Paris 'Lovelocks" bridge railing collapse

lovelocks start

I complained a few weeks ago about the eyesore of the locks being placed on Parisian bridges.

It started as a cute idea in 2008 with lovers from across the world visiting Paris to “seal their love” by attaching a lock carrying their names to the railing of the Pont des Arts and throwing the key in the Seine. No one has stated whether relationships where the couple do this last longer! The Pont des Arts crosses the French capital’s river Seine just in front of the Louvre Museum. It is one of my favourite bridges in the city.

The practice is now out of control with people campaigning for tourists to stop doing the deed. You can find pictures of 57,000 of the locks here.

This week the weight of thousands of ‘love locks’ caused a 2.4-metre (just under eight feet) section of railing on the Pont des Arts to collapse, forcing an evacuation early Sunday evening. An architect and local officials rushed to the site and a barrier put in place to stop further access. It reopened on Monday. No one was injured or hurt.