View of Berlin’s landmark Fernsehturm or Television Tower from Spree River
A Radisson hotel in Berlin was forced to tell its guests to leave after the AquaDom, the world’s largest freestanding cylindrical aquarium, burst. The incident resulted in the spillage of over 264,000 gallons (one million liters) of water and 1,500 exotic fish onto a major road in the busy Mitte district, the city’s emergency services office said.
“This morning at approximately 6:30 a.m. CET (sic), the aquarium of the AquaDom Berlin collapsed,” the hotel said in a message on its website. “The hotel is closed until further notice and guests will be relocated.” The message asked guests with future reservations to contact the hotel directly or Radisson customer service.
The AquaDom, located inside the hotel in the DomAquarée complex on the Karl-Liebknecht-Straße, was an 82’ (25 m) tall cylindrical acrylic aquarium with a built-in transparent elevator. The DomAquarée complex also contains offices, a museum, a restaurant, and the Berlin Sea Life Centre aquarium.
The hotel and AquaDom opened in December 2003. The acrylic cylinder was built by the U.S. company International Concept Management at a cost of €12.8 million ($13.6 million in today’s dollars).
Two people including one hotel employee were injured in the accident.
The city’s Mayor, Franziska Giffey, said that it was fortunate that the accident happened so early in the morning, when hardly anyone was in the immediate vicinity.
“If this hadn’t happened at 5.45 a.m. but even just one hour later, then we would probably have had terrible human loss to report,” broadcaster RBB cited Giffey as having said.
(Photo: Accura Media Group)
