The Aquazoo Löbbecke Museum unites

Zoo A zoo (short for zoological garden; also called an animal park or menagerie) is a facility where animals are kept within enclosures for public exhibition and often bred for conservation purposes. The term ''zoological garden'' refers to zoology, ...

Natural History Museum A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history scientific collection, collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, Fungus, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleo ...

and

Aquarium An aquarium (: 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. fishkeeping, Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, aquati ...

in one institution under the administration of the city of

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

. It was opened in 1987 in the North Park under the name "Löbbecke-Museum + Aquazoo" (there have been precursor institutions on different locations in Düsseldorf though). On an area of about 2000 square meters, around 500 animal species are exhibited in 25 themed rooms in aquariums, terrariums and a tropical hall. Moreover, the exhibition includes 1,400 natural history

exhibits An exhibition, in the most general sense, is an organized presentation and display of a selection of items. In practice, exhibitions usually occur within a cultural or educational setting such as a museum, art gallery, park, library, exhibition ...

, models and interactive stations. With about 400.000 visitors per year, the Aquazoo Löbbecke Museum has been by far the most visited cultural institution in the city of Düsseldorf for many years. The name of the institution refers to Theodor Löbbecke who laid the foundation of the natural history collection by collecting sea shells.Jochen Reiter (Ed.) ''Aquazoo Löbbecke Museum: Düsseldorfs exotische Perle'', Droste-Verlag, 192 pages, 2018, The collection is rich in type material for different mollusc species, such as the

Angaria loebbeckei ''Angaria loebbeckei'' is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Angariidae. It was discovered and described in 2022 based on only four specimens, which are part of both private and museum collections. In honour of the ...

and Chicoreus loebbeckei.

References

{{Authority control Natural history museums in Germany Aquaria in Germany Zoos in Germany Museums in Düsseldorf Museums established in 1904 Educational organizations established in 1904 Zoos established in the 1900s 1904 establishments in Germany