Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Pont des Arts - As-tu un clé?



Pont des Arts
Do you have a key?


This pedestrian bridge is in the news this week.  
The bridge was closed for a period of time 
as the weight of the "love locks" was so heavy 
that it tore a portion of the railing away from the bridge.  
The city (or the mysterious lock-remover) 
has periodically pruned locks from this bridge
 and Pont de l'Archevêché, 
but they re-appear almost as quickly as they are removed.  



Pont des Arts
75001, Paris


10 comments:

Randy said...

I love the idea of the locks.

Joe said...

I saw the news article Genie. The love locks are such a nice idea but if they are damaging the bridge it may be time for the mysterious lock remover to strike again.

Revrunner said...

Yes, I read about that in just the past day or so. Seems like love has become--if you will-- a drag. Well, at least for bridges. :-)

biebkriebels said...

They have to stop those stupid locks everywhere. We even have them in Amsterdam at our beautiful draw bridges, which will damage our heritage.

M said...

It's a romantic notion ... But sadly, they do damage ... I think the subtle pruning is the best answer to the problem as I don't think people will stop. Lovely photo :)

sillygirl said...

The city(s) need to encourage a safe place to do the lock thing - a lovelock statue as a piece of art away from bridges.

William Kendall said...

It's doing damage to the bridges, and it's not the personal property of the people who lock these things on. I saw the remark in a news article about it being a visual cancer, and I have to agree.

Perhaps a thousand Euro fine would be discouraging.

Alexa said...

Well, I hope they find the "key" to solving this problem! Sillygirl's idea is not silly at all—they could put a love-lock structure down on the quai near each of these two bridges and (as William suggested) fine people who still damage the bridge.

cieldequimper said...

What beats me is why you would lock your love...

I've been horrified by them for years, hopefully now they will find a solution...

Jeanie said...

I love the locks and have one (actually, it is probably long gone by now) but the more I read, the more I recognize the challenges that doing this presents to the city and the bridges. I suspect there is a viable solution that would work -- that or more aggressive policing and hacking them off... I think it looks absolutely beautiful and is a wonderful tradition, but sometimes traditions have to change to preserve what really matters. I fear this is the time...