Public lavatory
A urinal , even public toilets or toilet facility called, is a universally accessible more toilet facilities in public places to carry out the call of nature or urinating . It is usually located in larger central places, in parks , at train stations and rest stops .
history
The first evidence of a lavatory can be found in the palace of Knossós from the Minoan period of Crete . It is fairly certain that the remains of a water closet were found here. However, toilets can only be reliably verified as locations from the Hellenistic period. There are traces in high schools here . The Romans had lavatories in public buildings since the late phase of the republic .
The public lavatories of the Romans were not infrequently characterized by great comfort and some were luxuriously equipped. In the places called latrina or forica , marble seats were found and they were mostly connected to the water network. Use was possible for a fee. During the reign of Emperor Diocletian (284–305 AD) there were 150 public lavatories in the city of Rome . Many were directly connected to bathhouses and the used water from the baths was used for flushing. The xylospongium , a wooden stick to which leaves and especially sponges were attached, was used for cleaning . It was used like our current toilet brushes and was used to clean the lavatories and the individual toilet seats and depressions. A well-known example of such a facility is the Cloaca Maxima .
At the time of the Great Migration , civilizing achievements of antiquity were lost from the 4th century AD - including the lavatory culture. In the European Middle Ages chamber pots were emptied onto the streets . In the castles and palaces of the nobles , there were toilet dungeons - small toilet niches attached to the castle walls. The urgency fell at the castle wall in the depth.
Public toilets and "urinals" had been built in Paris since the French Revolution. In Central Europe, too, there has been discussion since the middle of the 19th century about building appropriate facilities in the cities. With the development of sewage systems , more and more institutions were built and operated. From 1860 public urinals were installed in Berlin; Vienna followed a few years later. However, since the urine could not be flushed away with water via a sewer system there (without a central water supply ), there were significant odor problems and a lack of acceptance by both potential users and neighboring residents. Therefore, there were initially only a few urinals in Vienna that had been built by the community.
The future significance of the urinal as a sanitary measure foresight, decided the entrepreneur Wilhelm Beetz , to specialize in the construction and operation of public toilets institutions. First, in 1880, he asked the Vienna City Administration to authorize him to build and operate “facilities for people of both sexes”. Although the sanitary conditions in Vienna's public space were catastrophic and appropriate solutions were urged in the public discourse, the magistrate rejected the application on the grounds that the city intended to build and operate such systems on its own. However, after nothing of the kind happened, Beetz filed a new application two years later, stating that public toilets were successfully operated by private companies in other cities such as Paris, Berlin, Wroclaw or Brussels.
In 1883 the municipality of Vienna finally granted the permit after the need for action increased due to a cholera epidemic and they had negotiated an "extremely favorable contract": Beetz had to pay a deposit, finance the installation and operation himself, the cost of gas , Water and supervisory staff, continue to pay a space rent and pay three percent of gross income to the city of Vienna. The contract duration was initially set at ten years. At the end of 1903, Beetz and his company were already operating 93 urinals and 58 lavatories, and in 1904 the first underground lavatory was built on Graben . (In 1939 Beetz operated 112 lavatories in Vienna - 7 of them underground - and 117 urinals.) In 1895, Beetz concluded a similar contract with the city administration of Budapest and opened another company there. In 1907, the contract with the City of Vienna was extended until 1940, and at the same time all facilities were transferred to the municipality's property.
Alternatives to flushing water
The water flushing of a public urinal required 300 liters of water per hour. In order to counter the problem of odor nuisance and the large consumption of expensive fresh water, Wilhelm Beetz developed a process in which oil was used in the urinal systems. A special mineral oil mixture , which he protected under the name “ Urinol ”, was used both to paint the walls of the urinals and as a “odor trap” in a special siphon , also developed by Beetz . As early as 1915, his invention of an early dry urinal was being used in public urinals around the world.
Another alternative to the toilet with flushing water was the fire toilet developed around 1900. To quickly change locations, especially for mass use and especially in times of war for soldiers, pits were dug in front of which a thunder bar was set up to sit down ; however, these are generally not public lavatories, but rather reserved for military personnel.
Principles
In contrast to private toilets and toilets in means of transport , public lavatories and restrooms are usually separated by gender , similar to toilets in restaurants and public buildings . In German-speaking countries, it often costs money to use . By coin the fee is enforced at blocking devices (such as at stations). In frequent cases this usage fee is accepted by the supervisor or cleaning person. The designation “toilet attendant”, in particular “toilet attendant ”, is naturalized for this occupation . In addition to these chargeable toilets, which lead to emergency situations if there is a lack of change , there has recently been the opposite trend of the “ nice toilet ”.
As a rule, lavatories are set up separately according to gender. Simple facilities are only for male urination. In addition to the men's toilet seat basin separate come urinals and earlier predominantly so-called Pinkel channels used.
Since the 1970s, chemical toilets have also been used increasingly for sanitary containers or mobile toilet cubicles.
In numerous lavatories, especially in the single cubicles, the walls are decorated with graffiti , the toilet sayings .
