Things are slowly going uphill. Meter by meter, the minute hand is pulled up using a winch, covered in plastic film. An industrial climber hangs on the west side of the Old Peter, a few meters below the viewing platform. Shortly before he receives the hand, a head sticks out of a hatch: an employee is waiting in the church tower to be able to attach the minute hand from the inside. The missing hour hand is already at the foot of Old Peter – it will be hoisted up next.
The clock on the west side of Munich’s oldest parish church had no hands for about four months. On November 5, 2023, gusts of wind raged over the city so violently that the hands on the lower dial on the west side got caught. The drive motor could no longer move it and the sheet metal of the minute hand was torn in two places.
On the ground you can see how big the hands are. In the front picture: construction officer Jeanne-Marie Ehbauer and Detlev Langer from the construction department, behind them Pastor Daniel Lerch and tower keeper Joachim Wallner.
(Photo: Robert Haas)
A job for those with a head for heights.
(Photo: Robert Haas)
Johann Wunderer stands at Alter Peter on Tuesday morning and waits. He is responsible for public clocks in the construction department and coordinates everything. He is satisfied with the restoration work of the Turmuhren Rauscher company from Regensburg, “the specifications of the lower monument protection authority were well implemented.” The main department head for structural engineering in the building department, Detlev Langer, agrees: “It’s a special job that requires a lot of sensitivity,” he says.
Daniel Lerch, the pastor of St. Peter, reports that he was often asked about the missing hands. He was allowed to hold the restored hands briefly for a photo. What struck him: “They’re heavy,” he says with a smile. The hour hand weighs 14 kilograms and the minute hand weighs 24 kilograms. Construction officer Jeanne-Marie Ehbauer explains why the restoration took so long: “The lower monument protection authority had clear ideas about how the hands needed to be restored.” The communication took a lot of time. “We spent a sum in the low five-figure range on the restoration,” adds the construction officer.
After around half an hour, the industrial climbers are finished. Just in time for the ringing at a quarter to eleven, the gold and black hands of the Munich landmark are back where they should be.