'Locks of Love' to be removed from the Pont des Arts in Paris
69 replies, posted
[QUOTE=Van-man;47847539]They make electric and pneumatic bolt cutters.[/QUOTE]
They make hydraulic cutters too:
[IMG]http://cdn3.volusion.com/dqtrv.spugd/v/vspfiles/photos/HUR-MOCUltraCutter-2.jpg[/IMG]
Doesn't mean it's the right tool for the job.
[QUOTE=Amplar;47847508]As a locksmith, I cringe at the amount of work this is going to take. Some of those locks your average boltcutters just won't deal with, and picking will take way too much time. To anglegrind them you have to individually hold each lock and cut it...agghghgh
On the other hand, locksmiths make decent money- charging like $20 lock would be a pretty good payout :V[/QUOTE]
They're not going to cut the individual locks off. The way the bridge is built, they can take off the individual railing panels with all the locks attached and just put new panels back on.
Like others have posted, I hope they make a new thing for that. It's always really sweet to see that kinda stuff.
[QUOTE=Zillamaster55;47847587]Like others have posted, I hope they make a new thing for that. It's always really sweet to see that kinda stuff.[/QUOTE]
Something on the shoreline, on ground, instead of a part of a bridge.
[QUOTE=Matt2468rv;47847569]They're not going to cut the individual locks off. The way the bridge is built, they can take off the individual railing panels with all the locks attached and just put new panels back on.[/QUOTE]
Would be cool if they did something neat with the railings and not just scrap them.
I wonder how will it affect global divorce rates
[QUOTE=ijyt;47847168]If it's so expensive don't remove them then.[/QUOTE]
Yeah just let the bridge collapse.
Make a bridge out of those locks!
Ponte Milvio suffers the same fate. So many fools putting locks on it, endangering lives due to the amount of weight all the padlocks add.
[QUOTE=Heigou;47847210]This man has never experienced love, rip.[/QUOTE]
Yeah when I'm in love with someone the first and last thing I want to do is fly to another city and slap my lock on top of six hundred more locks to show that my love is absolutely more unique and special than all the other blokes who did the love lock thing before.
[sp]And then in good old Parisian fashion a pick-pocket steals my wallet[/sp]
[editline]31st May 2015[/editline]
[QUOTE=ThePinkPanzer;47847234]It degraded your heritage?
What?
It's part of the heritage.[/QUOTE]
It really isn't though, the "tradition" is only five years old. The story itself is a century old, but people only started putting padlocks on that one bridge (and a lot of other bridges crossing the Seine as well as a bunch of other places) in Paris in late 2008. A lot of oblivious tourists think it's a long standing Parisian tradition however, hence the sheer amount of people who do it (even though it's actually just a very recent fad, at least as far as Paris is concerned).
Russia has found a pretty solid solution by just building [url=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5d/Moscow-love-padlocks.jpg]dedicated iron trees[/url] near bridges so that people can slap their lock on that instead of the bridge, which prevents the damaging of old structures.
It'd be nice if they found some way to just reinforce the railings to handle the weight, but I suppose if they have to come off there's not much that can be done.
[QUOTE=Pythagoras64;47847894]It'd be nice if they found some way to just reinforce the railings to handle the weight, but I suppose if they have to come off there's not much that can be done.[/QUOTE]
That would encourage people to put down even more locks and thus weigh down on the railings even more.
It's much simpler, less costly and all around far safer to just remove them entirely and find means to keep locks away from the railings.
Time to get your lockpicking up to date with the rest of your skills son!
Solution: Graffiti Walls!
Or, rather, padlock walls. Graffiti walls are a concept used to deter graffiti on buildings, by providing a dedicated space for it.
Maybe they could take some of these advertising posts, drill some eye loops into them. and let the people go at it.
[t]http://static.flickr.com/40/88361014_72f987feba.jpg[/t]
Why not just find a way to detach the railing, and just place them somewhere you don't have to worry about the safety or the weight.
[QUOTE=Cold;47849176]Why not just find a way to detach the railing, and just place them somewhere you don't have to worry about the safety or the weight.[/QUOTE]
Because then people would put locks on the new railing.
[QUOTE=Ganerumo;47849254]Because then people would put locks on the new railing.[/QUOTE]
And with the current approach they don't have to solve that problem? Its even described in the article how they are planning to solve that.
I wonder what effect thousands of rusting old keys will have in that river...
