HD photographs of the Pont des Arts in June 2015
Over the last several weeks we have had a lot of questions with regards to the transformation of the Love Lock Bridge known as the Bridge of Love in Paris, so we decided to send our EUtouring team back to the Pont des Arts, just before and only days after it was re-opened in June 2015, to have a look and take some more photos.
Before and after photos of the Bridge of Love with and without its Love Locks in place
In this first image we decided to put together two photographs of the famous Pont des Arts taken at different times while looking upstream of the River Seine, with the smaller photo in the top right corner being taken in 2014 showing all the Love Locks on the Bridge of Love railings, and the main photo was taken in June 2015 showing its dramatic transformation with the new temporary painted panels replacing the padlocks.
Paris 2015 Bridge of Love artists work
Over recent years, the City of Paris launched a website and numerous other initiatives to try and get people to stop adding lovelocks on the Pont des Arts, which was mainly for safety reasons and to protect the bridge from collapse, but eventually, at the start of June 2015 work took place to remove over a million padlocks and replace the panels with temporary works from four different artists, including this panel you can see above.
Photo showing the western side of the Bridge of Love with its new painted pink and white panels by El Seed
Here you can see a high definition photo of the Pont des Arts looking downstream of the river, and in keeping with the theme of romance, this side was produced by the street artist El Seed and features a quote in pink by the famous poet Honore de Balzac, produced in Arabic letters that reads; Paris is in truth an ocean: you can plumb it but you will never know its depths.
New artistic Love Locks on Pont des Arts
In this photo you can see some of the street art panels of a temporary exhibition on the Pont des Arts, which as you can tell, relate to how this bridge has been depicted over recent years, with the lovelocks that were added to the railings, and incredibly they weighed around 45 tons when they were removed at the start of June 2015, before the bridge was reopened with the new temporary painted boards.
Pont des Arts graffiti Love Locks painted on fake railings
There are actually four different graffiti artists named Brusk, Pantonio, Jace and El Seed who contributed to the temporary exhibition panels on the Pont des Arts, and as you can tell from this photo, these painted panels actually look like the original railings that were removed, but with the artists own style of Love Locks painted on top.
Pont des Arts French Cancan dancers with additional graffiti art work from unknown artist!
Many of the panels that are part of a temporary street art exhibition on the Pont des Arts reflect different aspects of the French way of life, Paris and France, and as you can no doubt tell from this photo that we took of one particular painted panel, it looks like ladies doing the world famous French cancan.
Photo showing the view along the new painted panels on the eastside of the Pont des Arts
This is a view of the Pont des Arts looking along the wooden decking of the pedestrian bridge, which for a few years was known as the Bridge of Love, but with much controversy, yet for safety reasons, especially after the complete collapse of one of the railings filled with padlocks, the Pont des Arts now has a temporary street art exhibition before glass panels will be installed.
Another artist at work as a human statue on the Bridge of Love in Paris
The Pont des Arts has been a popular tourist attraction in Paris for many years, and because of this you will often see people trying to earn money in different ways, and with the absence of the vendors selling padlocks, you have some unusual performers like this lady that was mimicking a statue, which we do have to say was very good.
Now you can enjoy French cuisine on the Bridge of Love
While standing on the Pont des Arts, which is known to many as the Bridge of Love, we took this photo looking at the temporary painted street art panels that have replaced the railings covered in padlocks, and in this image we were looking at some of the artistic representation of traditional French cuisine.
Photo showing the Bridge of Love pink and white siding by El Seed on the west side of the bridge
With mixed feelings and many different points of view emerging regarding the transition of the Pont des Arts from a historical bridge, through to the Bridge of Love with its padlocks, and more recently the street art panels produced through a partnership with gallerist Mehdi Ben Cheikh, this photo shows the June 2015 changes to the pink and white side panels on the western facade of this bridge.
Photograph showing the new look Pont des Arts only days after it reopened in June 2015
Here you can see a photo we took of the Pont des Arts only days after it had reopened, after having had the traditional railings removed with the padlocks totalling over one million and 45 tons in weight, yet there are a few railings remaining at each end of the bridge that still have lovelocks attached at present.
Toxic art work on the Bridge of Love in Paris
As you can see from this photo, many people express themselves and their feelings through their art works and this artist has provided some street art on the Pont des Arts depicting the toxicity and pollution that is now affecting our planet, its cities and our future.
