Leaving behind a token of their presence at landmarks while traveling has tourists making more of an impact than intended.
by Anna Meyer
photo illustration by Grace Molteni
The tradition consists of adoring couples writing their initials on a padlock and then securing it on the Pont des Arts bridge in Paris. Their love lock is supposed to symbolize an everlasting commitment to each other — a commitment as permanent as a padlock whose key has been tossed into the Seine.
This romantic gesture has quickly gained popularity in the past decade, and has resulted in an estimated 45 tons worth of locks being attached to the bridge’s iron railings. It’s a growing trend popularized by social media, with couples embracing the chance to join in on the latest testimony of love. Instead of serving as an intimate and unique moment between two people, it has evolved into a checklist event for mainstream travel itineraries. Seen on many ‘Top Ten Things to do in Paris’ lists online, the activity has become a staple in many tourists’ dream Parisian vacation. The tradition has also been embraced by pop culture, such as on Keeping Up with the Kardashians, when Kourtney Kardashian and Scott Disick threw their key into the Seine after securing their own lock.
Unfortunately, what seems like a harmless gesture and perfect photo opportunity to many is causing destruction to an iconic Parisian structure. The attached padlocks add a crippling weight to the bridge, expose the metal framework to fast-spreading rust, and encourage careless pollution of the river below. But besides physical damage to landmarks like the Pont des Arts bridge, the growing romanticized trend of tourists leaving their mark on a cultural sight they’re visiting, instead of letting the unfamiliar culture and/or setting make a mark on them, is creating a shift in the wrong direction for tourism.
Many believe the origination of love locks comes from a small tradition in Serbia. The legend takes place at the start of World War I, in a small village in Serbia called Vrnjacka Banja. A schoolmistress, Nada, fell in love with a Serbian army officer. The officer was then sent to fight in Greece, leaving Nada behind. Unfortunately for her, the officer fell in love with a Greek woman, and wrote back to the schoolmistress to call off their engagement. Nada died of a broken heart, and the story grew in popularity throughout the village. The story inspired local girls from Vnjacka Banja to write the names of their lovers on padlocks, which they would then secure to a bridge that was supposedly the meeting place for Nada and her officer.
Starting about 10 years ago, after the famous Serbian poet Desanka Maksimović revisited the tradition in her poem, “Pray for love” (originally entitled “Molitva Za Ljubav”), that tradition then carried over to Paris, London, and beyond. It grew exponentially from there after couples posted their act online. In our connected age, individuals all over the world have found appeal in the love locks, and padlocks have appeared on bridges in cities such as Moscow, Seoul, and New York City.
As of May 31st, any couples’ attempted marks of permanency are being removed as the city of Paris is making an effort to stop the lock tradition for good; Plexiglas panes now preserve the bridge’s iron grid work. The city claims the lock removal is due to aesthetic and security concerns, and Parisian tourism officials have proposed a replacement trend of a “social wall” where couples take selfies of themselves on the bridge and post them online using the hashtag #lovewithoutlocks. The city is frantically making an effort to get rid of the destructive tradition, and there has been the support of organizations, such as No Love Locks, to create petitions and spread awareness over preserving the bridge. Although tourists probably aren’t intentionally trying to cause damage, it is the inevitable outcome. No Love Locks views the gesture as nothing but vandalism, stating on their website, “Would you spray paint your name on the side of Notre Dame? Of course not! So why do you want to come and commit vandalism with a padlock and key?”
In response to the love locks being placed on Luzhkov bridge in Moscow, the city constructed steel “trees” for the locks to be placed on instead. The love lock “trees” have been successful in diverting padlocks away from the bridge’s grid work, and the solution could serve as an example of an effective solution to other cities and bridges around the world.
Colin Martin, a university professor and native New Yorker, was walking on the Brooklyn bridge in early June when he noticed the love locks scattered along the grid work. He viewed the locks as a nuisance and a waste of time.
