Paris, known worldwide as the city of romance, began the heart-breaking process Monday of removing hundreds of thousands of “love-locks”, padlocks chained to the city’s bridges by adoring couples.
Loved-up visitors from around the world have for years written their names on padlocks to symbolise their passion, then tossed the key into the River Seine so that nothing could ever break the bond.
In recent years, as a symbol of the permanence of their relationships, hundreds of thousands of couples from all over the world have attached padlocks to the city’s Pont des Arts, tossing the keys into the river Seine. But officials have said the padlocks, which weigh a whopping 45 tons in total, are damaging the historic bridge as well as posing a danger to visitors. Last year, a section of the bridge’s fencing collapsed under the weight of the locks.
