A public toilet in Munich that was transformed into an art museum has attracted hundreds of people in the first days after opening, a spokesman for the city's tourism agency said on Thursday.

Built in 1894, the toilet house was originally constructed to serve nearby households that lacked necessary facilities.

After being in use for over a hundred years, the toilets were locked up in 1992 because they were very rarely used.

"On the night we opened, around 800 people came to see our work," the initiator of the museum project, Mathias Koehler, told Reuters.

He said that a toilet was a great place for artistic expression because art is a form of relief in the same way that going to the toilet is.

The art exhibited is mainly graffiti, often with a political theme. Examples include images of Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel flanking a urinal in the corner of the room.

Four artists contributed their work to the exhibition.

Although the 70-square-metre museum is only temporary, Koehler said he could not rule out making it permanent if public interest remains high.