Remarks: Best viewed in Google Earth.

Google Maps doesn't properly render the placemarkers. The colour and size of icons is also not shown properly.
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Locks of love are the padlocks fixed by loving couples, on to a fence or a pole or metallic chain/string alongside some wall etc at a public place, to symbolize their eternal love. A couple would hang a padlock after inscribing their name or initials on it and throw the key away so that their love is locked forever. Some couple use two inter-twined locks, each lock bearing their name/initials. Besides lovers, often family members and close friends also put such locks at these places, to lock their relationship forever.

The tradition probably originated from China where the love locks can be seen at several locations alongside the Great Wall of China and also in many temples and on the steps/paths leading to sacred peaks.

The tradition has spread around the World and is now quite prevalent in South Korea, Japan, Guam, Italy, Hungary, Latvia, Russia, USA etc.

Juyongguan, Sanbu and Badaling sections of the Great Wall, being close to Beijing, are the most popular sections of the Great Wall and thousands of locks of various sizes, attached to the rows and rows of steel chains along the wall, can be seen at these places.

The watch towers at these places are occasionally used as a venue for weddings. Loving couples announce their love for each other as they hang their lock, and then they throw away the key, in the hopes that their love will last for as long as the Great Wall stands.

In Italy the love padlock enthusiasm came first to Rome because of a romantic rite mentioned in two novels by Federico Moccia, Tre Metri sopra il Cielo (Three meters above the sky) and Ho Voglia di Te (I Desire You). Later a popular film was also made based on these romantic novels which accelerated the fad of lovelocks in Italy.

As per the story, a young man trying to win heart of a girl, tells her that there is a tradition of putting a padlock in an old bridge in Rome, and tossing the key in the river makes their love last forever. This started a new trend and couples began putting their locks onto a street lamp on Ponte Milvio. Soon there were more locks than the lamp post could handle. The authorities initially tried to stop this practice but later relented and have now placed special chains for the locks to prevent damaging the lighting pole of the bridge.

Along the Ponte Vecchio at Florence there are many padlocks locked to various places, especially to the railing around the statue of Benvenuto Cellini, located midway along the bridge. The civic authorities tried to stop this practice but have not succeeded so far, the newer lovelocks appear faster than the rate at which older ones are removed.

The town of Riomaggiore in Italy has a kilometre long walk, romantically named Via dell'Amore. It over looks the sea and has a sculpture of a kissing couple. Lovers use the railing here to put their lovelocks

The tradition, came to Hungary in early 1980, in the town of P�cs, when lovers began to clamp padlocks to a wrought-iron fence in a narrow street near the medieval cathedral. However, the fence soon became completely covered and no more padlocks could be added to it. The couples then resorted to putting lovelocks to the fences and statues throughout the town centre. The municipal authorities made several attempts to discourage this practice and even displayed notices at various spots around the town declaring that this activity will be treated as vandalism. They however failed to discourage it and having succumbed to popular pressure, have now made a plan to add a new iron fence near to the original site.

In Moscow, special iron trees have been installed on a pedestrian bridge for such love locks.

In USA, lovelocks came to the city of Lovelock, Pershing County, Nevada, USA as tourism business promotion. On Valentine's Day, 2006, a dedication ceremony was held to start the tradition of at the new Lover's Lock Plaza near the courthouse in downtown. Nevada Commission of Tourism also started a new marketing campaign to bring motorists travelling on Interstate80 to the town by placing large bill boards. They even have a web site to promote lovelocks. (Link)

I have tried to locate and placemark as many places as I could find on the World Wide Web. I am sure the romantics readers will now try to find more such places.

So far following places have been placemarked;

China:
- Great Wall, Juyongguan
- Great Wall, Sanbu
- Great Wall, Badaling
- Huashan, Shaanxi
- Puning Temple, Chengde
- Putuoshan Island
- Taishan
- Wulingyuan Scenic Area, Zhangjiajie (Location Courtesy: Elizabeth Christie)

Estonia
- Keila-Joa

Guam:
- Two Lovers' Point, Tumon Bay, Guam

Hungary:
- Szinva Terrace, Miskolc
- P�cs, Hungary
- Tata, Hungary

Italy:
- Bruneck (Brunico)
- Ponto Vecchio, Florence
- Ponte Aragonese, Ischia
- Parco Sempione, Milan
- Napoli (Naples)
- Via dell'amore, Riomaggiore
- Ponte Milvio, Rome
- Siracusa-Ortigia Bridge, Sicily

Latvia:
- Riga Park, Riga

Russia:
- Luzhkov bridge, Moscow

South Korea:
- N. Seoul Tower, Seoul

USA:
- Lovelock, Nevada

Here are some photographs taken at these locations;

Great Wall, Juyongguan, China

Image from Panoramio is by irish craptock

Great Wall, Sanbu, China

Image from Panoramio is by Rehal AlKhabar Wael AlDafaq
It may be worth noting that often family members and close friends, not necessarily lovers, also put such locks at these places, to lock their relationship forever.

