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The first aquarium in the city of Barcelona was built at the back of the Cascade fountain in Ciutadella Park, within the entertainment spaces that were created for the celebration of the Universal Exhibition of 1888.
The first news about its construction for the general public took place thanks to an article published in La Vanguardia published on June 12, 1881 on pages 3 and 4, narrating the inauguration ceremony of the Cascade fountain in Ciutadella Park. . He also explained the visit that José Fontseré Mestre, architect of the park, offered to visitors so that they could see the work that was being carried out to open the aquarium coinciding with the Exhibition.
It had an area of 120 square meters and was divided into two different sections: the river section, dedicated to freshwater fish fauna; and the saltwater or marine one, which was the one with the greatest number of specimens.
On the small facade, the word "Aquarium" stood out at the top of the entrance and, guarding a wooden door, there were two medallions with the figure of lizards.
Inside, the figure of the God Neptune stood out, adorned in its lower part by groups of stalactites that simulated an underground cave. It bore the seal of a young architect Antoní Gaudi i Cornet, who already stood out in his principles.
In the first room, fish from our rivers were exhibited, such as eels, carp, barbel, trout, salmon and tench, highlighting among all of them the figure of a tiny Cyprinodon (small fish from El Prat). There were a total of 49 species, although the chronicles also spoke of crustaceans and river snails.
The second room was initially dedicated to the marine fauna of the Mediterranean coasts, although with many fewer specimens in the current aquariums.
The aquarium presented for the first time a selection of fish from the Catalan coast, in which only small specimens were exhibited. Among other things, the difficulty of maintaining the health necessary for their maintenance in the fish tanks made it impossible to incorporate larger fish into the aquarium.
In the different sections of the room an interesting collection of corals, sponges, ichthyans and anemones were exhibited. Visitors could also see starfish and sea urchins, little known to visitors at that time.
Finally, they could see in their habitat what until then they had only seen in fishmongers, such as shrimp, snails, shells, cuttlefish and octopus, along with sardines, anchovies, mullet, among others.
Right in the division between the two rooms there was a tank in which the fish were located that were acclimatized before being exhibited in the aquarium.
Those responsible for the aquarium decided to move, in the 1930s, the fish tanks to the Zoology Museum of the Castle of the Three Dragons, also located inside the park.
With the installation of the dolphinarium in the zoo and other offers, the old aquarium was finally closed.
