In the old town of Ljubljana, love is big business. They don’t mind if it’s true, mad, or deep, they just want you to buy a padlock.
This oft-hated habit of demonstrating the depth and longevity of your love by attaching a padlock to a bridge or other structure has spread rapidly around the world. As you can imagine, the combined weight of the locks is massive and puts a great strain on the bridge. Many town authorities now regularly remove the locks in an attempt to save the bridge.
On the other hand, some towns have sought to embrace the phenomenon, or at least to make what they can of the inevitable. Indeed, here in Ljubljana it looks as though the bridge in question has been specifically designed for the locks. In Moscow, they have erected metal “love trees” at Luzhkov Bridge specifically to host love locks. Whereas in Paris, they continue to remove locks from the worst affected bridges, and woe betide you if you attempt to take a lock up the Eiffel Tower!
Hover over an image above to find out where the offending locks hail from.
Linked to Depth and Ruby Tuesday.
Travel with Intent 
Yeah, it’s just reached some of our cities here.
LikeLike
Wonderfull shots, greeting from Belgium .
http://louisette.eklablog.com/mes-autres-blogs-p842116
LikeLike
Very interesting! I’ve never heard of this custom before.
LikeLike
Love lock is truly sweet culture, but I don’t agree if it harms the existing public structure.
LikeLike
It’s always hard to get the right balance in life
On Tue, Feb 10, 2015 at 8:40 AM, Travel with Intent wrote:
>
LikeLike
I love the love locks!! I think they are a fantastic expression of love. Some beautiful photos with your story 🙂
LikeLike
Lovely place to start a padlock business 😉
Cool take on the theme.. deeply in love! 😀
LikeLike
I first saw love-locks in Moscow (I don’t think the bridge is about to collapse any time soon), and am sentimental about them. Pure kitsch, – but why not? Employing another piece of symbolism to reinforce the permanence of the marriage vows is surely an optimistic action, – and usually done in the spirit of romance. I say, – love the locks! 🙂
LikeLike
I’m lways drwan to them when I see them, but I think the damage threat is real. Moscow thought it serious enough to erect the trees to protect the bridges.
LikeLike
I’ve seen these love locks in all sorts of places. I like the idea of metal love trees. 🙂
LikeLike
They look lovely in the photos I’ve seen – I’ve made a note to look at teh real thing if I get back to Moscow in the near future
On Sat, Jan 31, 2015 at 3:38 PM, Travel with Intent wrote:
>
LikeLiked by 1 person
They do seem to appear everywhere in Europe :). In the U.S., it’s more about pennies in paddle – pools 🙂
LikeLike
Oh yes, we like coins in pools too. Never really understood that!
On Sat, Jan 31, 2015 at 1:44 PM, Travel with Intent wrote:
>
LikeLike
There are Love Locks on a footbridge over The Yarra here in Melbourne – we also saw some last year on part of a pier in Burgas Bulgaria.
Love the closeups!
LikeLike
Great photos Debbie! ❤ them all
LikeLiked by 1 person
Recently saw this bridge in a movie again and reenergized my fascination with it, and then THIS!
LikeLiked by 1 person
The whole city is amazing – you must go!
LikeLiked by 2 people
If you climb Mt. Tai in China, you see such locks too.
LikeLike
Amazing how they’ve been adopted by so many cultures
On Fri, Jan 30, 2015 at 7:34 PM, Travel with Intent wrote:
>
LikeLike
True 🙂
LikeLike
The depth of love indeed! I have yet to see the phenomenon pick up here in Vancouver, but I do hope it does because the message is truly something 🙂
LikeLike
It doesn’t seem to be huge here in London either. It can be a great sight, just needs to be encouraged in the right places
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ah but people like to do it in the spur of the moment eh 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
This is really interesting. I didn’t know they removed locks. Now I know and will be careful when traveling. My husband and I found something similar when traveling to Miami, FL in America.
http://flowersandwanderlust.com/?attachment_id=6841
It is nothing big, just small grate made to attach locks to. It is really cool but unfortunately we didn’t have one at the time. Thanks for such an informative post though. 🙂
LikeLike