“I feel like the Brooklyn Bridge has such a remarkable history, location, and design, that if you go there with a lock, you’ve already decided that you know what the bridge’s importance is to you,” Martin explains. “You’re not leaving yourself open to seeing it for itself, or being inspired to learn what New York was like when it was built, or stopping to see how many people are streaming across it for a million different reasons. You’ve gone with a singular purpose in mind and I think that partially blinds you to all the other aspects that you might otherwise encounter.”
The kind of tourist mentality Martin describes is what can create an incomplete travel experience. Paying for a plane ticket and visiting a new place should be an eye-opening opportunity for the traveler to become culturally aware in our globalized age. It should be more about observing than it should be about leaving behind statements. In addition, Martin believes the trend of love locks loses its romance when copied so many times.
“It’s just a lazy reiteration of someone else’s idea being done by thousands of others elsewhere,” says Martin. “Just because you thought it was neat on Twitter doesn’t mean that your doing it is particularly meaningful or profound.”
Love locks are not the only way tourists have been leaving behind their signatures. Another popular tourist location that attracts romantics is a balcony in Verona where Romeo supposedly called out to Juliet in the famous (albeit fictional) Shakespearean scene. Known as Juliet’s balcony, couples write their vows and stick them to a wall (usually using gum for an adhesive) to achieve the popular belief that they will then live happily together forever. Although romantic in theory, the surface of Verona’s most popular tourist attraction has consequently been vandalized with gobs of chewed gum and ripped paper scraps. The Verona city council made efforts to clean up the site before, but now the local police enforces a fine up to 500 euros for anyone caught posting on the wall.
Some prefer the natural world versus a city setting, and many couples have discovered that a romantic etching on a rock in a National Park suits their image of desired declaration. By scratching their initials within a heart (KL + BW 4EVER!) with a knife or key onto the surface of rocks that line popular hiking trails, the scenic paths that once appeared untouched by man are now a gallery of markings left behind by love-struck duos. Not only is it illegal to draw or etch on trails owned by the Park service, it also takes away from the beauty that hikers set out to experience.
A recent park vandalism case concerning the infamous Instagram user Creepytings has brought the issue of drawing on rocks in national parks to the public’s attention. First documented by hiking blog Modern Hiker, the 21-year-old artist, Casey Nocket, posted pictures on her Instagram account of all of her acrylic paintings that she created on rock surfaces in more than seven different parks. Like other park vandals, she left a trail of her graffiti online, which became a trail for park officials to follow. Vandals like Nocket can expect a misdemeanor at least (including a year in prison and up to a $5,000 fine), or even a felony if the damage is found in a space specially protected by the National Park Service. Nocket’s punishment has yet to be disclosed to the public.
In an article written by Modern Hiker’s founder, Casey Schreiner, he explains why leaving behind personal markings is vandalism and why it needs to be addressed in a serious manner.
“When you experience the great outdoors you are surrounded by an incredible sense of awe and wonder. Unlike most activities and products today that put ME ME ME at the center of the universe, gazing upon Yosemite Valley for the first time or looking out at the vast expanse of the Grand Canyon is a way of letting the Universe put you in your place.” Schreiner writes. “That is the true work of art here – so when that work is marred, those of us who’ve had that experience outdoors feel like we’ve been punched in the gut.”
Tourist vandalism is never going to disappear completely, because there’s always going to be someone who takes things to the extreme, such as the Finnish man who tried to take an earlobe from an Easter Island Moai, or the Chinese teenager who carved his name on a 3,500-year old Egyptian temple panel. But when there is a widespread movement of many individuals partaking in a similar act of “mark making,” it’s something that needs to be stopped before the damage is irreversible—not only for the physical preservation of landmarks, but so that we can travel with the intention to observe and absorb a culture, rather than living within our own egos.
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Anna Meyer is a journalism student at the University of Kansas. An arts enthusiast from Minneapolis, Minnesota, she previously worked as a correspondent for KU’s chapter of “Her Campus.” You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.
Grace Molteni is a Midwest born and raised designer, illustrator, and self-proclaimed bibliophile, currently calling Chicago home. For more musings, work, or just to say hey check her out on Instagram or at her personal website.
