The Unique Baroque Carousel in Hanau, Germany – Renovation, Restauration and Rebuilding of Movement

Abstract

The carousel, built in 1780, is located on an artificially created hill in a historical spa garden. It is the only still existing carousel worldwide with this unique construction. The building consists of two floors: the above ground pavilion and the underground cylindrical masonry structure. The pavilion is a copy of a Greek round temple with two rows of columns. The interior row are 12 suspended columns, which support a stationary platform. It has got a cupola roof with 12 half-trusses joined at a central column. This roof construction is bearing the platform and the roof, spanning over 15.00 m and is resting on the exterior row of oak columns. These are standing on the underground natural stone masonry. The drive system for the carousel is located in the basement. It looks like a spoke wheel with 16 spokes and a central timber column, which drives a timber ring with the horses and carriages. The spoke wheel was first moved by man power and later by horses. Over the centuries, there were substantial damages by rot, house longhorn beetles and war damages. The result of the damages were vertical deformations of 32 cm, so that the movement did not work for a long time. The aim of the restoration was to conserve as much as possible of the original timber structure and to rebuild the movement with a modern drive system. The carousel is now operating again.