Love Locked Down

Did you ever notice those locks that are affixed to fences and bridges? You surely did. Those are locks of love which are believed to symbolize unbreakable love. You simply fasten a lock that has your initials and also your loved one’s initials and then you throw the key away.

It all started more than one hundred years ago to a Serbian narrative during World War I when a school teacher from Vrnjačka Banja named Nada fell in love with a Serbian officer called Relja. After they declared love to one another, Relja was sent to Greece for the war where he fell in love with another woman. Accordingly, Relja and Nada broke up and Nada passed away after some time because of her broken heart. The women from Nada’s town fearing to be brokenhearted like her started to write down their names and the names of their loved ones on padlocks and lock them down to the bridge where Nada and Relja used to meet (says Wikipedia).

From there love locks have spread all over Europe since the 2000s and you can pretty much see them everywhere. There are even famous sights for love locks like for example Pont des Arts in Paris, Ponte Milvioin Rome, and Via dell’Amore in Cinque Terre Italy.

During my last visit to Europe I noticed many different locations for love locks which are not necessary a famous spot to lock your love down. Those unusual places must mean something, right? It might resemble how your love is not affected by materialistic stuff, how you don’t seek people’s approval, or it might even mean that your love will be able to bypass difficult times. I don’t think you need a famous spot for that; you only need a sincere heart and a good will to show that your love is true.

Here are some photos of the unusual locations I have run into: