3.11.10

Padlocks

The padlocks are back on Pont des Arts (see previous post)! There used to be many of them, thousands… and then suddenly one morning in May this year they had all disappeared. Whom to blame? Mystery. Nobody has admitted the responsibility. Mayor, police… ? Anyhow, now they are there again. Proofs of (everlasting?) love!  

53 comments:

Olivier said...

j'aime bien cette idée, que je trouve tees romantique.

Leah said...

That's really cool! Does anyone know why they are there in the first place?

Christy said...

Great post, the photographs are absolutely amazing!

Anne in Oxfordshire said...

Thanks Peter , great to know they are back again :-) My friends Carolyn and Clive from Oz put one up , but it disappeared .. I wonder if the new ones will be allowed to stay!!

Erin Wallace said...

This is so interesting, as many things in Paris are. Do you know why they are there? How did it start? I'm so curious to know!

xo Erin

Brenda said...

I just saw these locks a few weeks ago. I was charmed by them and the romantic beginnings of the padlocks.
Love your blog Peter.

Rakesh Vanamali said...

Wow! This is very different and unheard of! Interesting! I'd like to call it - locked in love! ;-)

Jackie said...

Very interesting piece!

The Bootcut Femme said...
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Dakota Lopez said...

That's amazing. Someone must have put one of those on there to lock up a bike or as he/she was coming home from school. Then, once the second person put one up, it just became the thing to do :)

Rhi said...

that's amazing. i'm glad they were returned. thanks for sharing... i'll have to check this place out, indeed. it's extremely unique and i'm sure has many stories to tell.

Amanda Swann said...

Very cool. Just found your blog and love it. Paris is my favorite city in the world!

Thanks,
Amanda
The Cheeky Cafe

Genie -- Paris and Beyond said...

Peter, the locks are showing up in other places around the world and I am glad that the "powers that be" in Paris are allowing them to stay. Very nice photos.

Genie

Suzi Taylor said...

I just returned from Paris and was also fascinated by these locks. I took a similar photo to remember them by.

I wonder if people pledge their everlasting love and then throw the key into the Seine?

The Bootcut Femme said...

I was there this summer and was happy to see that, although there were way fewer than when I was there before, there were still locks on the bridge. However, I believe the bridge I was on the first time was a different one from the one you mentioned here - the one that crosses the Seine near the rear of Notre Dame (Pont de l'Archvêché, perhaps?) Are those locks still there too?

I must have returned to Paris just after the locks had begun to return this summer because I not only saw locks on the bridge behind Notre Dame but on Pont des Arts as well. I got to explain to my mom, who had never been to Paris, what they were for.

According to one of my instructors, the locks may have begun to arrive (en mass anyway) after a scene from Sex and the City the movie was shot on Pont des Arts. The rumor about their disappearance is that the police come and cut them off from time to time and drop them into the river. I don't know how true any of that is, but there's one take on it.

Dianne said...

Bonjour Peter~ I'm so pleased the locks are back ! I especially like the lovely red -heart shaped lock.

pacamanca said...

Hello there!

As far as I know, this first started in Italy (where I live), when a romantic movie for teenagers had a scene in which these two young lovers, in a kind of Romeo and Juliet story, came up with this padlock thing. No need to mention that the movie was a craze, I mean at Twilight levels, and not long after it came out all bridges in Rome were loaded with padlocks. I can't really tell whether it really was the movie (which was based on a book) that started the whole thing, but I hadn't heard of anything like it before it came out.

Love your website, the only thing I hate it about it is that it makes me want to go to Paris every time I see it :)

alice said...

Comme le dit le commentaire juste avant moi, je crois que cette jolie "mode" est partie d'Italie. Je ne suis pas superstitieuse mais je n'aurais pas aimé être la personne chargée de couper ces cadenas et de les éliminer...

Synne said...

Hi, Peter! Thanks for yet another inspiring post. I'm going to Paris in two weeks' time and I'm so happy I found your blog. Keep up the good work!

Trotter said...

Hi Peter! I've seen those paddlocks in a bridge crossing to the «(in)famous» Republic of Uzupis, in Vilnius... But now it seems it also attacked Paris... Globalization... ;)

After four posts, Blogtrotter Two is leaving Algiers 2009... Enjoy and have a great week ahead!

