I love you, je t’aime, ich liebe dich and ti amo, are just some of the ways to say I love you. In the Square Jehan-Rictus a short walk down from Sacre Coeur lives the I Love You wall, Le Mur des Je T’aime.
The blue enameled lava tiles have only been there since 2000, but the story behind it dates back a few more years. Frédéric Baron in 1992 would wander the streets of Paris with a notebook in hand and would ask passersby of all nationalities how they would say, “I love you”. Filling page after page and notebook after notebook just to satisfy his curiosity. A friend told him that his project should be shared. Claire Kito, a calligraphy specialist, worked with Frédéric taking each of his pages and bringing them to life. In over 250 languages and 311 phrases, they would be recreated onto 612 enameled tiles, each the same size as the pages he recorded them all on
The royal blue tiles covered with the phrases written in white are dotted with specs of red. These are to represent a broken heart, if they were all gathered together they would become one solid heart. One thing is certain when you stand in front of this wall, while the phrase is so simple, it means the same thing in every corner of the world. All we all want is love, whether it be the love of another or the feeling of falling in love with a place that makes you feel alive. And maybe we would all be better off if we remembered that.
