It was one of the most spectacular accidents in the district of kitzingen and it certainly claimed the oldest victim: in december 2010, a semitrailer truck loaded with 24 tons of steel from ostallgau slid on federal highway 13 at the district border to neustadt/aisch-bad windsheim. After breaking through the crash barrier, he rammed head-on into the toll pyramid from the 18th century. Century. The landmark on the district border of lower and central franconia was formally broken into its individual parts after the impact. Marktbreit's mayor erich hegwein (CSU) described the damage as a catastrophe, also from a non-material point of view.
Much has happened since then.
At that time, the bundesstrabe was still divided into two lanes. The toll pyramid stood between the two carriageways. In the meantime, the B 13 has been completely rebuilt over a length of 400 meters after the enheim junction in the direction of ochsenfurt and has been merged into two adjacent lanes. In the coming week the full closure is to be lifted. A newly built bicycle and farm road now runs parallel to the new federal highway. The toll pyramid is rebuilt on its edge – and thus at an angle to its old location.
Their possible change of location had already been discussed before the accident, when it became clear that a traffic circle was also being built during the construction of the new B13. A relocation of the pyramid there had, however, moved it to the neighboring county. The accident had thus significantly increased the explosive nature of this question. "After several discussions, the proverbial "stone of anstobia returns to where it belonged", explains mayor hegwein.
The fine work on the individual elements of the toll pyramid took three weeks. "We had to orientate ourselves on old photos of the pyramid", explains restorer veselin pusic. "In addition, the accident photos were invaluable to us because they enabled us to reconstruct the alignment of the individual stones."
Nevertheless, the accident had caused completely different problems.
Amateur archaeologists were quickly on the scene and had taken individual pieces of the pyramid with them. "We used everything that could be found around the accident site", reports pusic. "Then it was a puzzle game to assign the 270 remaining shards correctly." nevertheless, some pieces were missing, which the stonemasons filled with stone grafting mortar and modeled again in such a way that they corresponded to the historical template. The inscription on the obelisk, which was erected by margrave christian friedrich von brandenburg-ansbach in 1766 and 1773, was especially problematic. "Parts of the inscription were already weathered", says pusic, who specializes in this kind of work with his colleagues arno dankwardt and thomas wallrapp. 27 letters had to be replaced on the toll pyramid as part of the restoration work.
In the meantime, a concrete base about two meters deep had been sunk into the ground next to the farm road. Yesterday, the first cuboids weighing up to three tons were placed on top of it. The entire nine-meter-high obelisk will then weigh about 25 tons. Next year, when the weather is warmer, the toll pyramid will be covered with a lime varnish. The landmark will be inaugurated on the 14th of this month. November. Until then, a sign should also point out the historical significance of the monument.
Thus the accident has at least three positive aspects.
The toll pyramid is now no longer surrounded by traffic, stands at a safe distance from the roadway and can now be studied by hikers. "This is a heartfelt wish of the people of gnodstadt fulfilled", mayor hegwein is pleased.