New location for the Bieber amulet
17.09.2024
The sculpture of the Bieber amulet has found a new home. Following its relocation by Sparkasse Offenbach, the City of Offenbach is hosting a small celebration on Saturday, October 5, from 3 p.m. at its new location in front of St. Nicholas Church (Rathausgasse 39). Lord Mayor Dr. Felix Schwenke emphasizes: "The Bieber amulet is an important testimony to Bieber's history and is held in high esteem by many people in the district. That is why it is very important to the town and to me personally." Until now, the sculpture, which is reminiscent of the small original in the Haus der Stadtgeschichte, stood in front of the Sparkasse building on Aschaffenburger Straße. Because it had to make way for the renovation of the branch, the town has chosen a new location with a similarly significant history in close consultation with committed people from Bieber.
"Bieber's landmark has found a worthy place on the square where the Bieber town hall stood until the forced incorporation," says Schwenke. "Two new benches have also recently been installed there. One bench was donated by the former Frohsinn choral society, for which I would like to express my sincere thanks to Petra Zahn from the former board of the society. The square will also be replanted in the fall and an information pillar will provide information about the amulet and the former Bieber town hall."
Initially, the city was considering holding an official inauguration ceremony only when everything was ready. "But we don't want to wait that long now, because the most important thing, the amulet, is already there. That's why I'm looking forward to getting together with all interested parties on October 5 for a small celebration on site," says Schwenke. The mayor is expressly delighted that Manfred Kurt and Rudolf Sitzmann are very happy to take part in the celebration on request and are also willing to contribute their valuable knowledge. "It is thanks to both of them that the amulet was found a few years ago. This story will also be the subject of our celebration."
Dominic Biste from the Management Board of Sparkasse Offenbach has also announced his attendance and will once again talk about the conversion of the branch and the transfer of the sculpture - as the Sparkasse donated it to the city as part of the conversion. The official donation contract will be signed during the ceremony. In future, it is planned that the Bieberer Heimatverein and the Dr. Alfred Kurt and Dr. Gunhild Kurt Foundation will take over the sponsorship of the sculpture.
Invitation flyers for the public event will be distributed via the Bieber clubs and businesses in the coming days. For the duration of the ceremony (around two hours), Rathausgasse will be closed to through traffic at the church; only residents will be allowed to drive to their properties. Although Langener Straße will remain open to traffic as an important north-south connection, there could be a large gathering of people in the area of the event, depending on how busy it is. People familiar with the area are therefore asked to avoid Langener Straße on Saturday afternoon if possible.
The event starts at 3 pm. In addition to a small musical program, the Office for Public Relations is organizing food and drinks.
The Bieber amulet
The Bieber amulet is a piece of jewelry from the Bronze Age between 2,300 and 750 BC. At that time, working with metals was nothing new, as people were already using gold and copper to make jewelry in the Neolithic period. However, these metals were not suitable for weapons or tools because they were too soft. In the Bronze Age, man finally discovered the much harder mixed metal of copper and a little tin, which later gave the Bronze Age its name.
The Early Bronze Age has not yet been documented by finds in Offenbach. In the Late Bronze Age (1250 - 750 BC), the custom of cremating the dead and burying their ashes in shallow urn graves became widespread. There is evidence of urn cemeteries in the Bieber district that belonged to settlements. With their rich grave furnishings, stone cist graves prove that the predominantly peasant society increasingly developed "nobles", who perhaps maintained a position of power by controlling important raw material deposits, craft and trading centers. The grave furnishings bear witness to the existence of prominent families and thus also to the beginning of social differentiation in our region.
The Bieber amulet comes from one of these burials. The original is just 4.5 centimetres tall and was bent from round bronze wire. A ring was probably formed around a wooden stick. The protruding ends were twisted once and then two loops were formed at the sides. Finally, the ends were brought together again and twisted twice. The last twist was left open. Finally, the side parts of the ring were hammered flat. Without much imagination or interpretation, you can recognize a stylized human figure with a large head, bent arms and short legs. Similar amulets are also known from other sites, but these were made using the bronze casting process.
The Bieber amulet was discovered in 1979 in Bieber by Manfred Kurt and the former farmer Rudolf Sitzmann in an unusual collection of limestones. An excavation by the Offenbach archaeological working group uncovered a stone cist grave that belonged to a burial ground comprising around 30 graves. Other grave goods included a ceramic bowl and several bronze objects: knives, a bone ring and other bronze fragments. However, the most important burial object was a small amulet, which has since been kept in the Haus der Stadtgeschichte. Replicas are available there in bronze, silver and as ear studs from 10 euros: www.offenbach.de/hds-webshop