Würzburg old crane, Harbor crane in Würzburg, Germany
The Würzburg Old Crane is a lifting device from the 18th century standing on the Main River bank with wooden booms for cargo handling. The structure includes chains and hooks operated entirely by manual labor to raise and lower goods.
Franz Ignaz Neumann built this facility between 1767 and 1773 for Prince-Bishop Adam Friedrich von Seinsheim. The structure represents a key period in river commerce and cargo handling along the Main.
The structure shows how people once moved goods between the river and city streets using manual labor and teamwork. You can observe the physical setup that made this daily work possible.
The crane sits at Kranenkai and is easily accessible from the riverbank and nearby streets. The Main River location allows visitors to view the structure from different angles and explore the surrounding historic harbor area.
Six workers were needed to operate this crane, with two handling the lifting mechanics and four controlling the rotation. This large crew demonstrates how labor-intensive river commerce was during that era.
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