Pont des Arts
Cast-iron pedestrian footbridge over the Seine, once buried under a million love padlocks.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to the Pont des Arts in Paris traces the padlock craze that began in 2008 after a romantic Italian film, when couples started clamping locks to the railings of this Napoleon-era footbridge and tossing the keys into the Seine. You'll hear how the trend spread until hundreds of thousands of locks had piled onto the metal, the city's "Love Without Locks" campaign that nobody heeded, and what finally happened one June morning in 2014. Stand at the center span at dusk for the best view of the river.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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