Old Krahnen (Trier)
The Alte Krahnen (old spelling with 'h'), also known as Trier's Old Moselle crane , is a harbor crane in Trier . The stone building from 1413 stands on today's Krahnenufer on the right bank of the Moselle .
In terms of its construction, it is a tower crane with two treadmills (diameter: 4.16 m; driven by two winch knuckles each), double boom (initially equipped with a boom, since 1778 with a second boom as a balance element), rotatable conical roof over a vertical wooden axis ( "Kaiserbaum", 12 m) on iron pegs and chain drum with chain and simple pulley . Its load capacity is estimated at one to two tons. Although it is more than a hundred years older, it has similarities and parallels to the eponymous "Old Krahnen" from Andernach , a Rhine crane also made of stone in the late Gothic style .
The “gearbox” of the crane house made of oak was dendrochronologically dated to 1778 and 1863.
The Alte Krahnen is a cultural, historical, industrial and economic landmark of the city of Trier. With the Danzig crane gate from the 14th century (first crane gate from 1367), the "Alte Krahnen" in Trier is one of the oldest lifting devices of this type in the former German-speaking area, of which there were more than 30 on the Rhine and its tributaries in the 16th century gave.
Before the crane was built in Trier: floating crane
In Trier, a crane was probably used on a ship as early as the seventies of the 14th century to repair Trier's Moselle Bridge ( Roman Bridge ). Evidence for the general use of a floating crane as a loading crane is missing from this time.
The construction of a floating crane is only proven for 1403/04, which was then leased; It is unclear whether it was the first or new construction of a floating crane in Trier. On the basis of invoices for extensive repair work from 1406/07 it can be concluded that the crane's hoist - on the ship - was in a wooden, roofed crane house. It was probably a slewing crane with a boom that could be rotated around the axis of the crane. Because the crane tree probably stood on an iron peg, which was supported in a pan-like bearing, and was held by an iron tripod made of iron. With a crane wheel, a rope that ran over the boom and crane boom could be wound onto a shaft . This means that the technology of the Trier crane largely corresponds to that of construction cranes that were used centuries before.
The annual rent was about 350 Trierische pounds. After the new construction of the land crane, the crane ship should also go to its builder.
Building history of the old Krahnen
In 1413, just a few years after the Trier ship crane was built and repaired, the Moselle boatman Gobel, "Lieffgin's son", who had previously been one of the tenants of the Trier floating crane, received permission from Trier Archbishop Werner von Falkenstein to build a new land crane . According to the building regulations, Gobel was obliged to erect the crane in front of the Johannispforte (city gate, which was also called crane gate in the 15th century) and to secure it against ice and flooding. In addition, he should lay a layer of load-bearing beams on the brickwork and build the crane on it ( uff daz mu (e) rewercke ... eyn bette with good strong treben put and make and on eynen nu (e) wen cranen with everything work, az too horet put ... ). The builder was therefore not expressly required to build the new crane in stone; it was therefore considered whether the crane's hoist might not be built with stone until a later date. The original crane construction may already have battlements, as the view in Sebastian Munster's Cosmographiae Universalis (1548) shows. Gobel and the listed family members were allowed to operate the crane for life for an annual fee of 26 Rhenish guilders .
The old crane from Trier replaced the older wooden floating crane with a land crane. This created a large degree of independence from changing water levels . As a stone tower crane, it was also more expensive, but also more robust than the tower cranes usually made of wood at that time.
As early as 1452, the crane became the property of the city, as the owner's family and the builder's son died out. The expansion of Johannisstrasse after July 25, 1556 (corresponding permission from the convent of Mettlach ) evidently led to the crane being relocated ( which was moved and relocated, resulting in all sorts of inconveniences ).
Around 1630 a renovation took place, possibly the extension with a chimney on the north side (see current view). Before 1646 (the time is unclear), a wooden walkway protruding from the wall was added halfway up, as shown by Matthäus Merian's engraving. In the case of Old Krahnens, Merian's view is said to have adapted his model to reality on this point ; The engraving does not show the crane's chimney.
The "Old Krahnen" served as a model for the construction of the " Trier Customs Crane" or "Younger Moselle Crane" in 1773/74 near the main customs office , 250 m upstream on the same bank, before it was repaired in 1778 with the planned installation of a second boom . The total width of both booms is now approx. 26 m, the booms are mounted 15 meters above the ground. Further repairs were made in 1863. It was not until 1910 that the crane was decommissioned.
