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Paris is one of the most visited cities in the world, and this is due not only to the cultural load of its buildings and places, but also due to the symbolic value of its objectives. It is often said that Paris is the city of “lights, love and good food”, not necessary in this order. Besides the multiple touristic objectives, such as the Louvre, Notre Dame or Eiffel Tower, another attraction, especially for those who are in love, is represented by the bridges. Liebesschlösser can be seen all over the pedestrian bridges, thus creating new interest points in Paris. So whoever thought that the city has lost its romanticism, all they have to do is look at the multiple love lock bridges, in order to convince themselves that this label will most probably never disappear form the French capital. The tradition is very simple: couples write their names or some messages on a liebesschloss, and links it to one of the bridges, throwing afterwards the key into the Seine, in order to mark their eternal love. Although the phenomenon can be encountered also in other countries, from Belgium to Japan, the Parisian love lock bridges are special, probably because they are situated in the middle of the most romantic city in the world. Normally, it is considered that in order to unlock the connection between the two lovers, symbolized by the steal liebesschloss, the only way is to find the key, which is technically impossible, since it lies on the bottom of the Seine. There are two bridges in Paris which have locks: Pont de l'Archevêché and Pont des Arts, but they have different significations: the first one is for lovers, while the first one is dedicated to committed love. For this reason, the amount of items linked to each bridge varies: while Pont des Arts is almost empty, the other one is completely covered with locks. Regardless the reason for which you go to Paris, stopping by one of these bridges is a good idea if you want to watch the spectacle of love. Initially, putting a love lock on different monuments was an idea belonging to the Italians. People were imitating the protagonists of a well known Italian novel, because they found this a very innovative manner of showing their love. The officials considered that the liebesschlösser, together with graffiti, started to damage the ancient aspect of the cities, and thus took the decision to take them off. After this was banned in Rome by the government, couples all around the world started to come to Paris, around 2008. If in the beginning people simply wrote their names on the padlocks, since the practice of promising love through a lock has gained popularity, a whole industry has developed around it. Nowadays, there are specialized companies which can customize and engrave the lock with names, on the demand of the clients. Under the pressure of love, in June 2014, one of the parapets of Pont des Arts collapsed, and this made authorities think about alternative methods to allow lovers to display their feelings. In order to find out more about liebesschloss or read about liebesschlösser, please click on the links.
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