慕尼黑廁所藝術博物館吸引數百人蔘觀

A public toilet in Munich which has been transformed into an art museum has attracted hundreds of people in the first days after opening, a spokesman for the city's tourism agency said on Thursday.

Built in 1894, the toilet house was originAlly constructed to serve nearby households which lacked necessary facilities.

After being in use for over a hundred years, the toilets were locked up in 1992 because they were very rarely used.

"On the night we opened, around 800 people came to see our work," initiator of the museum project, Mathias Koehler told reporters.

He said that a toilet was a great place for artistic expression because art is a form of relief in the same way that going to the toilet is.

The art exhibited is mainly graffiti often with a political theme. Examples include images of Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel flanking a urinal in the corner of the room.

Four artists contributed their work to the exhibition.

Although the 70-square meter museum is only temporary, Koehler said he could not rule out making it permanent if public interest remains high.

（德國）慕尼黑市旅遊局的一位發言人於上週四稱，慕尼黑的一家公廁被改造成藝術博物館後，在剛開放幾天內就吸引了數百人前來參觀。

這個公廁建造於1894年，最初是爲解決附近居民上廁所難的問題而建。

在被使用100多年後，這個廁所於1992年被停用，因爲現在已經很少有人使用它。

博物館改造工程發起人瑪西亞斯•科赫勒在接受記者採訪時說：“博物館開放當晚，約有800人前來參觀。”

他說，廁所是藝術表達的絕佳場所，因爲藝術和上廁所一樣，都是一種放鬆形式。

此次廁所藝術展的多數展品是一些政治主題的“塗鴉”作品，比如，（美國總統民主黨候選人）巴拉克•奧巴馬和德國總理安吉拉•默克爾的畫像就出現在屋內角落處的一個便池旁。

共有四位藝術家爲此次展覽貢獻作品。

儘管這家面積只有70平米的廁所博物館目前只是臨時性的，但科赫勒表示，如果公衆熱情一直很高，他不排除這個博物館會長期存在的可能。