For years, visitors have been attaching locks with sentimental messages to the bridge in symbolic acts of affection. Some further seal the deal by throwing keys into the Seine River below.
A 2006 Italian young adult novel-turned-film is thought to have created the practice, which started in Rome and spread. It came to in Paris around 2008 and starting posing problems in 2012, said Lisa Anselmo, co-founder of advocacy group No Love Locks.
It was considered charming at first, but the thrill wore off as sections of fencing on the Pont des Arts crumbled under the locks' weight. The bridge carries more than 700,000 locks with an estimated combined weight roughly the same as 20 elephants.
