Pont des Arts

Walking along the River Seine is a pleasant experience. The UNESCO World Heritage site is listed because of the large number of important buildings that were built along its banks. It is officially named Paris, Banks of the Seine. The Eiffel Tower and the Louvre Museum and Palace already belong to this listing and there are a lot more of these buildings. We will be taking a short walk along the banks of the Seine to hopefully see these important buildings. However, as we were walking we came upon this curiosity – the Pont des Arts. This is not a building but a bridge. This pedestrian bridge connects the Institut de France and the central square of the Louvre. However, it is not really the beauty of the bridge which this is famed for. In fact, comparing it to the other bridges along the Seine this one seemed rather boring.

Somehow, in 2008, the steel bridge started sprouting locks. Locks were being attached to the bridge itself by lovers, while throwing the key into the river, and professing their love and commitment to each other, just like a lock that can never be opened again. The love locks began multiplying over the years until almost every possible place where you can attach the locks have been taken up. Not to be disheartened, starstruck lovers started attaching them to already attached locks. More recently, part of the Pont des Arts collapsed because of the sheer weight of several tons of locks. This poses a real danger to tourists and some locks already had to be taken down.

If this sounds familiar, it is. I have been to numerous places in China where this behavior is very common, usually, there are done on bridges and outdoor stairways in famous places in the country. I don’t think I have seen this behavior anywhere else. I wouldn’t be surprised to know that some Chinese tourist started this phenomenon and were imitated by countless other tourists. The local tourism authority has called on tourists to refrain from attaching more locks to the bridge lest they endanger others and themselves. No fines have been announced though, I don’t think this will stop until the bridge collapses.

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