It is the largest aquarium in Italy with an area of 3100 square metres and the second largest in Europe. This remarkable scientific, educational and entertainment centre was built in 1992 near the old Genoese harbour on the Ponte Spinola promontory. The construction was timed to coincide with the 500th anniversary of the discovery of America by the great traveller Christopher Columbus, who was born in Genoa, and in connection with the World Exhibition “Genoa Expo – 1992”. A visit to the aquarium is made more vivid by the picture of an old harbour with yachts, modern liners and a ship from the time of the Great Discovery.
The original project was designed to show the North Atlantic, the Ligurian and Caribbean seas, i.e. the route taken by Christopher Columbus to the New World. The organisers of the aquarium tried to reproduce the appearance of the sea of Columbus’ time. The second idea is to show the current state of the ocean depths and thus draw the world’s attention to the environmental problems threatening the Atlantic and the world’s oceans. The aquarium building, designed by Renzo Piano, resembles a ship being prepared for launching.
The interior space was designed by British architects and designers Cambridge Seven Associates, based on a project by Peter Shurmayeff. They also prepared the exhibit halls for the opening. In 1998, a second 100-metre-long ship building was added to the main building by means of a closed bridge-shaped corridor.
The exhibition space has a complex structure: it includes 70 small aquariums with the inhabitants of the underwater depths. Each aquarium is a special ecosystem with its own peculiarities. The whole complex requires 6 million litres of water to function. The halls of the aquarium consistently present to visitors the sea depths of all climatic zones of the globe. Visitors of the aquarium have an opportunity to observe various breeds of invertebrates, fish, amphibians. Travelling through the halls, you can see sharks and jellyfish, caimans and piranhas, dolphins and manatees, penguins, turtles, seals and other sea creatures. All parts of the exposition are notable for their considerable volume and represent not only sea creatures, but also allow to examine in detail the ocean floor, reefs and corals, various species of algae, as well as the above-water world and exotic plants. The journey through the depths of the sea is accompanied by music and the lighting of each sector is skilfully selected. The Genoa Aquarium is a member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums of Europe and is the coordinator of the international Aqua Ring EU project. At the Genoa Aquarium you can see amazing show programmes: the dolphins’ performance, during which the spectators are at the glass and watch the performance, the work of dolphins and trainers as if “from the inside”; Feeding of underwater inhabitants; Contact pool, where you can pet stingrays. Children can visit the “FishMaking” room, where they can model an unusual fish and send it to swim in a virtual aquarium.