Great Wall, Badaling, China

Image from Flickr is by Alieh
President Richard Nixon during his historic journey to China visited this portion of the wall alongwith his wife, on February 24, 1972.

Mt. Hua, Huashan, China
It is one of the, Five Sacred Mountains of Taoism. The mountain is famous for steep peaks which are very difficult to climb.

Image from Panoramio is by Liu Hongshi liuhs

Puning Temple, (commonly called the Big Buddha Temple) Chengde, China

Image from travelblog.org is by Elizabeth Christie

Mt. Putuo, Putuoshan Island, China

Image from Picasaweb is by Andrew

Mt. Tai, Taishan, China
The route to the peak of Taishan (Mt. Tai) has many temples. These temples and the railings along the route are the favourite spots for the loving couples to lock their lock of love.

Image from Panoramio is by Sam Mintonye
This image of lovelocks was taken on way to the peak of Taishan (Mt. Tai)


Image from Panoramio is by Hua Qing Hot Spring
This image was taken near the famous Confucius Temple located on a peak of Mt. Tai

Wulingyuan Scenic Area, Zhangjiajie

Image from travelblog.org is by Elizabeth Christie


Image from travelblog.org is by Elizabeth Christie
The path is leading to, reportedly the highest natural bridge in the world, often called heaven's gate.


Image from travelblog.org is by Cheuk
This one was taken at a nearby area.

Keila-Joa, Estonia
On the railings of a pedestrian bridge near the waterfall.

Image from Panoramio is by Duke1999

Two Lovers' Point, (Puntan dos Amantes) Tumon Bay, Guam

Image from Flickr is by chotda

Szinva Terrace, Miskolc, Hungary

Image from Panoramio is by FedorTamas

P�cs, Hungary

Image from Panoramio is by Antissimo


Image from Panoramio is by Bal�zs S�ndor

Tata, Hungary

Image from Panoramio is by Napsugi

Bruneck (Brunico), Italy

Image from Panoramio is by doc.pl(Gdansk)

Ponto Vecchio, Florence, Italy

Image from Panoramio is by Pietro Rapisarda


Image from Panoramio is by Pietro Rapisarda

Ponte Aragonese, Ischia, Italy

Image from Flickr is by Underpuppy

Parco Sempione, Milan, Italy

Image from Flickr is by Andrek

Napoli (Naples), Italy

Image from Panoramio is by Maria Rosaria Penna


Image from Panoramio is by Santhat

Via dell'amore, Riomaggiore, Italy

Image from Panoramio is by �Luigi Petrazzoli

Ponte Milvio, Rome, Italy


Image from Panoramio is by psetron
The condition of the pole due to overload can be clearly seen in this photo.


Image from Panoramio is by gianni loperfido
The photo shows the present arrangement, where in locks are put on a chain and not on the lighting pole.

Siracusa-Ortigia Bridge, Sicily

Image from Blah Blah Blog is by Linda (aka Lou)


Image from Blah Blah Blog is by Linda (aka Lou)

Riga Park, Riga, Latvia

Image from Panoramio is by alex_walker

Luzhkov bridge, Moscow, Russia

Image from Panoramio is by Alexander Pototskiy

N Seoul Tower, Seoul, S Korea

Image from Panoramio is by Meditation
The lovelocks have almost blocked view beneath.

Lovelock, Nevada, USA



Image from Panoramio is by mitrom


Image from Panoramio is by mitrom

Note: All photos given here are under the copyright of their owners.

Wherever the name of photographer, as given in their original profile, was in Chinese character, the same has been translated from Chinese using http://translate.google.com/translate_t#. If there is any mistake, I apologies in advance. Please let me through this forum or by e-mail the correct name so that I can rectify the mistake.

Fascinating JM, and very well put together, it must have been a lot of work and research. A labour of love shall we say? Thanks for reposting

It is just depend on your attitude your collection is really too good.

Serendipity brought me to this Blog where I found Keila-Joa, Estonia - a fresh addition to the towns having the tradition of Locks of Love. I have duly placemarked it and uploaded new folder.