![]() ![]() Because of its convenient steel frame and romantic location, the Pont des Arts soon became the Love Lock Bridge in Paris. In 2008, the first padlocks of love appeared in the City of Love. It didn’t take long for young European fans to pick up on this hype. One scene features the protagonists locking their love by attaching a padlock to a lamppost at the Ponte Milvo in Rome and throwing the key into the Tiber river. It was inspired by the like-named novel, from the hand of Italian author Federico Moccia, which was published a year before. Out of superstition, local women started hanging love locks to that same bridge, the Bridge of Love, in an attempt to safeguard their love.īut the popularity of the love locking trend only really took off after the release of the Italian movie “Ho Voglia di Te” (I want you) in 2007. When his first love found out, she died of heartbreak. When the young soldier was sent off to Greece, he eventually met the love of his life. The poem describes the story of a young couple, madly in love, who secretly met every night at the Most Ljubavi bridge in a town called Vrnjačka Banja. It was based on a tragic lovestory that took place shortly before the First World War. The first notion of love locks appeared in the poem named “Prayer for Love” by Serbian poetess Desanka Maksimovic. The countless declarations of love scratched in trees around the world are a typical example. The urge for couples to immortalize their love in some way is not new. How the Pont des Arts became Paris’ Love Lock Bridge The azobé wooden platform is equipped with benches and lined with elegant lampposts. The Pont des Arts is now 155 meters long and 11 meters wide and comprises sever wider arches that allow for easy navigation. Town planner Louis Arretche designed this new version, which was inaugurated by President Jacques Chirac in 1984. The original cast iron Parisian bridge was replaced by the steel bridge that you can visit today. It was closed off in 1977 and, two years later, when once again it got hit by a barge, the Pont des Arts collapsed over a length of sixty meters. Over time, the many accidents and, in addition, the damages from the bombardments during the two world wars, had left the bridge weakened. The narrow arches of the Pont des Arts made it difficult for boatman to navigate the Seine River and fluvial accidents were commonplace ever since the construction. In 1975, this iconic Parisian bridge was declared a Historical Monument. But the toll didn’t hold long, because Parisians tended to skip the Pont des Arts in favor of the Pont-Neuf. The Pont des Arts was originally meant to resemble a suspended garden, where Parisians could spend some time on one of the benches while enjoying the collection of plants and flowers… initially for a fee. The bridge was named after the Palais des Arts, which was the name of the Musée du Louvre under the First Empire. It was constructed between 18, under the reign of Napoleon Bonaparte, and comprised nine arches as well as a wooden deck. The Pont des Arts was the first cast iron bridge in Paris. The river banks that they connect have been listed as Unesco World Heritage. Each and every one has its own story to tell. No less than 37 bridges span the river Seine in Paris.
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