# Alter Saarkran

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Content updated: 2026-06-22

The Alter Saarkran stands in Saarbrücken, Germany, beside the Saar River as a reconstructed Baroque harbour crane.

The crane was originally called Saarkrahnen in Saarbrücken.

Prince Wilhelm Heinrich of Saarbrücken-Nassau ordered the original crane for the city’s trade infrastructure in the early 1760s.

It transferred goods between Saar ships and carts.

Unlike floating cranes, this land-based treadwheel design stood inside an octagonal wooden crane house.

Its sandstone base supports a mansard roof with dormer windows.

A rotating upper section carried the crane arm, whose tip displayed a gilded eagle with spread wings.

The original crane operated from 1762 until 1852.

After a steel crane replaced it, railway development and new harbour facilities made that successor obsolete.

The A620 construction revealed its original foundation in the early 1960s.

Fundraising in the mid-1980s supported reconstruction on the same site, south of the Wilhelm-Heinrich Bridge.

The present structure was erected between 1989 and 1991 as a technical monument.

The structure links Saarbrücken’s Baroque heritage with its industrial past.

- City: [Saarbrücken](https://mytuur.com/en/city/saarbrucken/)

## Photos

- ![](https://mytuur-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/image_AlterSaarkran_67eb84425015e57639687cad_0.jpg) — [Image: wikimedia](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:Saarkran_18Jh.jpg)
- ![](https://mytuur-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/image_AlterSaarkran_67eb84425015e57639687cad_1.jpg) — [Image: wikimedia](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:20111230Saarkran_Saarbruecken07.jpg)
- ![](https://mytuur-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/image_AlterSaarkran_67eb84425015e57639687cad_2.jpg) — [Image: wikimedia](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:20111230Saarkran_Saarbruecken12.jpg)

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