The outdoor carpet hanger (also carpet stand or carpet rack) is a construction to hang carpets for cleaning with the help of carpet beaters. It is known in Germany, Poland, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Finland, [1] Sweden, Romania, Russia, and other countries.
It was a small center of social life. [2] German writers Walter Benjamin and Erich Kästner described hangers as important places during their childhood. [3] Children may use it as a playground, as a soccer goal, as a drumming implement, [4] a gymnastic device, [5] etc.
In Poland the outdoor railing for hanging the rug is called trzepak (a noun from the word trzepać, "to beat"; the beater itself is called trzepaczka).
Since the 1990s, it is very rare to see anyone using a trzepak for its prime function [ citation needed]. In the newest housing developments, trzepak are rarely installed.[ citation needed]
In Romania the carpet hanger (bara de bătut covoare or bătător de covoare) was an important landmark in the social life of each neighbourhood during the communist and post-communist period, where it served as a meeting point for neighbours and was frequently used in children's games. [6] Before important holidays, queues would form around the railing, as few people owned a vacuum cleaner, and even those who did would still beat their carpets in order to 'freshen them up'. [7] During the rest of the year, "it was generally used as a football goal by the boys, while it suddenly transformed girls into Nadia Comăneci." [7]
The carpet hanger has been described as representing a sort of "Arc de Triomphe in front of the apartment block", [8] while writer Paul Gabor dubbed it "the ancestral belly of the totalitarian regime" during the communist era. [9]
In recent years, the carpet railing has been a topic of debate for urban planners and local authorities, as many Romanian cities have passed (and sometimes rescinded [10]) laws forbidding their placement or decreeing their immediate removal, citing aesthetic or noise pollution reasons. [11] [12]
In Sweden the carpet hanger is called piskställ, derived from piska (meaning "to whip") and ställ (meaning "stand").[ citation needed]