Love Padlocks at Käppelijoch - Basel, Switzerland
Posted by: 
fi67
N 47° 33.605 E 007° 35.387
32T E 393913 N 5268370
The old chapel on the central bridge has a lot of love padlocks.
Waymark Code: WMKZPR
Location: Basel Stadt, Switzerland
Date Posted: 06/23/2014
Views: 18
The most popular place for love padlocks in Basel is the iron gate to the old chapel on the central bridge, called "Käppelijoch".
The chapel was originally built in 1392, the year the bishop acquired the area north of the Rhine and incorporated it in the city. The chapel was not only a religious symbol for the new connection of the two parts of the city, the construction also had static reasons, the additional weight was meant to strengthen the stone pillar of the wooden bridge and stabilize it for flood events.
Stability and union, this history makes the place a perfect fit for love padlocks, although most couples who come here do not know anything about this background. And, on the other hand this was also the place were women sentenced to death were executed by drowning them in the river in the late Middle Ages. Well, this does not fit too well, I hope.
When the bridge was completely rebuilt in stone in 1905 the chapel was taken over, but placed on a different pillar more in the center of the bridge.
It is not clear, when the custom of love padlocks started here. The first mentioning in a news media was in late spring 2013. Today the place has about 300 padlocks, and the local authorities currently tolerate it, but this might change in case it becomes over prevalent.
Structure/Location: Iron gate of the bridge chapel
Approximate year of the first padlock at this location: 2013
Approximate number of padlocks at this location: 300
Website of some background information about the padlocks at this location: [Web Link]
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Visit Instructions:
To post a log to an existing Love Padlock waymark, you will need to post a unique picture of the structure taken by you. Including your GPS device in the picture is not necessary!