The oldest municipal aquarium in America was opened to the public on August 18, 1904
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Vintage Belle Isle Aquarium--Detroit, Michigan
Posted by
Wade G. Burck
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
A Blog designed for discussion of topics related to, but not limited to, Circus, Zoos, Animal Training, and Animal Welfare/Husbandry. Sometimes opening up the dialog is the best starting point of all. And if for nothing else when people who agree and don't agree, get together and start discussing it, it will open up a lot of peoples minds. Debate and discussion even amongst themselves opens a window where there wasn't one before.
The Circus "NO SPIN ZONE"
Relevent Stops On The Information Highway
- Custom Motorcycle Accessories by Ian
- Bob Cline's Sawdust and Spangles
- Buckles Blog
- Christophe Roullin Circus News
- Gary Robinsons Circus Blog
- Jamie Clubbs Blog
- Marco Kristens Circus Williams
- Ryan Easley's ShowMe Elephants
- Showbiz Daves Blog
- The Bartlett Society
- Thomas Bohners Cage Act History
- World of Dancing Horses
Manure Pile/Post Archive
Consultants
Wade G Burck
Adam R Burck
Eric G Burck
Adam R Burck
Eric G Burck
Posts
3 comments:
Wade, I vaguely remember going here as a little girl, but haven't returned since. It has been closed for the last three years.
Mary Ann
My wife's business is literally 200 feet from the entrance to the Aquarium in Monterey, still arguable the best Aquarium in the United States insofar as it's research unit is concerned. And I'm a fan of the Aquarium in Baltimore, particularly the amphibian collection... But in a sense the older aquariums had a charm to them and an aesthetic that new mega-aquariums lack. I think the most successful exhibit at Monterey was a Jellies exhibition framing tanks with picture frames and recapturing the notion of "living art" that certain of the older aquariums had. As much as I liked the reptile department at the Steinhardt in San Francisco, the aquatic exhibitions nearly put me to sleep for pure functionality of the walls and corridors.
The connection between aquariums and circus in tangible. W.C.Coup, who was Yankee Robinson's sideshow manager partnered with P.T. Barnum on Barnum's first big circus. Coup is credited with putting the big show onto rails, birthing the "Golden Age" of circus. Coup's association with Barnum only lasted a few years. And among his next ventures was the construction of the original New York Aquarium.
Ben,
You are absolutely right about the charm, or ambiance if you will of the old aquariums. When you walked in the dark, echoing halls you truly felt like you we in a mysterious underwater world. Maybe it's me, but the "newer" aquariums almost evoke a surreal world more akin to what I would imagine outer space to be. The "tropic area" that some of them have in the upper reachs to simulate the rain forest as you go higher up, takes a bit more imagination then I have to seem realistic.
Wade
Post a Comment