Aquarium and fish farming museum (Brussels)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The aquarium and fish farming museum at Louizalaan 523-527 in Brussels was a facility that presented freshwater and marine life .

Foundation and equipment

The initiators of the popular science institution were Auguste and Constant Goffinet, who already owned a fish farm with a focus on salmon production, and Charley Poutiau, who was also involved in a fish farm. In order to stand out from similar European institutions that had placed their emphasis on saltwater animals, they initially planned a restriction to freshwater inhabitants, but this was not held out for long. Gustav Gilson and Ernest Rousseau advised the founders of the aquarium, which was built from 1904 and opened in 1906. The structure was about 20 meters long and just as high. From the street side one got through an entrance hall and a winter garden into the great hall, which among other things contained a four-meter long pool. Mainly, however, the aquariums were set into the walls of the individual rooms and clad with stone on three sides. Most of the lighting was daylight, while coal was used for heating. Behind the Great Hall and a passage room was a second hall. This was used for both aquariums and museum showcases.

On the first floor there was a gallery where the museum exhibits were shown. The house also had a library, several work and social rooms and, of course, the technical facilities that were necessary to operate the aquarium, including a quarantine station.

The water was treated in the cellar. There was a ten horsepower pump there. Tap water was used for the freshwater aquariums and North Sea water for the seawater basins, which had to be brought from Vlissingen to Brussels.

collection

In addition to native and Asian animals, the focus of the collection until 1914 was also on species from the Congo colony . Sea anemones , sea ​​squirts and echinoderms were kept as well as various worms, shellfish and mollusks. The seawater stocks also included numerous cartilaginous fish . The freshwater section contained almost all freshwater fish species native to Belgium and also numerous known table and aquarium fish species. Charley Poutiau introduced the brown American catfish to Europe, which was also presented in the aquarium. Some terrarium inhabitants and insects were also shown.

The museum was dedicated to fishing and fish farming.

history

In the first 20 years of its existence, the Aquarium and Museum was directed by R. Kroese. In 1926 this was replaced by Johannes-Antoine Lestage. The institution remained closed during the First World War and in the post-war years. It was not opened again until 1925. In the meantime, however, the collection has apparently been maintained; there was also a monthly lecture event at which Kroese gave a lecture. In the winter of 1925/26 the aquarium was rebuilt and expanded to include 14 seawater basins. Another fundamental renovation took place in 1931, the year Constant Goffinet died. His twin brother Auguste Goffinet had already died at this point. It is possible that the facility ran into financial difficulties due to the death of the Goffinet brothers, especially since there was an economic crisis in the 1930s and the number of visitors was apparently low. The aquarium and museum probably closed in 1937. In 1942 an application was made to demolish the building, but it was probably not carried out until the 1950s. Despite the collaboration with Les Naturalistes Belge and the Natural History Museum, hardly any traces of the Brussels Aquarium and Fish Farming Museum have been preserved. Nowadays there are no more references to the former establishment in the Louizalaan.

literature

  • Gie Robeyns, Aquarium and Fish Breeding Museum, Brussels, 1906–1937, in Brussels, Belgium , in: Zool. Garten NF 78, 2009, pp. 300-313