National Aquarium Denmark

National Aquarium Denmark, Den Blå Planet (Danish: Den Blå Planet, Danmarks Akvarium) is a public aquarium in Denmark. The original aquarium was located in Charlottenlund, but this facility closed in 2012 and most of the animal collection was relocated to the new and much larger aquarium Den Blå Planet (lit.: The Blue Planet) in Kastrup, a suburb of Copenhagen. The National Aquarium Denmark, Den Blå Planet opened to the public in March 2013 and is the largest aquarium in Northern Europe.

The main purpose of the aquarium is to disseminate marine information, help science projects, and help improve educational institutions.

The former aquarium

Denmark's Aquarium in Charlottenlund started construction in 1937 and was opened in 1939. In 1974, this aquarium was expanded to feature five large landscape aquaria and a biological museum with theme-based exhibits and aquariums. In 1990, the facility was further expanded by a new front hall, café, improved toilet facilities and a schooler service. In the final years before the closure of the aquarium in Charlottenlund, it had about 1,000,000 litres (220,000 imp gal; 260,000 US gal) of water in about 70 aquarium tanks.

Current aquarium

Den Blå Planet opened in 2013 in Kastrup, a suburb of Copenhagen. It resembles a whirlpool when seen from above. It often is, being close to the Copenhagen Airport. It was designed by Danish architects 3XN. To reduce energy consumption the building is equipped with cooling units using seawater from Øresund and double glazing. It covers a total of 12,000 m2 (130,000 sq ft), including the 10,000 m2 (110,000 sq ft) building and 2,000 m2 (22,000 sq ft) outdoors (excluding parking spaces).

In the first year of existence, the aquarium received approximately 1.3 million visitors – twice as many as expected. To mitigate this extra wear, and in order to improve public education, 12.5 million DKK (approx. 2.3 million US$; 1.7 million €) were spent on changes and renovations of the aquarium.

The Blue Planet contains about 7,000,000 litres (1,500,000 imp gal; 1,800,000 US gal) of water divided...