[QUOTE=Sobek-;47849283]I wonder what effect thousands of rusting old keys will have in that river...[/QUOTE]
If the current is strong and the keys light enough, they could be carried to God knows where. Rivers can look tame but be surprisingly strong
[QUOTE=Cold;47849277]And with the current approach they don't have to put in a new railing and solve that problem?[/QUOTE]
No they just have to remove the current locks and make it illegal for people to slap more locks on the railing.
The cost of removing and putting the railing somewhere else would be gigantic and unnecessary. You'd need to detach, move and replace 310 meters of railing, find a place to put this shitton of metal and pay regularly for its maintenance. The part where the padlocks are attached is a fence which [url=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8c/Pont_des_Arts_effondrement.jpg/1280px-Pont_des_Arts_effondrement.jpg]already gave in to the weight of the locks last year[/url], so you'd need to replace it with something sturdier every so often meaning all the locks would go to waste anyway, defeating the purpose of moving the railing somewhere safer.
Long story short, you can't actually move the railings anywhere. It was not designed to support that kind of constant weight and moving it to solid land will not fix that problem.
Oh and the last time someone complained the bridge wasn't sturdy enough, the bridge ended up fucking collapsing (back in 1979) and required a complete reconstruction from the ground up, so it's understandable they don't want to put up with this shit again.
[editline]1st June 2015[/editline]
As far as I'm concerned locking anything onto this bridge or any of the other bridges where locks are being attached should be considered littering and should be fined as such.
[QUOTE=Sobek-;47849283]I wonder what effect thousands of rusting old keys will have in that river...[/QUOTE]
La Seine is already gross as fuck so I don't think it matters
[QUOTE=Ganerumo;47849340][url=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8c/Pont_des_Arts_effondrement.jpg/1280px-Pont_des_Arts_effondrement.jpg]already gave in to the weight of the locks last year[/url][/QUOTE]
Well if they're mostly attached to wire, I think it'd be more cost-effective to just rip them all off in one go and replace the wire. That's 99% of the locks removed because a majority aren't big enough to fit around the actual iron structure
[QUOTE=Heigou;47847210]This man has never experienced love, rip.[/QUOTE]
It's threatening the structural integrity of the bridge. "Love" isn't a good enough reason to let the bridge fall into the river.
They tried that here, needless to say the locks they removed are already building in numbers again.
why not replace the fences and put the old ones in a museum?
[QUOTE=ScottyWired;47849619]Well if they're mostly attached to wire, I think it'd be more cost-effective to just rip them all off in one go and replace the wire. That's 99% of the locks removed because a majority aren't big enough to fit around the actual iron structure[/QUOTE]
Yeah they'll probably just pull off and replace the fence, scrap the old one with the padlocks and cut the locks that are directly attached to the railing itself.
[QUOTE=SpartanXC9;47850010]why not replace the fences and put the old ones in a museum?[/QUOTE]
You don't put five years old things in a museum if nobody called them art and attributed them as their own work.
Some time ago a student from a nearby art school cut down some of the padlocks himself to use in an art piece, that's museum material.
Moreover, that's 310 meters of fence in a straight line, you'd need a lot of space to store all of that. And there'd be no point in cutting a portion and keeping that because as far as mementos go we already have a ton of photographs of the thing, and it's not even a unique tradition of any sort.
[QUOTE=ijyt;47847168]If it's so expensive don't remove them then.[/QUOTE]
This is the kind of attitude that causes structural collapses.
A lock is a fucking terrifying way to symbolize your love for someone. If anything locks would be more reminiscent of a fucking chastity belt. I get it, monogamy is the status quo and all that jazz, but there's other places than Paris you could litter to celebrate the fact that you've effectively got your dick stuck in a chinese fingertrap.
I think the biggest culprit here are the souvenir shop owners who sell locks next to the Seine. Traitor scum.
[QUOTE=Ganerumo;47850099]Yeah they'll probably just pull off and replace the fence, scrap the old one with the padlocks and cut the locks that are directly attached to the railing itself.
You don't put five years old things in a museum if nobody called them art and attributed them as their own work.
Some time ago a student from a nearby art school cut down some of the padlocks himself to use in an art piece, that's museum material.
Moreover, that's 310 meters of fence in a straight line, you'd need a lot of space to store all of that. And there'd be no point in cutting a portion and keeping that because as far as mementos go we already have a ton of photographs of the thing, and it's not even a unique tradition of any sort.[/QUOTE]
Between the fact that it's bringing the bridge down and the debate that's come up over it (if not the sentimental value), I think it's worth at least saving a piece. It's not near as impractical as you're making it out to be.
They should have a contest, let people dive in the river to find keys, then try to match them to the locks. First one to match a key and lock wins 1 million dollars.
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