Construction and the Move – April 2010

Precision work with 800 kg

In a project to be completed in 2011, the museum's older facilities are undergoing major renovation work to restore the qualities that make them valuable historical monuments. At present, columns featuring filigree detail are being conveyed into the museum interior through the roof of the Staufer Tower.

As cautiously as if they were handling raw eggs, two men use two cranes to place the columns – each weighing 800 kg but conspicuously slender – into the interior of the Staufer Tower. With the aid of the crane set up in the museum courtyard, each concrete column is threaded through a small opening in the roof of the Staufer Tower and, with great sensitivity, let down onto a cushion inside. There a second crane takes over and transports the column to its final destination, where it is sunk with millimetre precision, care being taken to avoid even the smallest particle of dust between column and shaft.

Of the 256 concrete columns, 40 will mark the no-longer-existing walls on two floors, a circumstance explaining their length of 6.45 metres. The original ceiling height of the room on the ground floor will thus be restored, making the experience of the historical architecture all the more authentic.