Riga Mainz in historical restoration

Crane rental company Riga Mainz has helped replaced a spire on an 1,000 year old cathedral in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.

The cathedral has been undergoing refurbishment since 2001. Part of the project was to replace the corroded 246 year old spire on the west wing.

Riga Mainz used a 750 tonne capacity Liebherr LTM 1750-9.1 on 9-axle carrier. The crane's first job was to remove the original spire, which weighed 20 tonnes and was 7 metres tall. For the lift the spire was sawn into two sections by stone masons and then packed and prepared for lifting. Following this preparation the crane was able to remove the sections of the old spire to the cathedral square below.

With this stage completed the new spire, which had been crafted by stone masons to its original design, was lifted into place on top of the cathedral in two sections. The heaviest load had a gross weight of 16 tonnes.