It was designed as a flashing sign: The circle is initially visible and then the letters in the cross are switched on. The whole thing is repeated after a blackout phase.
The Bayer Cross was switched off at the outbreak of war in 1939 due to the lighting regulations and was then dismantled. For the next 19 years there was darkness over the Works.
The Leverkusen landmark was illuminated again in its current form on 2 September 1958. It is somewhat smaller than its predecessor and does not flash any more. The diameter is now only 51 metres and it has a circumference of 160 metres.
A fan-based campaign to save our landmark was launched n 2007 after Bayer AG wanted to pull it down. Instead the company wanted to project the cross as digital illuminated advertising on the Bayer office tower block. 21,000 people signed up to keep the Bayer Cross where it is. I hope it will continue to shine for a long time.
In this video you can watch impressive and important goals in the history of Bayer 04 in the month of October. It is not always about the beauty of the goals but also about remembering special games and players.
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The Werkself secured victory against Bayern Munich for the first time on 1 November 1986. On matchday 12, Bayer 04 beat the Bundesliga league leaders 3-0 at the Olympic Stadium in Munich and go top of the table.
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Torben Hoffman was born in Kiel on 27 October 1974. In his youth he played for TuS Schwarz-Weiß Elmschershagen. The qualified policeman joined Holstein Kiel in 1993. Two years later he moved on to VfB Lübeck in Bundesliga two. After relegation with Lübeck in 1997 he came to attention of SC Freiburg and they signed the defender. The team relegated from the Bundesliga went straight back up with Torben who moved under the Bayer Cross in 1999 after another year in the Bundesliga. However, he was unable to establish himself at Leverkusen making only sporadic appearances and he was rarely in the starting XI. He played in a total of 30 games for the Werkself.
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Thomas ‘Thommy’ Reichenberger was born in Bad Kreuznach on 14 October 1974. The son of a former Bundesliga player – his father Max made 38 Bundesliga appearances for 1860 Munich – played for Eintracht Bad Kreuznach as a youth player before moving up to the first team.
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Manfred ‘Manni’ Pomp was born in Aachen on 25 October 1964. His first football club was the Aachen police sports club (PSV) but he signed for Alemannia Aachen after a year.
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