DALLA STAZIONE ZOOLOGICA DELL’ACQUARIO BERLINESE ALL’ISTITUTO ITALO-GERMANICO DI BIOLOGIA MARINA DI ROVIGNO D’ISTRIA

Abstract

The economic success of the 'Aquarium Berlin unter den Linden' enabled it to afford maintaining its own external catching station for the supply of marine animals to Berlin's aquaria. The catching station, with an adjoining public aquarium (that still exists today), was built in the northern port of Rovigno/Rovinj (Val di Bora), in the vicinity of the railway station. This ensured a rapid shipment of seawater and living marine animals via the European railway network to Berlin. More recent evidence shows that the catching station was indeed conceived as a research station from the very beginning. This work follows the history of the Zoological station from its foundation as a catching station, later becoming one of the first Max Planck Institutes, and the Italian-German intergovernmental institute that ended with the Second World War.