FM Gru 1355 PLX

During the reconstruction of the Town Hall Tower a huge construction crane was standing on the north side of the Market Square for several months. The appearance of the crane as well as its presence exceptionally interested the residents who stopped for a while and looked at what it was doing. Therefore the owner of Internet portal swidnica24.pl, Tomek Pietrzyk decided to look for the name of FM Gru 1355 PLX, as a crane was referred to as in professional terminology. In the Internet plebiscite the residents of Świdnica gave their own suggestions. There were over 100 of them: Ratusznik, Kabanos, Kazimierz „Wielki”, Kazimierz „Odnowiciel”, Żyraf, Bolko Wysoki, Bazyli Świdnicki, Świdniczek Budowniczek, Bob Budowniczy, Król Julian, Duży Benio, Żurawek, Pogromca Szpaków, Żelazny Wieszak, Eustachy, Tukan, Żurawski, etc. The jury chose three suggestions for which the internauts could vote - „Żyraf” by Katarzyna Piotrowska, „Bolko Wysoki” by Dawid Lubczyński and „Waldemar Odnowiciel” by Agnieszka Łoś (undoubtedly in honour of the Deputy Mayor Waldemar Skórski thanks to stubbornness of whom the investment came into effect). Finally, „Żyraf” was chosen as the name for FM Gru 1355 PLX.

The process of the crane being assembled lasted two days – on the 28^th and 29^th July 2010. 52 meters of height, 55 meters of arm's length, 110 meters of the radius of coverage, load capacity upto 6 tones – these are the main parameters of unusual machine assembled by the staff of CT Żuraw from Olsztyn. The size of the crane itself and its assembly between monumental townhouses, close to the Holy Trinity Column caused that the town's residents watched the progress of works immensely focused. And at the end, when the last part of the crane was assembled, the residents of Świdnica loudly applauded the precision and skills.

„Żyraf”, for which several meters' special foundations were supposed to be laid, worked until the 17^th January 2012 when its disassembly was started. It worked properly without any problems for several months despite the fact that it was located dangerously close to the Holy Trinity Column. Nobody knows exactly when – but probably it was only once that the element carried by the crane caught on sculpture on the top of it. Fortunately, only several metal beams of aureole on one of the sculptures became unbent.

Source: The archives of „Tygodnik Świdnicki”.