Paris has said “Au Revoir” to one of it’s most famous landmarks for lovers.
As of today, June 2nd, workers have begun the process of removing thousands upon thousands of so-called “love locks” from the French capital’s Pont des Arts.
The move comes amid concerns that the bridge could eventually collapse under the additional weight.
It has been a tradition for the past six or seven years for lovers from around the world to visit the Pont des Arts and mark their eternal love by adding a padlock bearing their initials to the bridge’s guardrail, dropping the key into the river Seine below.
However practically had to triumph over sentiment in the end, with city officials fearing that the bridge could not sustain the weight of all this ending love and its symbolic tokens.
Paris Deputy Mayor Bruno Julliard said that a whopping 45 tonnes of padlocks would be removed from the bridge. The current chain-link guardrails will be temporarily replaced by art works before permanent glass panels are installed later this year.
“Paris is going to be the first city to put an end to this practice,” Julliard said. “Maybe other cities will thank us.”
In 2012 and 2013 Dublin City Council removed a number of love locks from the Ha’penny Bridge and Millennium Bridge, erecting signage requesting an end to the practice.
