light said...

In China they provide chains upon which people can place the locks. If too many locks accumulate, they simply remove the chain and lay down a new one.

Anonymous said...

Love locks can be found on bridges not just in Paris but elsewhere in Europe. Saw them last summer in both Amsterdam and Cologne, to name just two places. But, of course, if you hate to travel outside the US, you don't get to see such things.