You can’t buy my love: the global love lock trend

I first noticed them on the Ponte Sant’Angelo in Rome. They were not there to keep anything locked, or closed, or hidden for that matter. They were simply there – dangling on the metal framework of the bridge. Throughout the rest of my trip, I saw them everywhere. Sometimes, they were clung together in ‘groups’. Some had writing on them, like ‘J&T 4eva’ hinting that they had some sort of symbolic meaning for two people in a relationship. But what exactly does it mean? Where did it start? And who came up with this idea?

The tradition is to hang a padlock in a public place – preferably a famous touristic sight – and throw the keys away. On the bridges in Paris and other major cities, it is custom to throw the keys in the (Seine) river below.

The N Seoul Tower in South Korea is also a popular love lock spot, but love birds are warned by a sign not to throw their keys down the tower. Authorities are undoubtedly worried who will get the keys on their head two hundred metres down. Instead, a special ‘key bin’ has been provided – how romantic.

While many different sources claim they know the origin of the love lock tradition, the extreme varieties of histories and explanations for the custom show that actually, nobody knows where and how it started.

Maybe it started in China, where padlocks have been hung onto the famous Great Wall for centuries. Perhaps it stems from the habit of Italian soldiers to lock their wardrobe locks to a bridge on their way home to celebrate the end of their military service. It could also be inspired or rekindled by Federico Moccia’s 2006 novel Ho Voglia di Te (I Want You) and or the film version, in which the protagonist and his girlfriend attach a lock to the Milvian Bridge in Rome as a symbol for their eternal love.

As its popularity grew, companies who have seen a market in the craze have sprung up like mushrooms. On LoveLocksUK and LoveLocksOnline, you can order custom made locks, that are “not only artfully designed, but feature a unique ‘lock one time only’ instruction, that require no key, meaning that once your love is locked, it is locked forever”.

Beside the original romantic meaning of eternal love, these websites offer personalised padlocks for any kind of celebration (from christenings to birthdays to memorials to travel souvenirs).

But there is a less joyful side to the love lock. Many famous bridges and other man-made structures in major cities all over the world have become so popular for ‘love lock hanging’, that it has become a serious problem. Some argue against the hanging of love locks as they feel it ruins aesthetics of the old structures. Others have seen the literal destruction as the locks damage the fences and antiquities. Especially when the love locks grow in numbers, their combined weight can be detrimental for the ancient structures.

In Paris, the Pont des Arts was a popular spot for the love locks, until the hundreds of shiny padlocks disappeared one night in 2010. The clean-up was most probably initiated by the Paris Town Hall who previously had expressed its disapproval. But the padlock-hangers do not seem to be that easily defeated. Since the removal of the locks on the Pont des Artes, the Pont de l’Archevêché has become the new love lock hot spot.

In Italy, the increasing popularity of the love lock custom has led the government to taking disciplinary measures. In order to prevent damage to century-old structures, the hanging of love locks in public places is no longer allowed. Offenders can be given a fine and even face a prison sentence. In Moscow, the popular Luzhkov Bridge was protected from having this fate. The local government built metal trees where lovers can hang their love locks without damaging old structures.

Pathetic or romantic, damaging or harmless, cheerful or distasteful, the opinions vary. But the truth is, eternal love has never cost as little as one euro ninety-five.