Oceanário de Lisboa, Lisbon

The Oceanário de Lisboa is an oceanarium built on a pier within an artificial lagoon. Its concept, architecture, and exhibition design were led by Peter Chermayeff, with Peter Chermayeff LLC and Pedro Campos Costa also associated with the project. Look through the broad acrylic windows: the main tank holds 5,000,000 litres of water and reaches 7 metres in depth, creating the feeling of open ocean.

Sharks, rays, barracudas, groupers, moray eels, and a remarkable sunfish share this vast habitat. Around it, four further tanks evoke the North Atlantic, Antarctic, temperate Pacific, and tropical Indian Ocean environments; acrylic partitions make these settings appear to flow together. Across the aquarium, the collection includes about 16,000 individual organisms from 450 species.

The building opened in 1998 as part of Expo ’98, whose theme focused on the oceans. A separate highlight is Takashi Amano’s “Forests Underwater,” a planted freshwater aquarium measuring 40 metres in length and holding 160,000 litres; after a ten-year run, it is scheduled to close on September 30, 2026. What stays with you is the sunfish moving through an ocean assembled indoors.