The Haus des Meeres (HdM, English: ''House of the Sea'') is a public

aquarium An aquarium (plural: ''aquariums'' or ''aquaria'') is a vivarium of any size having at least one transparent side in which aquatic plants or animals are kept and displayed. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, aq ...

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. It is located in Esterhazy Park in downtown

Mariahilf Mariahilf (; Central Bavarian: ''Mariahüf'') is the 6th municipal district of Vienna, Austria (german: 6. Bezirk). It is near the center of Vienna and was established as a district in 1850. Mariahilf is a heavily populated urban area with many res ...

district, one block south of the busy Mariahilfer Straße. The Haus des Meeres houses over ten thousand aquatic beings on an area of around inside a tall concrete

flak tower Flak towers (german: link=no, Flaktürme) were large, above-ground, anti-aircraft gun blockhouse towers constructed by Nazi Germany. There were 8 flak tower complexes in the cities of Berlin (three), Hamburg (two), and Vienna (three) from 1940 on ...

built during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. In 2012 the Haus des Meeres attracted a record high of 650,000 visitors.Haus des Meeres (9 January 2013).
Neuerlich Besucherrekord 2012! (in German)
' Retrieved 3 March 2013. The Haus des Meeres is managed by Aqua Terra Zoo, a private

non-profit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

which, according to its web site, receives only marginal financial support from municipal authorities.85 thousand euros in 2009, or 2.5% of the annual budget. -
Vereinsvorstand (in German)
''. Haus des Meeres. Retrieved 2010-08-28. However, the maintenance costs for the former flak tower are paid by the taxpayer.

Background

The first public seawater aquarium in Vienna was opened in 1860 by Gustav Jäger. Jäger's aquarium, like its contemporaries, relied on regular delivery of natural seawater. It became a reality in 1854 with the construction of the Semmering railway linking Vienna with the

Mediterranean coast The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the eas ...

.Brunner, Brendt (2005).
The ocean at home: an illustrated history of the aquarium
'. Princeton Architectural Press. . p. 104. After two years of experimenting with small seawater tanks Jäger built a large aquarium for public display. He described the feelings of contemporary people who faced the unknown submarine world: "The first-time visitor ... cannot contain his inner excitement. His curiosity is so great that he can hardly enjoy the moment: I am sorry, but he looks so helpless, as if he has suddenly found himself among people whose language he neither speaks nor understands."Brunner, Brendt (2005).
The ocean at home: an illustrated history of the aquarium
'. Princeton Architectural Press. . p. 7. Visitors sought new experience, but resisted believing what they saw behind the glass. The aquarium was a financial loss, and Jäger had to close it after four years of operation. The concrete tower housing the present-day aquarium was erected as a fire control flak tower in ten months between October 1943 and July 1944. The tower is tall, with a footprint of , and its gross volume, including extensive foundations, reaches . In 1944 it was crowned with a

Würzburg radar The low-UHF band Würzburg radar was the primary ground-based tracking radar for the Wehrmacht's Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine (German Navy) during World War II. Initial development took place before the war and the apparatus entered service in 1940 ...

dome. In case of imminent air raid threat, the radar could be lowered into a concrete shaft with thick concrete walls.
Flakturm (in German)
'. Haus des Meeres. Retrieved 2010-08-24. The subordinate gun battery tower is located inside a city block north of Mariahilfer Straße. The two towers operated as a single combat unit, in cooperation with two other pairs of flak towers built in

Augarten The Augarten is a public park of 52.2 hectares (129 acres) situated in the Leopoldstadt, the second district of Vienna, Austria. It contains the city's oldest Baroque park. In the north-west and north-east it borders (since 1900) on the 20th ...

