In cities like Paris, Barcelona… people still see couples buying locks, pressing on a bridge and then throwing the keys away. It’s a love lock.
In many parts of the world, we come across thousands of love locks of couples. They hope for a lasting and close relationship.
But where do these keys come from? Why does the image of a padlock represent eternal love?
In fact, there are many explanations for this. However, the real story behind it is a tragic and tragic love affair in Serbia many years ago.
Why does the image of a padlock represent eternal love?
The story takes place in the town of Vrnjacka Banja in 1914, when Europe is facing a military crisis. Young men were forced to join the army and many died in the hopeless and unending war.
Young Relja is no exception. Like many other young people, Relja does not want to leave his family and especially the love of his life – a girl named Nada.
Nada and Relja love each other deeply and without hesitation decide to “tie each other up” with an engagement. They hope for a perfect home. However, when Austria declared war on Serbia, Relja had no choice but to go to war to defend the country.
Although sad, Nada always believes that Ralja will survive and soon return to her side. The war ended, but Ralja never returned. Not because of the bombs, but because he had fallen in love with another girl in Corfu, leaving Nada in anxious waiting.
Suffering from betrayal, Nada drowned in sadness and then finally died alone, closing a tearful love affair.
The story of Nada and Ralja spreads in the town. The girls fear their lover is as changeable as Ralja. And to protect their love, they buy locks with their names written on them and attach them to the bridge where Nada and Ralja once met.
Most Ljubavi Bridge in Serbia – where the story of the love padlock originates.
The keys were then thrown into the river. They believe that in this way their love will last forever.
This sad story slowly faded into oblivion until the Serbian poet Desanka Maksimovic recalled it in her poem Prayer for Love . Since then, hundreds of young couples have known this legend and bought locks with names engraved to attach to the bridge in any year, turning it into a famous love bridge – Most Ljubavi bridge .
The tradition was quickly copied in many major cities around the world such as Paris and Barcelona. However, it was later forced to remove the locks to avoid pressure on the bridges. In contrast, where this story begins, the locks have remained intact to this day.
In the place where this story begins, the locks are still intact to this day.
There is no shortage of love stories with sad endings due to war, and we cannot be sure that the story of Nada and Ralja really exists or not.
But the belief, the hope of eternal love is real, and it is clearly demonstrated by hundreds of thousands of love locks all over the world.