Inspired by ‘The 99% Invisible City, A Field Guide to the Hidden World of Everyday Design.’
Last year my son gave me the above book which
is based on the podcasts The 99% Invisible City.
I’ve read some of the book, though I haven’t
yet listened to any of the podcasts, which appear to be wide ranging and are
into the 400’s by now. The website is 99percentinvisible.org
I got fascinated by the parts of the book
that I’ve read so far and decided that my 2022 blogs would be about my own
city, Saskatoon.
A city is a community of diverse people that may create
spontaneous, long lasting activities.
If you haven’t heard of love locks, they are padlocks often
engraved with a couple’s names or initials and then locked onto a particular
structure such as a bridge, a fence, a gate, or similar public fixture. The
keys are often thrown away.
In my own city of Saskatoon, a favourite place for these
locks in the past has been a stairway leading to the railway bridge near the
weir.
I don’t know when the locks first started showing up in
Saskatoon but there was a news item in 2015.
Love
locks showing up in Saskatoon | CBC News
The stories of the origin of these locks varies. One
version is that the book ‘I Want You’ by the Italian author Frederico Moccia, later
made into a film, started the tradition in Rome and then it spread to Paris.
Others say it all began in the town of Vrnjačka Banja, in
what is now Serbia in 1914. A schoolteacher and an army officer were engaged.
They pledged their troth on a bridge in their town. In some versions he was
killed in the war, in others he found another sweetheart and married her. His
first sweetheart supposedly died of a broken heart or of grief. In memory of
them, other young couples in the town began to engrave locks, attach them to
the bridge and throw the keys into the river.
Some say the tradition goes back to ancient China.
Who knows for certain?
Love locks seem to have increased in popularity in Paris
around 2008, at first being locked onto the railings of the Pont des Arts. The
practise spread to other bridges, lamps, gratings, fences, and sculptures.
Vendors hung around selling cheap padlocks, pickpockets began to congregate,
and graffiti proliferated. In 2012 a part of the railing of the Pont des Arts
crumbled and partially fell off. The City began removing love locks, citing
degradation of heritage property and risks to the safety of visitors and
Parisians.
Paris
removes 'love locks' from Pont des Arts bridge | CNN Travel
In some places this phenomenon is encouraged, in others
it’s considered vandalism and you could receive a fine. If you’re interested in
similar sites around the world – Poland, the Netherlands, Austria, California,
China, South Korea, Germany, Russia, etc. But think about the consequences and
be aware of local regulations. You can check sites out:
20
Love Locks Bridges Around the World (brides.com)
Saskatoon City workers began removing locks from the
stairway to the railway bridge near the weir in 2015.
City
removes love locks on Saskatoon rail bridge | CBC News
I haven’t walked over there in quite a while, so I don’t
know if people are still putting love locks up there, or any other places in
Saskatoon.
March Topic: Water
