Haus des Meeres

The Haus des Meeres is a public aquarium in Vienna, Austria. It is located in Esterhazy Park in downtown Mariahilf district, one block south of the busy Mariahilfer Strabe. The Haus des Meeres houses over ten thousand aquatic beings on an area of around four thousand square meters inside a tall concrete flak tower built during World War II. In 2009 the Haus des Meeres attracted a record high of 353,000 thousand visitors, reaching number ten in the list of tourist attractions in Vienna in a year when other venues lost visitors in the wake of the global financial crisis.

The Haus des Meeres is managed by Aqua Terra Zoo, a private non-profit organization which, according to its web site, receives only marginal financial support from municipal authorities.[note 1] However, the maintenance costs for the former flak tower are paid by the taxpayer.