Beer halls are a traditional part of Bavarian culture, and feature prominently in Oktoberfest.[1] Bosch notes that the beer halls of Oktoberfest, known in German as Festzelte, are more properly termed "beer tents", as they are large, temporary structures built in the open air.[2] In Munich alone, the Festzelte of Oktoberfest can accommodate over 100,000 people.[2]
Bavaria's capital Munich is the city most associated with beer halls; almost every brewery in Munich operates a beer hall. The largest beer hall was the 5,000-seat MathäserШаблон:Efn near the München Hauptbahnhof (Munich central train station), which has since been converted into a movie theater.[3]
The Bürgerbräukeller, located in Munich, was a particularly prominent beer hall in Bavaria that lent its name to the 1923 Beer Hall Putsch, an attempted Nazi coup led by Adolf Hitler. The Bürgerbräukeller had long been a Nazi meeting place, and was the starting point of the 1923 coup.[4]
United States
American beer halls became popular in the mid-19th century, following a wave of immigration from Germany to the United States. They became an alternative to the American-style tavern.[5]
St. Louis, Missouri is home to a number of beer halls, some of which seat several hundred persons.[6]Hofbräuhaus has eight franchised beer halls in the United States.[7]
German brewers who immigrated to Milwaukee, Wisconsin built "hundreds of distinctive taverns and beer halls", and also built and established large outdoor beer gardens.[9]
See also
Beer Hall Boycott – a female-led national campaign in South Africa of boycotting municipal beer halls
