If you cross the Hauptbrücke, you might notice that there are (more and more) padlocks hanging from the net of steel rope that forms the railing on one side (and now starting to spill over onto the other side as well). Take a closer look to see what they are all about…
Tags: Graz
September 30, 2010 at 9:16 am
Wow! What a great idea…like the urban version of carving your initials into trees…
September 30, 2010 at 11:23 am
That’s pretty interesting, definitely not something I’ve seen anywhere else before!
And it looks very recent and like a tradition in the making, which makes it extra nice to see it in its very early stage. I take it that there aren’t any dates before 2010 on the padlocks?
September 30, 2010 at 2:28 pm
I agree with both of you. And no, there aren’t any dates before 2010. I only noticed the first one or two padlocks right after I moved here, in March 2010, and they only had initials. So it’s definitely a new tradition in the making.
October 1, 2010 at 5:02 am
added bonus: no trees were harmed in the making. ;)
October 3, 2010 at 4:09 pm
there’s a bridge in rome (ponte milvio) with loads and loads of padlocks!
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/05/world/europe/05iht-rome.4.6991537.html
October 3, 2010 at 8:21 pm
Wow, thanks for the link! I had no clue that the idea came from a book (and possibly a movie). And then city politics, on top of everything else…
October 3, 2010 at 8:32 pm
Went looking for pictures. Apparently the padlocks used to be on the lampposts like here: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/09/Lucchetti_di_ponte_Milvio.jpg
And now this seems to be the officially approved version: http://www.tcalo.com/images/roma/ponte-milvio-4.jpg