Ruth said...
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Ruth said...

Bonjour, Peter. How sad!

I hadn't heard of this tradition until just a few months ago. Our friends returned to Italy this year after their wedding last year, just a couple of weeks after my daughter's wedding in August. When they returned this time, and found an extraordinary thing on the Lover's Walk in Riomaggiore, the first of the Cinqueterre: these locks, and near them, someone had written on the cement bridge, inside a heart, "Lesley & Brian 2009" -- our daughter's name, same spelling too, and her husband's name, and the year they were married. What are the chances of our friends seeing that, let alone there being a couple with the same name and date? :)

Cezar and Léia said...

It looks so mysterious!
Maybe that tradition was about to get some luck. :)
Cool...I didn't know about this place!
Hugs
Léia

Shammickite said...

I think I need to start a padlock tradition here in Canada!
All I need is a wire fence and a couple of padlocks to start it.

The Clever Pup said...

I took a photo of this phenomenon when I was recently in Paris. It's a nice sentiment and it's found on most bridges.

I can't imagine living in a city that is so revered.

rauf said...

i have heard about padlocks on lovers tree in Moscow, i am not sure Peter. A tree full of padlocks, i remember the picture. Here in India people tie threads on the tree branches on leaves as a wish, mostly by lovers.

just sayin' said...

these locks are also on the Great Wall of china. wherever there are chains, there are locks. they even sell them at the gift shop;encouraging you to leave them there on the wall.

JScott said...

That is incredibly beautiful and loving! I'm glad the padlocks are back!

Maya said...

I love the lock idea. So romantic!

BigSun said...

I would say that these locks are a retrospection of art!

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Elle said...

why r the padlocks there? do they symbolize some tradition?

John said...

Uau beautiful photos!

Paris Paul said...

Nice shots, Peter! If you have the time, I posted a flash fiction story and photos about this over the summer...

Thanks for the lovely shots!

Anonymous said...

AMAZING
I'm in love with your blog!
This idea is fantastic!

And about the post, this is amazing too!
I'm going to Paris in January and I'll prepare my padlock...

Congrats for the great blog!
If it's possible, can you visit my blog?

Zhang Chunhong said...

Que les amoureux soient toujours heureux!

Traders International United Kingdom said...

This is one great way to profess your love to your partner.

Trading Powerhouse said...

It reminds me of the Korea Tower where plenty of padlocks that was put by couples to signify their love for each other.

Trading Risk Free said...

I hope the couples who attach a padlock will give their undying love to each other.

Trading Room said...

Hoping more and more couples will profess their undying love by attaching a padlock on the bridge.

Trading Smart Start said...

Now more and more countries are using padlocks and locking it thru chains to give couples a way to show their love to their partner.

Starman said...

I didn't know they had once disappeared.

Anonymous said...

I saw those when i was in paris last march but i never noticed what they all said. Your blog brought back so many memories of my trip :)

LM said...

Par fois je va a paris et c'est vraiment 100% amour

L.M.

mike said...

interesting point of view on this blog. cool.

Shionge said...

Sending an interesting message perhaps!!!

Cool post, cool pictures :D

Alain said...

Tout un symbole : bien fermés mais faciles à ouvrir avec un peu d'habileté.

Shelley Munro said...

They make for an interesting conversation point. In New Zealand we have a bra fence. They're periodically removed too, which isn't very popular.

admin said...
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Peaceful Sun - Karina said...

Wow your comments are quite lengthy, you are popular Peter in Paris. Thank you so much for the great photos if I can't come to Paris I can see it through your eyes. Thank you and yes I would like to know about the padlocks as well

lee kline said...

Amazing and beautiful. My wife of 49 years and I will celebrate our 50th in Paris next August and we will put our lock on the Pont des Arts. (Just as she has put her lock on my heart!)
Lee Kline

BLOGitse said...

all you need is love...

Sheila @ A Postcard a Day said...

I saw the bridge in Rome where - they say - the custom first started after the publication of a book by Federico Moccia. They tried taking them down there but in the end had to give in gracefully.

wockley said...

I love it!! The padlocks are a beautiful romantic gesture. I love Paris & the passion of the French!