Street art exhibition on the Bridge of Love June 2015
Now, it was the gallerist Mehdi Ben Cheikh that the City of Paris asked to create a temporary street art exhibition for the Pont des Arts in order to replace the railings with the lovelocks, and four artists, El Seed, Brusk, Pantonio, and Jace took part in the creations, which were installed during the first week of June 2015 and are on display for all to enjoy until later in the year when new glass panels are to be put in place.
Is it Pont des Arts, Bridge of Love or Graffiti Bridge?
It was less than a week after the reopening of the Pont des Arts in June 2015 when we visited this famous bridge, and already there has been additional graffiti added to some of the artists panels that have been temporary installed, with many people being against the idea of removing the tradition of adding lovelocks completely, whilst others are happy with the decision.
New Paris accommodation options on the Bridge of Love
There are numerous different opinions from people throughout the world as to whether the Bridge of Love, or Pont des Arts as it is officially called, should have the lovelocks removed, and mixed feelings are abundant, although the panels with painted street art like those in this image, are only a temporary installation for a few months from June 2015.
Picture of the official artists information board on the Pont des Arts in Paris
We took this photo showing the new information board detailing the transformation of the Pont des Arts with a temporary exhibition from four different international artists named Jace from Reunion Island, El Seed from Tunisia, Brusk from France and Pantonio from Portugal.
Photograph of Sammy loves Eman Love Lock still on the Bridge of Love in June 2015
The phenomenon of attaching a padlock known as a lovelock to declare your love has become one of those things that people do all over the world, and Paris is no exception with the Pont des Arts becoming known as the Bridge of Love, yet there are consequences when millions of people do this, and even after they were taken off this bridge in 2010 they were removed again and only a few like the Sammy loves Eman Love Lock in this image remain so far.
HD photo of Pards + Raj Love Lock February 2015 still on the Pont des Arts Bridge of Love
This close up photo shows another one of the many lovelocks, or padlocks, that are the last few remaining at the Pont des Arts, and we thought that it would be a good idea to include some high definition photos of personal Love Locks we came across as a long lasting and permanent memory on our own personal online servers of this romantic act, so do have a look at our other photos - you may just find yours.
Bridge of Love golden railings with Love Locks along Port des Saints-Peres
In this photo looking towards the Institut de France and the Port des Saints-Peres, you can see some of the remaining panels of the Pont des Arts that are fully covered with lovelocks from people wishing to declare their love in the city of romance, which transformed this historical pedestrian bridge over the River Seine into a world wide icon that became known as the Bridge of Love by millions of people.
View of the last few Love Locks still remaining on the Pont des Arts in Paris
Although hundreds of thousands of lovelocks were removed from the Pont des Arts at the start of June 2015, there are still some golden railings, or lattice grills as they are known, that have remained in place on the street sides of the bridge, which as you can tell from this photo, are absolutely crammed full of padlocks, otherwise known as lovelocks.
2015 picture of Pont des Arts Love Lock railings next to the new pink and white panels on the Bridge
This is a photo we took looking up the walkway to the Pont des Arts along Quai Francois Mitterrand, which makes this pedestrian bridge accessible to the disabled rather than the other side with its steps, and as you can see there are a few remaining panels with the lovelocks compared to the temporary panels put in place on the bridge itself.
Pont des Arts northern end west side steps holds some of the last remaining Love Locks
The Pont des Arts has been known as the Bridge of Love for several years, and has been visited by millions of tourists from all over the world who have added padlocks to the railings in order to declare their love to each other, but this bridge is now changing starting from June 2015, and as you can see from this photo some parts now have both the old Love Lock railings next to the new painted panels.
Panoramic picture of the western side of the new look Pont des Arts bridge in Paris June 2015
We took this panoramic photograph looking upstream of the River Seine showing the whole western side of the Pont des Arts, which connects the Institut de France on the right, to the Louvre Palace on the left of the image, and as you can tell the new but temporary blue and white panels on this pedestrian bridge can be seen from quick some distance.
Bridge of Love Love Lock railings along Quai des Tuileries
This photo was taken while we were standing on the Pont des Arts looking towards the Musee du Louvre and the Quai des Tuileries, and just above the people relaxing at the waters edge, you can see the last few remaining railings covered in lovelocks.
Picture of the Lovewithoutlocks information board on the Ponts des Arts
We took this photo showing another information board that was put in place on the Pont des Arts in 2014 to try and encourage people NOT to place a padlock on the railings, however, this was not enough to stop the damage to this historical bridge, and as you have seen from some of the photos we have taken, more drastic action has now been taken, which has been met with good and bad opinions.
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