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Larger than life and characteristic of Siegen: Henner and Frieder
They proudly stand on the new Oberstadtbrücke in the centre of town, looking at each other as they have since they first arrived on a pedestrian bridge in 1904. It is no coincidence that Henner, the miner, looks down the River Sieg while Frieder, the ironworker, is gazing up the river in the direction of its source.
Wearing the clothing typical of their professions, the two figures also embody an old Nassau law, according to which a ‘Gewerk’ (a worker with expertise in processing of iron ore) was forbidden from leaving the Siegerland region without the consent of the Regent.
The farmer Philipp Hüttenhain (1836-1908), with a pickaxe slung over his shoulder and carrying a miner’s lamp, and ironworker Friedrich Bingener (1859-1939), who worked in the Sieghütter hammer mill and carries tongs for picking up sponge iron, posed as models for the figures. The two have a survey of Siegen citizens to thank for restoring them to their traditional spot. The workers have moved several times over the decades, and were even thrown into the river upon which they now gaze when the bridge was blown up in 1945.
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