Visitor Record At Haus Des Meeres

10 Jan 2013

Vienna's Haus des Meeres is celebrating a record number of visitor's for the sixth consecutive year in 2012.

The aquarium - Haus des Meeres  located just off Vienna's Mariahilfestrasse had 436,545 visitors in 2012 making it its most busy year to date.

Director Michael Mitic said: "We had 26,000 more visitors in 2012 than 2011 and in total 200,000 more compared to 2006.

"This increase in visitors is however no reason for us to sit back and relax but gives us further motivation to strive to improve and continue.

Haus des Meeres is located in a giant flak tower built by the Nazis to withstand a direct hit during the Allied bombardment of Vienna.

It was converted into a giant aquarium and has a rooftop viewing platform over Vienna.

Last year four new areas were added including a completely renovated tropical house, a deep sea and coral aquarium as well as a cave grotto.

Mitic added: "We are always trying to connect animals with a personal experience factor for our visitors.

It recently opened up an underground "grotto" to house animals that only like to come out in the dark.

It means that visitors at the Haus des Meeres will be able to see rarities like this illuminated scorpion as one of over 100 different animals that are only active in the dark.

It took more than a year to plan and then build the new grotto in the multifaceted attraction at the Esterhazy-Park off the busy Mariahilferstrasse shopping street. The creatures have been tricked by lighting to believe the daytime is night and nighttime is day in order to make sure they are active when people are visiting.

Although there are several of the giant concrete towers the one on the Mariahilferstrasse is the only one to be actively in use and managers have made great efforts to make every spare centimetre count.

Even the external walls have been turned into a climbing face and at one point a glass extension was built onto the building to allow the extension of a tropical rainforest environment for monkeys. Visitors waiting to buy tickets find themselves underneath a giant aquarium including crocodiles, tortoises and piranhas.

Aquarium manager Franz Six said: "Going into the cellar was the only place we have any room now – we didn't have anywhere else."

Also on show are blind fish that need no eyes and also have no colour because they live in the dark or another rare type of fish that is the only one capable of living in water with a high hydrogen sulphide content.

Source: http://www.austriantimes.at/news/Panorama/2013-01-09/46406/Visitor_record_at_Haus_des_Meeres_