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Site of giant aquarium explosion re-opens in Berlin
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Site of giant aquarium explosion re-opens in Berlin

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© 2025 IamExpat Media B.V.
© 2025 IamExpat Media B.V.
Apr 5, 2025
Olivia Logan

Editor at IamExpat Media

Editor for Germany at IamExpat Media. Olivia first came to Germany in 2013 to work as an Au Pair. Since studying English Literature and German in Scotland, Freiburg and Berlin she has worked as a features journalist and news editor.Read more

Over two years after Berlin’s giant aquarium exploded into the surrounding streets of the capital, the site’s re-opening ceremony did not go exactly to plan.

Former site of giant aquarium re-opens in Berlin

A new attraction in the lobby of the Radisson Blu hotel in Berlin-Mitte has opened. The site has been closed since December 2022, when a 16-metre-high aquarium containing 1.500 fish of over 100 species burst and spilled out into the surrounding city streets.

The aquarium has been replaced by a vertical garden installation, featuring nearly 2.000 plant species over 120 square metres. Former mayor and current economics senator for Berlin, Franziska Giffey, gave a speech at the opening ceremony.

Despite extensive research, it still isn’t entirely clear why the aquarium burst back in 2022. By piecing together 2D copies of the debris pieces in a storage unit in Brandenburg, engineers developed four main theories: incorrect usage, a flaw in construction, a flaw in production methods or flawed materials.

Aquarium re-opening ceremony disrupted by fire brigade

For a few moments during Giffey’s speech at the re-opening ceremony, it looked like the Radisson’s lobby may in fact be cursed. With the senator just a few words into her speech, a fire alarm began to sound and guests were instructed in German, English and Spanish on a tannoy to “leave the hotel immediately”. 

Luckily, it was a figurative false alarm; the hotel’s fire alarms had been set off by fog machines used during the re-opening ceremony.

Thumb image credit: Sergiy Palamarchuk / Shutterstock.com

By Olivia Logan