(north) and in Arenberg Park (south-east).Owing to prohibitively high costs of demolition, all six Viennese flak towers stand to date. As of 2009, demolition cost estimates start at 100 million Euro for each tower. -
NS-Gedenkstätte im Flakturm (in German)
Die Presse. April 5, 2009 (printed edition: April 7). Retrieved 2010-08-28. After the war the tower in Esterhazy Park was temporarily used as a hotel with 38 rooms in a

bunker A bunker is a defensive military fortification designed to protect people and valued materials from falling bombs, artillery, or other attacks. Bunkers are almost always underground, in contrast to blockhouses which are mostly above ground. ...

, and then converted to a fire station.
Wofür die Flaktürme heute verwendet werden (in German)
'. Die Presse, February 2, 2010 (printed edition: February 9, 2010). Retrieved 2010-08-28.

History

In the 1960s the underground part of the bunker was used as a youth hostel, named Stadtherberge Esterhazypark. Volunteers moved into the flak tower in November 1957. The ground floor and the bunkers were then occupied by the firefighters, which left only one and half habitable floors for the exhibition. The rest of the tower was filled with debris and open to the elements. Step by step, the aquarium expanded over the empty floors. Eventually, when the aquarium expanded to six floors, the firefighters left the buildings, and the aquarium staff was at last allowed to clear the basement of war relics. In 1991 the building was crowned with a lightweight wraparound box with the slogan ''Smashed to Pieces .. In the Still of the Night'' (in English and German), a memorial against war and fascism designed by

Lawrence Weiner Lawrence Charles Weiner (February 10, 1942December 2, 2021) was an American conceptual artist. He was one of the central figures in the formation of conceptual art in the 1960s. His work often took the form of typographic texts, a form of word a ...

. Eventually it became an obstacle to the expansion plans. The city authorities divided whether Weiner's work was a disposable billboard or a piece of artistic heritage, but by 2005 the latter viewpoint prevailed and the city picked up its maintenance costs. The old elevator, installed in 1944, operated without failure until 1997. It was replaced during an extensive renovation that enabled opening of three new floors (7, 8 and 9). The glass wings which house the reptiles and tropical birds, were added in 2000 and 2007. As of 2010, the tower houses ten habitable above-ground floors plus an open sightseeing roof deck.
Das Haus des Meeres im "Flakturm"
''. Haus des Meeres. Retrieved 2010-08-24. The tenth floor, which recreates a flak turm control vault, houses World War Two exhibits and is open only on weekends, with advance registration of visitors. The expansion had a side effect: the City of Vienna struck the "defaced" tower off the list of protected landmarks but enforced preservation of Weiner's billboard.Maritz, Mariam (2007).
Barbaren-Akt: Werbeschild mitten in Kunst-Installation (in German)
'. Die Presse. November 28, 2007 (printed edition: November 29). Retrieved 2010-08-28. In 2007 the Haus des Meeres installed its largest, tank for sharks. On 7 May the aquarium moved six adult

blacktip reef shark The blacktip reef shark (''Carcharhinus melanopterus'') is a species of requiem shark, in the family Carcharhinidae, which can be easily identified by the prominent black tips on its fins (especially on the first dorsal fin and its caudal fin). ...

s, properly sedated, to the new tank. All sharks quietly died in a few hours after awakening. Autopsy revealed fatal

internal bleeding Internal bleeding (also called internal hemorrhage) is a loss of blood from a blood vessel that collects inside the body. Internal bleeding is usually not visible from the outside. It is a serious medical emergency but the extent of severity depen ...

which was blamed on

stress Stress may refer to: Science and medicine * Stress (biology), an organism's response to a stressor such as an environmental condition * Stress (linguistics), relative emphasis or prominence given to a syllable in a word, or to a word in a phrase ...

(after the accident other zoos confirmed that blacktip sharks are, indeed, prone to stress injury). The four replacement sharks of the same species that were delivered next month survived without lasting effects. The gravel lining the bottom of the tank was recycled from World War Two concrete which was torn down during the expansion. It is visible on the 55

euro cent There are eight euro coin denominations, ranging from one cent to two euros (the euro is divided into a hundred cents). The coins first came into use in 2002. They have a common Obverse and reverse, reverse, portraying a map of Europe, but each cou ...

commemorative stamp A commemorative stamp is a postage stamp, often issued on a significant date such as an anniversary, to honor or commemorate a place, event, person, or object. The ''subject'' of the commemorative stamp is usually spelled out in print, unlike def ...

