Christ figure looks down from the pedestal again
For decades, the grave of Eugen Sommer, a priest from Bieber who died in 1900, presented a sad picture: the statue of Christ, which had been placed on a stone pedestal in the Bieber cemetery for his funeral, was lying on the ground. At first only the hands were missing, but 16 years ago the head next to it also disappeared. Thanks to the initiative of Christa Demuth and Martin Jäger from Bieber, the complete statue is now back on its pedestal. The city of Offenbach's own ESO company had agreed to provide the 5,700 euros for its repair. "The statue has been broken for as long as I've been alive," reports Jäger. "Normally you tend to see angels on graves, so this one with the Christ figure is something special."
60 hours of work
There was no model for the figure's head. So Stefan Schneider, owner of the stone workshop commissioned with the restoration, and his colleague Pina Hausmann researched on the internet what such statues used to look like. Hausmann, who spent around 60 hours working on the statue, then made a clay model on which she added the head, the right arm and the left hand holding a globe. This was used to create a silicone cast and finally a mortar cast, which was placed on top of the original.
If you would like to see the figure, walk straight ahead from the entrance next to the old mourning hall to the old cemetery wall.
Cemetery administration
Friedhofsverwaltung
Mühlheimer Straße 425
63075 Offenbach
Notes on accessibility
Disabled parking spaces available
Notes on accessibility
Further information
Visitor parking lot in Ulmenstraße
Opening hours
The cemeteries are open as follows:
November through February:
Monday-Friday: 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Saturday, Sunday and public holidays: 8.00 a.m. - 5.00 p.m.
March and October:
Monday-Friday: 7.00 a.m. - 6.00 p.m.
Saturday, Sunday and public holidays: 8.00 a.m. - 6.00 p.m.
April to September:
Monday-Friday: 7.00 a.m. - 8.00 p.m.
Saturday, Sunday and public holidays: 7.00 a.m. - 8.00 p.m.