Kugelmugel Explained

Conventional Long Name:Republic of Kugelmugel
Common Name:Kugelmugel
Loctext:2., Antifaschismusplatz 1, Prater, Vienna, Austria
Leader Name1:Mag. Linda Treiber
Established Date1:19 December 1976

Kugelmugel, officially the Republic of Kugelmugel (German: Republik Kugelmugel), is a micronation located in Vienna, Austria. It came about as the result of a dispute between Austrian artist Edwin Lipburger and Viennese authorities, whose permission was required for him to build a spherical house.

The 'Republic' is currently administered by Linda Treiber.

History

In June 1982, the house was installed in Prater park, near the Hauptallee, and surrounded by eight-foot-tall barbed-wire fences. The house occupies the only address within the proclaimed Republic: "2., Antifaschismusplatz" ("2nd district of Vienna; Anti-Fascism Square"), and since been officially adopted by the city of Vienna. Lipburger died in January 2015, but the Republic retains an official population of more than 650 non-resident citizens. Closed for sometime during the COVID-19 pandemic, it was reopened to visitors on the 1st of June 2024.

In German, the word "Kugel" means "ball" or "sphere"; "Mugel" is an Austrian German expression for a bump or a hill on a field, from which mogul skiing is also derived.

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