As of: March 5, 2024, 4:48 p.m
By: Regina Mittermeier, Nina Bautz
Comments
Press
Split
The hands of Old Peter were repaired in Munich for months.
Now they have returned to the clock tower of the well-known landmark.
Photos show the spectacular effort.
Munich - Very carefully, wearing white protective gloves, construction officer Jeanne-Marie Ehbauer carries the large gold pointer, which is 3.25 meters long and weighs 24 kilos, in the direction of Alter Peter in Munich.
Then professional industrial climbers slowly pull the two new pieces of jewelry up, piece by piece, on Tuesday morning (March 5th).
Meter by meter.
Assembling the new hands for the tower clock on Old Peter is a complex tightrope act.
On Tuesday morning the hands on Old Peter in Munich were reassembled.
© Jens Hartmann
At the beginning of November last year, a storm damaged the clock face on Munich's landmark
And time is worn!
As a reminder: at the beginning of November last year, a storm damaged the lower dial on the west side of the tower.
Exactly on November 5th at 4:54 a.m. the hands got stuck.
Since only a few companies specialize in such clock cases, the hands, which are over 100 years old, were sent to the Georg Rauscher tower clock factory in Regensburg for restoration.
Here a climber attaches the first pointer to the west side of Old Peter.
© Jens Hartmann
The company has already taken care of several of Munich's 183 tower clocks, such as those at the Ludwigskirche, the Theatinerkirche, the Frauenkirche and the clock at the Isartor.
Repairing Old Peter's hands cost almost five figures
Christine Rauscher from the specialist company: “That was also a special challenge - because the clock there runs backwards …”
According to the building department, the repair of the hands of Old Peter cost almost a five-figure sum. On Tuesday morning the hands finally returned to their original place.
The work on Old Peter in Munich took place at dizzying heights.
© Jens Hartmann
“It took a little longer than hoped because we were always in close consultation with the monument protection department in order to largely preserve the hands,” says construction officer Jeanne-Marie Ehbauer.
Originally it was hoped that the assembly would be completed around the turn of the year.
My news
Temperature drop reaches Munich: Deep in southern Germany could even bring snowflakes
“Stubborn and selfish”: Strike on the railway – massive failures also expected in Munich read
Shock in the clinic on the right side of the Isar: Another top doctor dead - clinic boss speaks out
The Munich woman goes to the emergency room because of a delicate situation - the fire department then has to be called
Huge mess: Haugebaumarkt customer leaves piles on the exhibition toilet – read “So underground”.
Immediately taken to the shock room: Young man (20) rescued from Isarlesen early Sunday morning
The repair of the hands was also used to stabilize the entire construction
Precision work was required in the workshop.
“It turned out that the substructure was no longer so stable, so we stabilized it with a steel plate,” explains Christine Rauscher.
She and her colleagues also renewed the pointer attachment and repainted and gold-plated it.
Michael Münch (from the specialist company Rauscher) helps with the assembly on Old Peter.
© Jens Hartmann
And so they now shine in new splendor.
Rauscher: “So that the hands do not get scratched or damaged when they are pulled up on the tower wall, they were pulled up individually on ropes by special professionals - some of them still in protective packaging.”
(Our Munich newsletter regularly informs you about all important stories from the Isar metropolis. Register here.)
Detlev Langer (construction department) and Munich's construction officer Jeanne-Marie Ehbauer carry the repaired pointer on Tuesday morning.
© Jens Hartmann
It took about an hour to reinstall the new hands on Old Peter
The smaller hand is not a lightweight either: it measures 2.75 meters and weighs 14 kilos.
But the weather was kind to the fitters on Tuesday morning, there was hardly any wind.
Once at the top, the new hands are rebalanced; they now weigh more than before.
And after all, the hands should run cleanly.
After about an hour they are successfully assembled.
A weight falls from the hearts of all those who endure below and stare spellbound upwards.
“Now we hope that the clock will run smoothly again for another 20 or 30 years,” says Rauscher.
You can find more news in our brand new Merkur.de app, now in an improved design with more personalization functions.
Directly available for download, more information can be found here.
Are you an enthusiastic user of WhatsApp?
Merkur.de will now keep you up to date via a new Whatsapp channel.
Click here to go directly to the channel.