The Complete History of Love Locks: From a Serbian Bridge to a Global Tradition
Where Did Love Locks Come From?
The origins of the love lock tradition are richer and more layered than most people realize. The practice emerged independently in multiple places, for different reasons, before converging into the global romantic tradition we know today.
Art historian Cynthia Hammond has documented what may be the earliest physical love lock assemblage: padlocks attached to a fence on Janus Pannonius Utca in Pecs, Hungary, dating to the 1980s. In Italy, military conscripts locked their barracks padlocks to Ponte Teatro in Merano upon completing their service — transforming a symbol of duty into one of freedom. These early traditions helped plant the seeds of a custom that would eventually become synonymous with love.
The most important academic work on the subject, "Unlocking the Love-Lock" by folklore researcher Dr. Ceri Houlbrook (Berghahn Books, 2021), traces the history and heritage of this contemporary custom across continents and centuries.
The Serbian Legend: A Tradition Born from Heartbreak
The most romantic — and most widely cited — origin story traces to a small Serbian spa town called Vrnjačka Banja, where a pedestrian bridge known as Most Ljubavi — the Bridge of Love — spans a quiet river. The story behind it is not one of celebration, but of devotion.
During World War I, a local schoolteacher named Nada fell deeply in love with a Serbian officer named Relja. The two met on this bridge and pledged themselves to each other. But after the collapse of the Serbian front following the Austro-Hungarian offensive of October 6, 1915, Relja was sent to Corfu, Greece — where distance and war separated them forever. Nada never recovered. According to local accounts, she carried her love for Relja until her final days.
Young women in the town, moved by Nada's devotion, began writing their names alongside the names of their beloved on padlocks and fastening them to the railings of the bridge where Nada and Relja used to meet. The keys were thrown into the river below — gone forever, just as the lock could never be opened. It was a declaration: this love is permanent.
The tradition faded with time, until Serbian poet Desanka Maksimovic, who regularly visited the nearby spa, wrote a poem titled "Molitva za ljubav" — A Prayer for Love. Her verse rekindled public interest in the legend. Today, a plaque bearing an excerpt from her poem is mounted on the bridge, and couples still come from across Serbia to attach their locks.
How a Novel Launched a Global Phenomenon
While the Serbian tradition quietly persisted for decades, it was an Italian romance novel that turned love locks into a worldwide movement.
In 2006, Italian author Federico Moccia published "Ho Voglia di Te" (I Want You), a sequel to his 1992 bestseller "Tre Metri Sopra il Cielo" (Three Meters Above the Sky). In the novel, the protagonist declares his eternal love by locking a padlock to a lamppost on Ponte Milvio, one of Rome's oldest bridges, and throwing the key into the Tiber River.
The idea, Moccia later explained in an interview, came from his time in the Italian military: "We had these locks for our bags, and when their service was over, people would attach them to the barracks fence. I thought it would be nice to turn a military thing into its opposite — make love, not war."
Within months of the book's publication and the subsequent 2007 film adaptation, fans had flooded Ponte Milvio with padlocks. The tradition spread first across Rome, then across Italy, and then — carried by tourists, social media, and word of mouth — across the entire world. What was once a literary gesture became a universal language of commitment.
Paris: Where Love Locks Became a Global Symbol
No location became more synonymous with love locks than the Pont des Arts, a pedestrian bridge spanning the Seine River in Paris. Love locks began appearing on the bridge around 2008, and the practice accelerated rapidly through social media and travel blogs. At its peak, approximately one million padlocks adorned the bridge, creating one of the most photographed romantic landmarks in the world.
The Pont des Arts became a pilgrimage site for couples from every continent — a place where you could stand above the Seine, look toward the Louvre and the Institut de France, and make your love tangible. The sheer scale of participation — a million locks, each representing a couple's story — remains one of the most remarkable expressions of collective romantic sentiment in modern history.
Today, couples visiting Paris continue the tradition at locations throughout the city, including the Jardins du Trocadero and smaller bridges along the Seine. The love lock tradition is as alive in Paris as ever — it simply keeps finding new homes.
