Alter Kranen

Alter Kranen stands on the Main River embankment in Würzburg as a Baroque harbour crane built into a fortified riverbank bastion. Its truncated stone tower measures about 10.2 metres across and rises to roughly the same height. A copper-covered rotating cap carries two oak jibs, measuring 11 and 14 metres, above the river.

Franz Ignaz Michael Neumann designed the structure for Prince-Bishop Adam Friedrich von Seinsheim between 1767 and 1773. River trade shaped its purpose. Two treadwheels, each 5.2 metres in diameter, allowed workers to raise and lower cargo. The double jib balanced loads, while ships at the lower quay and carts above could move goods simultaneously. The crane operated until 1846, and its mechanism survived the Second World War intact despite Würzburg’s severe destruction.

Sixteen oak beams support the upper structure, while small wheels beneath the Kaiserbaum help turn it through a stone groove. A Latin inscription beneath the river-facing coat of arms encodes the year 1773. Franconia and the river god Moenus flank the coat of arms, while a water gauge and high-water marks connect the monument with the Main’s changing level.