Others
For some time now , the avant-garde art scene has been discovering lavatories that are no longer in use as unusual places for exhibitions . One example is the famous "London" in the Swedish city of Uppsala . Probably the most photographed public toilet is the Hundertwasser toilet in Kawakawa , New Zealand . It was designed in 1999 by the well-known artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser . There are more Hundertwasser toilets in Magdeburg and in the Uelzen train station .
In the “Tucher” restaurant near the Brandenburg Gate, there was a toilet modeled on the Berlin “Protz stations” of the 1900s with open cubicles and (with water flushing) imitated dry toilet seats. When it was converted into a reading restaurant, however, these were changed to toilets that were “approved as of 2000”. Only the urinal column (with six stands) still carries screens at eye level, on which cultivated videos are running. The name “Protz-Station” goes back to the Berlin insurance company Rudolf Protz, who had toilets with flushing water installed for general access in the developing city. The word “abprotzen” in the language of the soldiers is in turn related to hanging out the limber . These facilities for defecation complemented the Café Achteck in public spaces , which was only used for men to urinate. However, in order to preserve the historical form, some of these houses have been rebuilt and offer both a “men's” and a “women's entrance”.
A newer form of maintaining free public toilets are the Wall kiosks set up in public spaces by the Wall company , which initially made it possible to use them free of charge, especially in large cities and tourist centers. For the installation, maintenance and cleaning of these toilet kiosks in public spaces, the company uses part of the money raised by setting up advertising walls, advertising displays or generally on street furniture in public urban spaces . However, the company now charges 30 to 50 cents for use, depending on the location.
Public toilets are subject to the regulations of the legislature and must meet set standards. Conditions for the elderly or the severely disabled are also prescribed. The installation of the Berlin toilet began in 2019 : it is completely barrier-free and complies with the new DIN regulation for barrier-free access (DIN 18040-1: 2010-10). For people with physical disabilities and their assistants, free access is guaranteed by the "Euro key system". In order to enable maintenance and depreciation, a fee of 50 cents is charged for use and the walls are used as advertising space.
See also
- Klohäuschen at the Grossmarkthalle , Munich
- Outhouse on Eisenlohrstrasse , Wuppertal
literature
- H. Beraneck: The Viennese lavatories System Beetz . In: ZÖIAV 57.1905, p. 679 f.
- Gabriel Chevallier : Clochemerle (a novella on the subject published in 1934, set in the fictional town of the same name in Beaujolais).
- Erika Kiechle-Klemt, Sabine Sünwoldt: Notable . Need institutions in the big city. Raben, Munich 1990, ISBN 3-922696-55-4 .
- Bettina Möllring: Toilets and urinals for women and men: the design of sanitary objects and their use in public and private areas. (Dissertation Universität der Künste Berlin 2003/2004, 176 pages ( full text online ), PDF, free of charge, 176 p., 3.5 MB).
- Peter Payer: The indispensable props of the big city. A cultural history of Vienna's public lavatories. Löcker, Vienna 2000, ISBN 3-85409-323-3 .
- Robert Waissenberger : Viennese utility buildings of the 19th century as examples of future-oriented building. Jugend und Volk, Vienna 1977, ISBN 3-7141-6789-7 .
- Instruction of the Health Council in Paris on the preparation of public resignations and the desaster of the resignations and their pits. 1826 ( LLB Detmold) .
Web links
- Architectural encyclopedia about Wilhelm Beetz (1844–1921), operator of the institutions in Vienna and similar companies around the world from 1883 to 1921.
- Berlin lavatories
Individual evidence
- ↑ Even after the first Viennese high spring pipeline was built, the water from this was not sufficiently made available to supply public toilets, as it was "expensive and primarily intended to supply the population with drinking water"; only in the hot summer months were some systems cleaned with water for cost reasons. Peter Payer: Indispensable props of the big city. A cultural history of Vienna's public lavatories. Vienna: Löcker Verlag 2006, p. 61.
- ^ Peter Payer: Indispensable props of the big city. A cultural history of Vienna's public lavatories. Vienna: Löcker Verlag 2006, p. 66.
- ^ Peter Payer: Indispensable props of the big city. A cultural history of Vienna's public lavatories. Vienna: Löcker Verlag 2006, p. 66.
- ^ Peter Payer: Indispensable props of the big city. A cultural history of Vienna's public lavatories. Vienna: Löcker Verlag 2006, p. 71f.
- ↑ Kawakawa Public Toilet . The Hundertwasser non-profit private foundation m RestaurantWien, accessed on September 25, 2010
- ^ Sächsische Vieh-Versicherungsbank zu Dresden . In: Address book for Berlin and its suburbs , 1900, I. Theil, p. 1317 (1900/3469 /: Appendix p. 65: advertisement).
- ↑ Rudolf Protz . In: Berliner Adreßbuch , 1890, I. Theil, p. 943. “Sub-director of the Saxon cattle verse. Bank, liquideur of the fire verse. Ges. 'Adler' and owner of the Berlin need establishments, office Berlin-N, Auguststrasse 6 1st floor, house owner there ”(1900: the controleur Otto Protz lived in the same house, as well as the controleur in Berlin NO Christburger Strasse 40 1st floor Wilhelm Protz.).
- ↑ Soldier language: keyword abprotzen
- ↑ Premiere for the Berlin toilet: New city toilet inaugurated . On Berlin.de: press release of April 9, 2019