After the old Krahnen was badly damaged at the end of the Second World War, further construction work and repairs were carried out in 1950. In 1992 there was a comprehensive general overhaul of the crane with the installation of new oak booms and a new pulley block.
The crane is fully functional today. However, due to the embankment of the Moselle bank, it is no longer directly on the river, so that the outriggers no longer reach the water.
The importance of the old crane for the city of Trier
The construction of the crane on Johannisufer ("Krahnenufer") led to the relocation of the Moselle harbor (formerly at Martinskloster ) and thus to the settlement of boatmen, pilots , the numerous sick men such as winch men and dock workers at the new landing site. This contributed significantly to the city's economic upswing.
Initially, the Trier land crane was hardly profitable, as was the ship crane before it. From 1488/89 to 1496/97 it is documented that the fees were hardly sufficient for the operating costs. After a long-neglected increase in fees, however, the crane formed a steady source of income for the city from the beginning of the 16th century, which it was able to withhold at least initially without paying the archbishop. In 1549, the city council forbade the new Trier crane master from loading goods at night or without the prescribed fees - presumably to avoid possible overreaching by the crane master.
The crane played an important role in the implementation of stacking rights from the beginning of the 14th century until the French revolutionary troops marched in in 1794. At the same time, it generally allowed the goods to be recorded and assigned to monasteries and pens, as the Trier crane master was asked to do in 1528 . Due to the importance of the Moselle as a transport route, it was possible to control which goods were taxable. After a conflict between the city and religious institutions - especially the numerous monasteries in and around Trier and the cathedral chapter - a settlement concluded in 1440 stipulated that the clergy could still transport and trade goods from the vicinity of Trier tax-free into the city ; On the other hand, there were no tax privileges for grain and, above all, wine, the most important commodity in Trier, provided they were delivered from a further distance - from one of the numerous clergy possessions. The question of tax privileges continued to be disputed, but the crane master was generally responsible for an important control function, and irregularities in his goods control were attempted in the course of the 16th century, for example by comparing them with the crane gate keeper.
The importance of the crane is also borne out by the staffing of the crane masters who were responsible for operating the crane as well as for collecting the fees. Often it was even skippers who brought with them certain prior knowledge. Between 1450 and 1500 the magistrates of the boatmen's guild, who had also been members of the city council since the seventies of the 15th century, became crane masters several times. Overall, the majority of crane masters came from the middle and now and then even from the upper class of the city.
See also
- Customs crane
- List of historical port cranes from the Middle Ages, Renaissance and Baroque
- treadmill
Individual evidence
- ^ Ernst Hollstein : Central European Oak Chronology. Trier dendrochronological research on archeology and art history (= Trier excavations and research . Volume 11 ). von Zabern, Mainz 1980, ISBN 3-8053-0096-4 (quoted according to Matheus, p. 21).
- ↑ a b Matheus, pp. 28-29
- ↑ Stadtarchiv Trier, document TR 78 - quoted according to Matheus, p. 29, footnote 43
- ^ Matheus pp. 29-30
- ↑ Matheus p. 30, footnote 44
- ^ Friedrich Lau (edit.): Neuss (= sources on the legal and economic history of the Rhenish cities, cities of the Electorate of Cologne . Volume 1 ). Bonn 1911, ISBN 3-7700-7551-X , p. 493 f (reprint from 1984; according to Matheus p. 30, footnote 44).
- ^ H. Bunjes: Plans and views on the building history of the city of Trier in the Middle Ages . In: Trier magazine 11 . 1936, p. 90-131 (quoted according to Matheus p. 30, footnote 44).
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^ Matheus p. 45
M. Matheus (1982). "City on the river": cranes, crane maintenance and skipper in late medieval Trier. In: Kurtrierisches Jahrbuch 22, pp. 34–59. - quoted according to Matheus p. 78 - ↑ Matheus p. 54
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↑ Matheus pp. 81-82;
M. Matheus (1982). "City on the river": cranes, crane maintenance and skipper in late medieval Trier. In: Kurtrierisches Jahrbuch 22, pp. 34–59. - quoted according to Matheus p. 78 - ↑ Matheus pp. 63-65
literature
- Michael Matheus: Harbor cranes. On the history of a medieval machine on the Rhine and its tributaries from Strasbourg to Düsseldorf (= Trier historical research . Volume 9 ). Trier Historical Research Publishing House (THF), Trier 1985, ISBN 3-923087-08-X .
Web links
- Entry on the so -called old Moselle crane in the database of cultural assets in the Trier region .
Coordinates: 49 ° 45 ′ 22.7 " N , 6 ° 37 ′ 44.7" E