Rope Maker’s from Gießen

Replica
Built: 1993

The rope maker’s workshop on display here was constructed based on a plan from 1911. The tools and implements are original pieces from the Nebhuth roper’s workshop, which was founded in 1891 by Wilhelm Nebhuth III. from Homberg (Ohm) with a hall and a ropewalk on the banks of the Lahn river in Gießen. Wilhelm Nebhuth gained his master’s certificate in 1913, and only a year later he received a silver medal for his products at the Gießen trade exhibition. After the First World War, Nebhuth’s company extended its product range, now manufacturing and distributing sacks, tarpaulins and tents. Many companies were no longer able to survive on the production of rope alone. Wire rope and plastics on the one hand and industrial mass production on the other spelled the gradual end of manual rope-making. Today only street names such as Seilerbahn or Reeperbahn, which both mean ropewalk, remain of this almost forgotten trade in Germany.