Adding to the tourism industry, it hopes this new attraction will boost the economy and give residents something new to visit.

“Photographic venues in Kimberley are few and far apart. We’ve decided to have the love lock wall because there’s not enough deliberate activity to celebrate love and long-term commitment,” said theatre manager Charles Ikaneng.

Usually after wedding ceremonies, couples and their families stop at the Oppenheimer Gardens or Queens Park to take pictures. The new attraction gives them an extra option to take photos while sealing their commitment with a lock.

Locks are available at the theatre. Visitors can pick out the lock of their choice, engrave it or write on it with a marker, lock it onto the wall and kiss the key before throwing it into the “well of love”.

“The tradition of love locks involves attaching padlocks to bridges, fences, statues or other installations to symbolise love,” said Ikaneng.

Residents can start putting locks on the wall from Friday (13/12). The theatre expects around a hundred love locks to be locked by Sunday (15/12) and more than 500 by the New Year.

“The aim is actually to make the Hull Street Theatre a precinct of activities while tourists come to visit the birthplace of Wits University,” added Ikaneng.

The University of the Witwatersrand was founded in Kimberley in 1896 as the South African School of Mines. Eight years later, in 1904, it was moved to Johannesburg and renamed the Transvaal Technical Institute. It was granted full university status after being incorporated as the University of the Witwatersrand in 1922.

The love lock tradition reportedly dates back to a Serbian World War I romance tale, but its modern popularity can be traced to the 2006 best-selling Italian novel I want you by Federico Moccia. In the book, a couple attaches a love lock to Rome’s Ponte Milvio bridge to declare their unbreakable love.

OFM News/Casey-Lee Anthony cg