The big red numbers are impossible to miss! Located at Queen’s Wharf in downtown Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, the numbers showcase the current year providing residents and visitors with the perfect photo opp.
They are said to be a popular way for Islanders to chronicle the major milestones in their lives such as birthdays, graduations, engagements and weddings and for visitors to mark special events such as honeymoons, anniversaries and vacations.
But as striking as the big red numbers are, it was the nearby LOVE sculpture that captured my attention.
Large metal letters, covered in a wire grid, spell out the word LOVE. “The interactive public art piece is a love-lock structure” according to a CBC News article which announced the installation in 2018.
“Love locks” are padlocks fastened to a public fixture, commonly a bridge, by two people to symbolize their everlasting love. Typically, the locks are engraved or painted with the couple’s initials or names along with a date. But many are left unadorned and anonymous.
After fixing the love lock in place, it is tradition to throw away the key thus making the commitment permanent. Obviously, this step is skipped when the lock is secured with a secret combination instead of a key.
The combination lock pictured below appears to have been in place for some time. Apparently, love locks don’t last forever!
Regardless of their limited lifespan, a lot of people have locked in their love on Charlottetown’s LOVE sculpture.
The love lock structure was commissioned by Downtown Charlottetown Inc (DCI) from a local welder. DCI also sponsors the big red numbers and actively promotes both through social media.
As noted in the CBC News article, Locking Down Love on the Charlottetown Waterfront, DCI was inspired to create the LOVE sculpture by “similar … landmarks seen around the world. One of the most famous is the Lovers Bridge in Paris, a place where couples go to express their love by attaching a small lock to the historic Ponts des Arts Bridge”.
Interestingly, while it was once considered the ultimate romantic gesture to attach a love lock to a bridge in Paris, it is now illegal and totally uncool. The practice went from being immensely popular to completely out of control in five years. As reported by Wikipedia, “In January 2014, a campaign and petition, No Love Locks™, was founded by two Americans living in Paris in an effort to save the city’s historic bridges and monuments from the overwhelming number of locks.” Their online petition to “BAN ‘LOVE LOCKS’ IN PARIS NOW! SAVE OUR HISTORIC SITES!” can still be viewed on Change.org.
The petition was addressed “To the Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo and the Paris City Council” and states “I am writing to voice my concerns over the growing problems in Paris caused by ‘love locks’ (padlocks fastened to a bridge to symbolize everlasting love) that have become like a plague on our city’s historic bridges and sites. This is most apparent on the Pont des Arts, which has been terribly degraded, both visually and structurally. In a few short years, the heart of Paris has been made ugly, robbing Parisians of quality of life and the ability to safely enjoy their own public spaces along the Seine, which has itself been polluted by thousands of discarded keys. The time has come to enact a ban on ‘love locks’ in order to return our bridges to their original beauty and purpose.”
This Instagram post of the Ponts des Arts Bridge in November 2014 provides strong evidence to support their case.
The petition goes on to state “We can no longer do nothing. The ‘love locks’ trend has exploded into a destructive force so out of control that current methods of repeated repairs cannot keep pace. Citizens and city officials alike have voiced concerns that ‘love locks’ pose security and structural issues, and the presence of the locks, which we believe to be vandalism, has encouraged other acts of lawlessness, such as graffiti, illegal peddling and reckless behavior. Paris is the City of Love, and some may argue that that ‘love locks’ promote romance and tourism, but if that were ever true, it is surely not true now.” Over 10,000 people supported the petition.
The petitioners’ claim that love locks posed structural issues proved to be true when “part of the parapet of the world-famous Pont des Arts bridge in Paris … collapsed under the weight of the growing number of locks that had been attached” as reported by the BBC in June 2014.
Later that year, Paris officials took action and launched a public education campaign declaring “Our bridges can no longer withstand your gestures of love, set them free by declaring your love with #lovewithoutlocks”. The idea was to encourage lovers to stop locking padlocks to the bridges and instead “upload a selfie to lovewithoutlocks.paris.fr [no longer functional] or to tweet it with the hashtag #lovewithoutlocks [still active in Instagram]”.
This sign pictured below translates to “Our Bridges Can’t Resist Your Love; Stop the Padlocks!”
Apparently, significant effort was required to eliminate the love locks―I suspect it still is. This May 2015 Instagram post, cleverly titled Love at Last Sight, explains “Tomorrow the Pont des Arts – the “Lovers Bridge” will close. The zillions of locks that are destroying the bridge will be removed. It will re-open a week later when it will be illegal to clamp a lock on this pretty footbridge.”
Paris is not the only European city where love locks are popular. In fact, many cities encourage the practice. In Cologne Germany, for instance, city officials invite visitors to add padlocks to the Hohenzollern Bridge. “The Hohenzollernbrücke (Hohenzollern Bridge), along with the Cathedral and the Rhine, shapes the cityscape of Cologne.” writes the Cologne Tourism Board on their website. This mighty steel structure carries trains, pedestrians and bikes between Deutz and the heart of Cologne.
“Love is on the bridge.” declares the website. “Both the desire for eternal love and the need to indicate it with a sign have an unbroken tradition for many people … lovers in Germany and throughout Europe show and strengthen their love mainly with durable and extremely visible padlocks.”
Here are some photos of Cologne’s Hohenzollern Bridge which I took many years ago when my husband and I lived in this vibrant, historic German city.
It was the first time I’d seen love locks. They were quite sparse back in 2010 but, apparently, that has changed. Nowadays, visitors are told “All you have to do now is find a free spot for your expression of attachment.”
More recently, I had the opportunity to visit another German city―Frankfurt am Main―which boasts a beautiful iron footbridge over the Main. I previously shared photos of the Eiserner Steg (Iron Footbridge) in the blog post, Postcards from Germany #1.
A closer look reveals a collage of love locks on the iron railings.
It’s unclear if this practice is encouraged or not. The City of Frankfurt am Main website provides a great overview of the Iron Bridge but doesn’t mention love locks. Personally, I think it’s a shame to muck up those gorgeous iron railings even for beautiful sentiments of enduring love.
More Info
Previous blog posts mentioned in this blog post include:
. Postcards from Germany #1.
The following resources were consulted in writing this blog post:
. Locking Down Love on the Charlottetown Waterfront CBC News article by Sarah Keaveny Vos published October 2018
. Downtown Charlottetown Inc on Instagram
. BAN ‘LOVE LOCKS’ IN PARIS NOW! SAVE OUR HISTORIC SITES! Petition on Change.org
. Lovelocks’ Collapse Paris Bridge Rail BBC article by Wendy Urquhart published June 2014
. Paris Officials Ask Tourists to Ditch the ‘Love Locks’ and Take a Selfie Instead article on PetaPixel website published August 2014
. Instagram postings tagged with #nolovelocks or #lovewithoutlocks
. Love Locks article and Hohenzollern Bridge article on Cologne Germany Tourist Board website
. Various Wikipedia entries.
Today’s Takeaways
1. “Love locks” are padlocks fastened to a public fixture, commonly a bridge, by two people to symbolize their everlasting love.
2. Not long ago it was considered the ultimate romantic gesture to attach a love lock to a bridge in Paris, now it’s illegal and totally uncool.
3. There are many locations around the world that welcome love locks. Be sure to seek one out if you want to leave behind a love lock.
