Ozeaneum, Natural history museum and aquarium in Stralsund, Germany
Ozeaneum is a natural history museum and public aquarium in Stralsund, situated directly on the historical harbor. The modern structure houses permanent exhibitions about marine habitats and large tanks with fish, rays, and other aquatic creatures from the North Sea and Baltic Sea.
Behnisch Architekten designed the museum as part of a harbor revitalization initiative, and it opened on July 11, 2008. Over 900,000 visitors came in the first year, quickly making the institution a major draw for the region.
The exhibition "1:1 Giants of the Sea" was developed with Greenpeace; in a room about 20 metres high and 30 metres long, whales are shown at original size, modelled in plastics and then coloured true to life. Outside, Humboldt penguins have been kept since July 2010, some of them chicks hatched in the Ozeaneum.
The Ozeaneum stands on Stralsund's Hafeninsel, the harbour island, next to the glass-walled block and the curved white hall marked "Ozeaneum". The entrance lies at the base of the glass section, where the "AUSCH-BISTRO" sign is fixed. The tour runs through the exhibitions in a set order, beginning with "Weltmeer – Vielfalt des Lebens"; the outdoor area with the Humboldt penguins is reached separately.
The main tank holds 2.6 million liters (687,000 gallons) of water, ranking among the three largest of its kind in Europe. This scale allows larger fish species and schools to be displayed in a space closer to their natural range of movement.
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