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A Swiss Village’s Attraction Will Warm Your Heart
This is the good news you needed today
Have you heard of the Swiss village Mettauertal in the canton of Aargau?
Well, now you have. But why should you be interested in this remote spot at all? Because this village has a unique machine that will make your day.
What used to be an abandoned and useless telephone booth has been revamped and now shines in a new light as an applause machine.
Yes, you read this right.
The Swiss villagers endearingly call this apparatus their “well done” machine (“Gut gemacht”-Maschine).
An idea is born
In a recent article by the German television news service tagesschau Mettauertal’s mayor, Peter Weber talks about how he used to jokingly honor benefactors and top performers by saying: “Now put yourself under the shoulder-patting machine.”
Weber continues: “And then one day someone asked: Well, where is it?”
Of course, there was no literal machine. But this was the moment Weber’s idea was born.
The project resonated with the municipal council and the applause machine was soon crowdfunded and built.