Cologne: Europe's Love Lock Capital
The city of Cologne, Germany embraced love locks wholeheartedly. Love padlocks first appeared on the Hohenzollernbrucke (Hohenzollern Bridge) in late summer 2008. The bridge, a massive railway and pedestrian crossing over the Rhine River beside Cologne Cathedral, quickly became one of Europe's most popular love lock destinations.
The numbers grew rapidly. By 2015, a physicist calculated the number had grown to somewhere between 50,000 and 200,000 locks. The bridge — a massive steel railway structure built to carry freight and passenger trains — has more than enough strength to hold them all. The city celebrates the tradition, and the Hohenzollernbrucke is now widely considered one of the world's premier love lock destinations, drawing couples from around the globe.
Seoul: Where K-Drama Made Love Locks a Pilgrimage
In South Korea, love locks found a home high above the city at N Seoul Tower (also known as Namsan Tower), perched atop Namsan Mountain. When the tower reopened after renovations in 2006, two padlocks attached to the fence marked the beginning of what would become one of Asia's most beloved romantic traditions.
By August 2007, the practice had an official name — "Couple Locks" — and the tower began actively promoting the tradition. A major turning point came with the Korean TV show "We Got Married," when cast members Shinae and Alex locked a padlock at the tower during an episode. Visits skyrocketed. N Seoul Tower became a fixture in Korean pop culture, appearing in numerous K-dramas and films as a setting for love confessions, reunions, and dramatic turning points.
The tower actively encourages the tradition, selling locks on-site and maintaining dedicated areas including the Proposal Staircase, Bridge of Love, and Tunnel of Love. By 2018, the total weight of love locks at the tower had reached an estimated 82 tonnes — a testament to how deeply the tradition has taken root in Korean culture.
China: Locks in the Clouds
The love lock tradition in China centers on Mount Huangshan (Yellow Mountain) in the eastern province of Anhui, one of the country's most revered natural landmarks and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. On Lotus Peak, 1,800 meters above sea level, the metal chains and poles lining the mountain trails are covered in thousands of locks.
The tradition draws on the legend of Yue Lao, the Chinese god of love and marriage, who is said to bind destined couples with an invisible red thread. Couples attach their locks and throw their keys into the misty valleys below — a gesture that carries particular weight in a landscape known for its ethereal, cloud-wrapped peaks. The practice has since spread to other mountains and scenic locations throughout China.
New York City and Beyond
Love locks made their way to New York City around 2009, with the Brooklyn Bridge becoming one of the most recognized love lock spots in the Americas. The bridge's iconic cables and walkway, set against the Manhattan skyline, provided a backdrop as dramatic as any in Europe.
The tradition has since spread across the United States — from the Purple People Bridge connecting Cincinnati to Newport, Kentucky, to bridges and landmarks in dozens of cities. In South America, Buenos Aires' Puente de la Mujer (Woman's Bridge) and Montevideo's Fountain of Locks have become beloved love lock destinations in their own right.
A Global Language of Love
What makes the love lock tradition extraordinary is its universality. No one organized it. No government promoted it. No company marketed it. It spread organically — from a Serbian bridge to an Italian novel to a Parisian landmark to a Korean TV show — because it speaks to something fundamental in the human experience: the desire to make something as intangible as love into something you can hold, something permanent, something real.
As researcher Dr. Ceri Houlbrook notes, the act of throwing a key into water "resonates with the ritual deposition of weapons, coins, and pilgrimage badges into rivers and wells from the Iron Age to the modern period." Love locks are, in a sense, a modern votive offering — a way of giving something up in exchange for the hope that love will endure.
The tradition continues to evolve. Custom engraved love locks have become the modern expression of this timeless impulse — professionally crafted keepsakes that capture names, dates, artwork, and meaningful details with precision that lasts a lifetime. Rather than a generic padlock and a marker, today's love locks are works of art.
At MakeLoveLocks, we've been crafting custom engraved love locks from our shop in Brooklyn, New York for over a decade. Our locks are designed using our online designer — where you choose your color, add names and dates, select from over 100 artist-designed templates, and create something as unique as your story. Every lock is laser-engraved on anodized aluminum, creating a permanent, weather-resistant mark that won't fade or wash away.
What started with a heartbroken schoolteacher on a Serbian bridge has become a global language of commitment — and the story is still being written, one lock at a time.