Greetings Steemians!
Last weekend I went on a hiking trip along the Swabian Jura, a low mountain range in southern Germany. I had decided to start my excursion in the beautiful Donau-Town Ulm. Ulm is located at the foot of the Jura hills and also the ideal starting point to visit the world famous archeological excavation sites of the Lone and Ach valley. Some of them have become UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 2017. I invite you to follow me there in an upcoming post of this series.
But for now, let's have a look at Ulm's emblem, the Ulm Minster. I had arrived in Ulm on late friday evening with just a couple hours of daylight left. So I quickly unpacked, fetched my iPhone and seized the remaining sun to capture some impressions of the majestic gothic cathedral.
The Ulm Minster is Germany's largest protestant church and has the world's tallest steeple with a height of 161,5 m. Breathtaking, isn't it? Even the iPhone's wide angle lens requires quite a distance to capture the entire monument from the base up to the top.
Can you see the fractals, too? :)
Countless details, many of which required months or even years of a single mason's worktime. I began to miss the zoom lens of my DSLR.
A huge, 71m high scaffolding is assembled at the southern face of the cathedral to support it's ongoing restoration. The continous decomposition of the medieval sandstone requires the replacement of more than 2000 blocks. Each of it has the weight of a middle class limousine (1.5t) and needs to be lifted up the scaffold. These days with the power of electricity, a few centuries ago with a winding tackle.
Here a little fun quiz for you: which is the maximal load (in kN/m^2) that the scaffold's heavy duty lift was designed for? You can find the answer somewhere in the internet but you are welcome to simply guess. The most accurate answer will be rewarded with 1 SBD. In case of several correct answers, the first submission wins.
Evening sets in over the Minster's forecourt and Ulm's famous Schwörhaus(left). Time for me to head back to my accommodation for a good and solid dinner. Tomorrow's hike will require some extra calories!
Thanks for watching and have a great day on Steemit!
Shaka
All photos were recorded by myself with an iPhone 6S in April, 2018