The monument in Büsingpark commemorates Alois Senefelder's former place of work in Offenbach. Born in Prague in 1771, the law student with a penchant for writing was looking for a way to reproduce his works inexpensively and devised a process using ground stone plates with greasy ink and a printing plate coated with water. In 1799, the music publisher Johann Anton André von Senefelder acquired the patent rights and, as the inventor was to personally instruct the introduction of lithography in the publisher's music printing shop, he brought Senefelder to Offenbach in the spring of 1800. The residential and commercial building with print shop was located on this site, at what was then Domstrasse 21. André's publishing production was gradually converted from tin or copper engraving to the faster and more cost-effective process of lithography. Two brothers, Johann Anton André, brought the new printing process from the Offenbach headquarters to the music publisher's branches in Paris and London. The technique, which is considered the forerunner of offset printing, subsequently spread throughout the world.
More lithographic stones can be seen in the House of City History, where the printing press is also on display.
City of Offenbach
