Art in the Buff in Vienna

The World
You know how The Full Monty ends, right? Well that's how our Geo Quiz begins. We're looking for a famous museum in the Austrian capital, Vienna. It houses one of the the world's largest collection of modern Austrian art – works by the likes of Egon Schiele and Gustav Klimt. And right now it's also home to a special exhibit: "Nude Men from 1800 to the present day" – 300 works of art in all. And what better way to experience that collection than by seeing it in the buff? It might sound like a crazy idea, but it happened. On Monday the museum opened its door for naked visitors. People like Vienna native Rainer who didn't give his last name. "I spend the whole summer at the nude beach when I'm on vacation," Rainer said. "Nakedness is the most natural thing in the world. I think it's great to offer something like this." About 60 people strolled around the gallery wearing nothing more than their socks and shoes. I guess no barefeet allowed. Think of it as a kind of "life imitating art" experience. It was inspired by an incident in November when a man stripped naked in front of one of the paintings and then started to wander around the gallery until a guard asked him to put his clothes back on. According to museum spokesman Klaus Pokorny, the museum got so many requests to tour the exhibit "bearing all" that they decided to make it official. "There was simply demand," he said. "We got requests from all over the world – people who asked us: 'can we visit the exhibition nude?'" Some of the naked visitors were quoted as describing the experience as "different." Yes … just "different." So where were all these naked museum goers? Well here's the answer… The Leopold Museum in Vienna. I have been to those beaches that Rainer talked about… Twenty years ago. But I can't see myself baring all for the exhibit. The light in the museum may not be so flattering.
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