''50 Jahre "Haus des Meeres"'' issued by the Austrian Post in 2007.
50 Jahre "Haus des Meeres" (in German)
'. Post.Philatelie (Austrian Post magazine), November 2007. Retrieved 2010-08-28. The

global financial crisis Global means of or referring to a globe and may also refer to: Entertainment * ''Global'' (Paul van Dyk album), 2003 * ''Global'' (Bunji Garlin album), 2007 * ''Global'' (Humanoid album), 1989 * ''Global'' (Todd Rundgren album), 2015 * Bruno ...

caused an abrupt drop in visitor numbers of Viennese art museums. The Haus des Meeres, on the contrary, steadily attracted more visitors every year: 258 thousand in 2007, 336 thousand in 2008, 353 thousand in 2009. In 2009 it rose to number ten in the list of Vienna's tourist attractions ranked by ticket sales,2009 numbers:
Schönbrunn ist Wiens beliebteste Sehenswürdigkeit (in German)
'.

Die Presse ''Die Presse'' is a German-language daily broadsheet newspaper based in Vienna, Austria. It is considered a newspaper of record for Austria. History and profile ''Die Presse'' was first printed on 3 July 1848 as a liberal (libertarian)-bourgeoi ...

, August 4, 2010. Retrieved 2010-08-15. See also source data tables from the Vienna Tourist Board:
Sehenwurdigkeiten 2009 (in German)
'. 2008 numbers:
Sehenwurdigkeiten 2008 (in German)
'. Vienna Tourist Board. Retrieved 2010-08-28. 2007 numbers
Sehenwurdigkeiten 2007 (in German)
'. Vienna Tourist Board. Retrieved 2010-08-28. despite a significant increase in ticket price.

Expansion plans

Further expansion and ownership of the tower is a controversial matter. The property is owned by the City of Vienna, which pays for the maintenance costs, and is determined to get rid of the financial burden. In 2008 the City proposed selling the tower to an outside investor and approved plans to build a private hotel on top of the flak tower. The plans were vocally opposed by the residents of Mariahilf. The Haus des Meeres itself wanted to retain future upward expansion rights. They proposed building three new exhibition space floors inside an all-glass capsule shaped like a

manta ray Manta rays are large rays belonging to the genus ''Mobula'' (formerly its own genus ''Manta''). The larger species, '' M. birostris'', reaches in width, while the smaller, '' M. alfredi'', reaches . Both have triangular Pectoral fin#AnchPect ...

. As of 2010, both these projects were canceled. The Haus des Meeres received a vote of confidence from local residentsAccording to local

Social Democrats Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote so ...

, the poll collected 2271 votes out of 8297 eligible residents, a record turnout for such polls. -
Ausbaupläne: Dinieren auf dem Flakturm (in German)
'. Die Presse. May 1, 2009 (printed edition: May 2). Retrieved 2010-08-28. but had to choose a less radical solution. The six million Euro expansion project, scheduled for 2011, will add a million-liter fish tank and an open-air restaurant. The city officials are willing to consider the sale of the building to the Haus des Meeres, on condition that the new owner preserves Weiner's artwork and picks up the maintenance bill from the taxpayers.
"Haus des Meeres" muss ohne Riesenmanta auskommen (in German)
'. Die Presse. February 2, 2010. Retrieved 2010-08-22.Maritz, Mariam (2010).
Haus des Meeres: Mariahilf kämpft gegen Verkauf des Flakturms (in German)
'. Die Presse. January 14, 2010 (printed edition: January 15). Retrieved 2010-08-28.

Notes

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Aquaria in Austria Tourist attractions in Vienna Education in Vienna 1957 establishments in Austria Buildings and structures in Mariahilf