Pittsburgh's Pont des Arts

The Pont Des Arts is a pedestrian footbridge in Paris where, since 2008, couples have put ‘love locks’ on the fencing of the bridge and then thrown the key into the Seine. Unfortunately, as of 2015, there were over a million padlocks placed on the sides of the bridge that are estimated to weigh…..wait for it….over 45 tons! This has resulted in real and further potential damage to the structure, and local authorities started removing some of the locks in order to preserve the bridge. At this point it is my understanding that couples can no longer place locks on the bridge.

But, fret not…..the ‘love lock’ ritual thrives in Pittsburgh as well, on the Schenley Bridge (as well as few others around town). There are only a few thousand (that’s just a quick guesstimate by me) locks and it’s a relatively short bridge with sidewalks on both sides (please note that I am not suggesting that the bridge be damaged with millions of locks; there are limits of course :).

I recently went out for a short ‘camera walk’ around town and took some photos (using a Lensbaby) of locks on the bridge that I found particularly interesting. This one caught my eye because the names are written in an Asian lettering as well as because of the heart and the way the gold coloration sparkled in the sun. All in all, the lock seemed to lend an air of mystery.

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© Howard Grill

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