Saturday, March 22, 2014

Welcome to "Naked Arse Auditorium", Kröv, Germany

Another accidental find on the web led us to a page with a location given as "Nacktarschhalle Kröv".

We had an am I seeing what I think I'm seeing moment, followed by a dictionary look-up and this image on Wikipedia.

Taking the compound apart, we get "Nackt" is naked, "Arsch" is arse or butt, "Halle" is hall or auditorium. Kröv is a small town in the Moselle river wine growing region in the far west of Germany.

The vintner slapping a boy on the nekid behind has graced wine bottle labels for decades, long enough to become an easily recognized tradition.  To alleviate any fears, it is not really child abuse but a tongue in cheek depiction of the the meaning of the old Roman and Celtic name of the hillside where the grapes of this particular wine have grown for many centuries.

At least that is what Wikipedia says.

What did surprise us is that the town folks of Kröv did vote for an official name of their auditorium that includes the nekid behind. The full official name is "Weinbrunnenhalle Kröver Nacktarsch", carefully crafted to ensure that the official wine denomination Kröver Nacktarsch is used. But that's a long name even by German long name standards, so folks inevitable shorten. You could shorten the name to "Weinbrunnenhalle Kröv", simple, plain. But the other option is of course much more fun.

Was the council session that took the vote fuelled by the local beverage, or was it merely an expression of German humor? Did the council intend to spice up the town's image for the tourists, and if so is the name of the auditorium on the building, arranged with an eye for a great tourist photo op? Did proponents of the name cite the Belgian Manneken Pis as precedent for a naming below the belt?

No idea, but if we every make it to the town we will investigate over a bottle of wine.

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