Did you know that in this city you can dive beneath the sea without getting wet?
You see, there is a place where you can stroll through a transparent tunnel surrounded by more than forty marine species, including two sharks, which swim in harmony in the almost two million litres of water in this oceanarium. What is more, there are more than thirty further aquariums where you can see how diverse the marine life of this planet is... you can even touch some of them! This place is the Aquarium.
Let's go back a few years to 1908, the year in which the Oceanographic Society of Gipuzkoa was founded, encouraged by King Alfonso XIII. This association was very active in oceanographic research and dissemination of information.... proof of this is in the many exhibitions they held, which were well-received by the scientific community of the time. So much so, that their initial premises became too small. Thanks to the interest this society had awakened in another marine enthusiast of the day, Prince Albert of Monaco, it was able to count on his help in building a new residence in 1925. The new building, designed by the architect Juan Carlos Guerra, was erected in the recently completed New Promenade.
Three years later King Alfonso XIII and Queen Victoria Eugenia inaugurated The Aquarium, headquarters of the Oceanographic Society of Gipuzkoa and the first museum of natural sciences in Spain.
As well as the exhibitions, research and publications were carried out over the years. A brilliant idea made it even more famous; in 1934, the skeleton of a whale was displayed in the main gallery, which attracted visitors of every type, and which is still inside today.
The years passed and the Aquarium was in need of modernisation, so in 1998 a huge extension was built, including the construction of a vast aquarium with a transparent tunnel running through the centre, which would permit visitors to experience total immersion in a marine environment.
Most recently, an auditorium and a café-restaurant have been added, and some of the interior was renovated with the addition of new aquariums.
What are you waiting for? You won't regret a visit to this amazing place!
