Zoo at the Sea
The Bremerhaven zoologist and teacher Dr. Heinrich Lübben (1883-1931) taught at a local girls high school after 1910 and proposed the establishment of a public aquarium for North Sea ocean life in 1912, when the concept for the Strandhalle was being developed. In the cellar of that building, the aquarium was opened on August 2nd 1913. The aquarium displayed living fish brought home by the large Bremerhaven trawler fleet. After Heligoland, Bremerhaven had the biggest sea water aquarium in Germany.
After the war, Lübben managed to establish a zoo in the vicinity of the Strandhalle from 1927 to 1928. Artificial rocks forming a landscape and a home for animals from the Northern hemisphere, this basic concept is still adhered to by the Bremerhaven zoo of today. Lübben was the first director and he was able to extend this establishment until his death. The zoo was opened on 24th June 1928.
The Second World War caused only minor damage, and it was extended in 1960 and 1976. In 2000, a complete redesign project was started, and the zoo was reopened in spring 2004. The artificial landscape in the present form is homestead now for a large number of birds, polar bears, penguins, chimpanzees, seals, sea lions and other, mainly nordic species.
Link to Bremerhaven Zoo at the Sea: Zoo at the Sea
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