Love locks - A growing trend for love couples around the world

People express their love for one another in a wide variety of ways. Traditionalists ready for commitment usually ask their loved ones to live with them or propose marriage. A couple might even decide to invest in matching tattoos. Yet, some couples feel that these actions aren't enough. Since roughly the mid-aughts, people around the world have secretly and publicly attached engraved padlocks known as "lovelocks" or "love locks" to bridges, gates, fences, lamp posts and sections of major landmarks to protect and mark the existence of their eternal, unbreakable bond.

How did a lock become such a popular symbol?

History of Padlock Love

A lock isn't something many people would associate with an expression of love until they're asked to consider its function. It's used to protect against theft. Some people believe that a lock etched with names represents two hearts that no one can steal. They also believe that it represents the locking together of their hearts.

This isn't a new idea. Trees in cities and rural areas have hearts and initials carved into them. A lot of people also wear the names of their loved ones inked on their skins inside of or near hearts and, yes, even lock designs. No one knows when humans historically started to use locks as a symbol of love. Hanging locks have existed since the time of the Romans thousands of years ago and pre-BCE (Before Common Era).

Historians and anthropologists have traced the modern popularity of using padlocks as love symbols to several sources. Cast locks roughly shaped like human hearts have existed since the 19th century. Additionally, long before the love lock trend, lock and other manufacturers crafted heart-shaped decorative locks for journals and necklaces. A lot of people linked these locks to protecting the identity of a loved one or showing the public that someone had taken their heart.

The recent trend seems to have two origins: The first is credited to a custom that started after a World War I Serbian love story ended with the unfaithfulness of one lover and the tragic death of the other from heartbreak. Supposedly, the tale frightened young Serbian girls and women so much that they started placing locks marked with their names and the names of those they loved on a bridge later called Ljubavi (Bridge of Love). They would throw away their keys in the river so that their hearts were forever locked with their lovers.

Italian author Federico Moccia also published a book in 2006 titled "Ho Voglia di Te" (I Desire You) in which a couple affixed a lock to Rome's Milvio Bridge and then threw away the key to symbolize their eternally locked hearts. To promote the book and give fans a treat, Moccia affixed a bike lock around a lamp post for readers who might check the bridge. The modern popularity of love locks seems to have taken off because of this book. Moccia claimed that when he returned to the bridge a week later, he found hundreds of locks.

Love Lock Global Superstitions

The act of affixing a lock to a structure with the hope or wish that the love it represents won't ever break is a superstitious ritual. Yet, there are other superstitions connected to locks that also started some time in the early aughts:

In some areas of the world, people have placed locks on public monuments to give luck in love and an eternal bond to other people in their lives who are already in love. The idea is that the person installing the lock is gifting eternal love to the people whose names are on it.

In Taiwan, the locks can also represent general luck instead of love. Some time around 2004, locals Taiwanese citizens began placing locks on a train overpass. Although this event predates Moccia's 2006 book, he had previously published a book in 1992 titled "Tre Metri sopra il Cielo" (Three Metres Above the Sky) that also mentioned the use of locks. The Taiwanese lock tradition though is slightly different in that people write their wishes, any wishes, on the locks and affix them to only one overpass where the locks supposedly absorb enough energy from the passing train's magnetic field that they can fulfill wishes. When a wish is made by lovers, they lock together two locks or "heart locks."

Prohibition of Locks

Over the years, couples and others have placed so many love locks on public structures that they've caused severe damage. For example, a section of the Pont des Arts, a Parisian pedestrian bridge, collapsed under the weight of 45 tons of locks at one point. It had so many locks on it that it actually became known as "Love Lock Bridge."

People in Paris and other global tourist cities have demanded the removal of the locks from public structures, especially historic sites. Locks never treated for corrosion rust and cause stains and increase the chance of corrosion of iron pieces on these structures. They consider the locks a form of vandalism since tourists most frequently leave behind the locks. Beyond structural damage concerns, they also consider the locks out of place in parks and other areas designed to focus on nature instead of humans.

As a result of protests and damaged property, global city councils and other governing bodies have prohibited the use of the locks in many historic and other public areas. Depending on the region, anyone caught attaching a lock to a public or private structure without permission can expect a steep fine. Many cities have posted signs in high traffic bridge and other areas to make it clear that the locks are unwanted and costly to remove.

Many couples got aware of the harm they do to bridges, buildings and the environment and started to look for alternatives like a digital padlock which truly stays forever. Also having the advantage of being able to share the love lock easily with friends and family or have a look at it from time to time without the need to travel again.

Couples Love Lovelocks

Couples deeply and happily in love haven't given up on these engraved locks even with the threat of fines that can range between dozens and thousands of dollars. For this reason, city leaders have added art installations to high traffic areas typically in the form of sturdy, durable metal tree sculptures designed specifically for couples and others to affix their love, wish or other locks. These installations not only protect public landmarks, but they also guarantee that couples who want to celebrate their love can return to the same spot years later and still find their lock rather than discover that the city removed it. These cities also promote love locks as part of their tourism industries, which means that they upkeep the sculptures using funds generated from this form of tourism.