Whilst walking from Notre Dame to the Musee de Cluny we had to cross over the Pont de l’Archevêché to the Left Bank of the Seine.  As I was crossing the bridge I noticed that, oddly, the sides of the bridge were covered in padlocks.

Wiki tells me that they are love padlocks.  The display of padlocks is a custom whereby sweethearts fix them to gates, fences, bridges and other structures to symbolise their everlasting love.  Love Locks can be seen in many locations around the world even though in some cases they are a matter of controversy.  One of the controversies is that the padlocks damage architectural integrity and heritage and this is the case in Paris.

The New York Times reports:

Once discreet, doing their deed at night, visitors soon acted in broad daylight, in pairs, photographing each other in front of their locks, and videotaping the throwing of the keys into the Seine. The Paris town hall expressed concern: what about the architectural integrity of the Parisian landscape? One night about two years ago, someone cut through the wires and removed all the locks on one of the bridges. But in just a few months, locks of all sizes and colors reappeared, more conspicuous than ever.

Not everyone agrees that the locked padlocks are a symbol of undying love because true love means that you wish the other person to be free of bonds:

Living in one of the world’s most visited cities, with 27 million visitors a year, and supposedly the world’s capital of romance, Parisians should have guessed from the beginning that this strange ritual had to do with the fantasy of everlasting love. Yet, instead of sharing the naïve joy of the world’s Romeos and Juliets, some Parisians have felt increasingly irritated. Walking on those bridges has become almost insufferable for them. The pain doesn’t come only from the fact that some bridges, like Pont de l’Archevêché and Pont des Arts, now feel as if they could collapse under the weight of tourists’ undying love but also from the idea that a lock could represent love. Such an idea is abhorrent to many French people.

“The fools! They haven’t understood a thing about love, have they?” was the conclusion recently of a 23-year-old waiter at Panis, a cafe on the Left Bank with a view over Notre-Dame. At the heart of love à la française lies the idea of freedom. To love truly is to want the other free, and this includes the freedom to walk away. Love is not about possession or property. Love is no prison where two people are each other’s slaves. Love is not a commodity, either. Love is not capitalist, it is revolutionary. If anything, true love shows you the way to selflessness.

I have to admit I am in agreement with the Parisian view of love, the only ‘true love’ is unconditional love, it gives the loved ones wings.

PS: The comments section in the newspaper article makes interesting reading.