German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who welcomed U.S. President George W. Bush to her northern German home constituency in Stralsund last July, was back in town on September 15 to lay the groundstone for the mammoth marine facility along with Harald Ringstorff, the Minister President of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.

Due to open in spring 2008, the "Ozeaneum" will take visitors on an "underwater journey" from the shallow Baltic Sea to deep, nutrient-rich Arctic waters. The costs of the €50 million ($63 million) construction will be met by the federal government, the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania state government and the German Oceanographic Museum.

According to its planners, the "Ozeaneum" is destined to become one of the "top ten" aquariums in the world and will be comparable to the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California, the Oceanographic Museum in Monaco and the Oceanario in Lisbon.

Merkel praised it as "a symbiosis of nature and culture" through its unique construction. The "Ozeaneum" will include a tunnel aquarium, giant tanks full of sharks hunting swarms of herring and mackerel, and the longest free-standing escalator in Germany ferrying visitors between the buildings’ four levels. Penguins, stingrays and lobster will be among other animals on view. At the same time, life-size preserved whales and giant squids will be displayed in a special "giants of the sea" exhibit. Other educational exhibits will focus on marine life in the Baltic Sea, as well as on marine research and use.