The Main fisherman
It looks good, the Offenbach Main fisherman. And even the anchor he is leaning on shines in new splendor. In 2009, the 2.60 meter high and 1.8 ton bronze figure had to make way for the preparations for the new harbour quarter. Under the direction of John Lohrmann of Lohrmann Stahlhandwerk, the landmark was cleaned and carefully restored by experts.
John Lohrmann reports that the "fellow" had already been in the workshop once before, in 1993, and the removal was immediately noticed by an Offenbach resident: "How could the people of Frankfurt think of stealing our Maafischer", the employees of the commissioned transport company, who were on the road with Frankfurt license plates, had to ask themselves. Numerous stories can be told about the statue by Offenbach sculptor Ernst Unger, which was erected on July 16, 1935 on what was then the Main Bridge and became a symbol of the city over the years. "We cured the Main fisherman of his ailments and then gave him a spa treatment," says Lohrmann. After all, far more illnesses had come to light on the company premises in Bieber than were visible at first glance. Together with a company from Hamburg specializing in bronze restoration, the Mainfischer was cleaned from head to toe, restored and coated with a protective layer of wax. Dressed in oilskins, southern vest, leaning on an anchor, it never resembled a Main fisherman, sculptor Unger simply called it "The Fisherman". "The Mainfischer is a landmark with which the citizens of Offenbach identify. Now that it is fit for the coming decades, it will look out over a city in which a lot is happening," said Lord Mayor Horst Schneider at the time, who celebrated the return of the restored bronze figure in April 2015 with Daniela Matha, Managing Director of the responsible OPG Offenbacher Projektentwicklungsgesellschaft mbH and the landowner Mainviertel Offenbach GmbH & Co KG.