LOVE LOCK BRIDGE IN COLOGNE GERMANY

The collections of the love of love are something extravagant and intriguing at the same time in Cologne. Walking in a silent museum, or in a private space, full of hundreds of related pieces lovingly treated by one or two devotees expert or fan, you cannot help but try a sense of awe and wonder. If that same collection was actually created organically by thousands of unprocessed individuals, that sense of awe can increase by a thousand times. And also fun.

Love You Too is also a welcome thought as Valentine's Day gift ideas for him and her. Give a padlock of virtual love to tie someone you love or that you think is important for your life.

The wall of "Love Locks" on display on the Hohenzollernbrücke bridge in Cologne, Germany

Accurately created piece by piece by attracting an infinite flow of couples every year to publicly sweat their love. Thousands of padlocks now hang from the railings of the bridge, each engraved, painted or decorated in another way by the couple who hung it. To date, 40,000 Padlocks hang on the bridge, a shocking number considering that tradition began only in 2008. This means that 40,000 couples - 80,000 individuals in all - participated in this rapidly growing spontaneous collection. The padlocks added over 2 tons of weight to the bridge, inducing local officials to ask how long the practice can be supported.

But for now, the flourishing wall of Padlocks is enchanting as well as the fascinating tradition of hanging one. A happy couple, irreparably taken by their votive affection, brings an open padlock on the bridge, ready to mark it with its names and to close it definitively in the collection, to symbolize the strength of their mutual bond. And to symbolize the eternal nature of their love, the key is dropped beyond the edge, falling a lot below in the eternal waters of the Rhine River. But this is not only this, because as impressive the collection of Padlocks, perhaps the collection impressive More intriguing - and almost certainly the lasting one - are the tens of thousands of tiny keys that now run the bed of the mighty Rhine. This is a trend that seems to take hold all over the world: similar bridges exist in Edinburgh, Paris, Moscow, London and Leeds.

Hohernzollern's bridge - Love Lock Bridge in Cologne

Not long ago, the padlocks have become symbols of love. Lovers attached them to bridges, gates, fences and similar public places. Often the names or initials of lovers are engraved and the key is thrown away to demonstrate the indestructibility of love between them. The lucchetti of love attached to the Hohenzollern bridge in Cologne are thrown into the Reno Rena below. The Rhine, which crosses Germany, has seen millions of couples in love but holds their secrets in its deep waters. The custom of attacking the Padlocks at the Love Lock Bridge of Cologne - or Love Bridge, in short - began at the end of the 'Summer of 2008. Since then, the number of padlocks has increased dramatically. In 2011 40,000 Padlocks were counted, but today the number is likely to be 8 times higher.

The bridge consists of 340 railing sections, which are similar to chain mesh fences and therefore provide an ideal space to attack the padlocks. Each section has between 800 and 1,200 love packets attached to it. Therefore, a good estimate could be 340,000 padlocks in total. Along the southern path, the free spaces are found only in the last third of the bridge in front of the Cathedral of Cologne. But don't worry, the northern path still offers a lot of space for eternal love.

Places all over the world with love pupils

The custom of affixing Padlocks to public places is widespread.

The best known sites are located in Paris (Pont des Arts, Léopold-Sédar-Senghor, Pont de l'Archevêé), Edinburgh (Ford Road Bridge), Albury, Australia, (Lake Hume), Ottawa, Canada (Corktown Footbridge) , Bamber, Germany (Kettenbrücke), Toowoomba, Australia, (picnic point) and a city called LoveLock, Nevada, USA (Lover's Lock Plaza).

Local authorities show different reactions to the lickles' sites: mostly they are tolerated or even - as in Cologne - promoted to the status of tourist attraction. However, there are places where a huge amount of love of love is unwelcome and considered vandalism. In many places the padlocks have been removed, especially for safety reasons. In September 2014, about one million padlocks (45 tons) were removed from the Pont des Arts, in Paris, after a part of the flock of the bridge had broken due to the weight of the padlocks.

The Hohenzollern bridge history 

In order to create new communication routes, in 1907 the construction of the Hohenzollern bridge began. Four years later he was proudly inaugurated by the German emperor Guglielmo II. At that time, the bridge was made up of three parallel parts, each of which had three transverse arches to cross. Two of them extended on a couple of railway tracks and the third on a road.

Shortly before the end of the Second World War, the Hohenzollern bridge was destroyed. Between 1948 and 1959 it was reconstructed with a different architecture. Only railway tracks and two sidewalks have been restored. At each end of the bridge, two statues of soldiers were erected. They show Prussian kings and emperors of the Hohenzollern family. Today the Hohenzollern bridge has a length of about 400 meters. It is crossed by more than 1,200 trains per day and is therefore one of the most used European railways