Montreal Aquarium
| Alcan Aquarium | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Date opened | 1966 |
| Date closed | 1991 |
| Location | St. Helen's Island, Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
 | |
The Alcan Aquarium, later known as the Montreal Aquarium, was a public aquarium in La Ronde on St. Helen's Island, located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It was built and opened in 1967 for Expo 67 and shut down in 1991. It reopened as the Nintendo Mégadôme from 1995 to 2006.
The Expo pavilion was originally sponsored by Alcan Aluminum Ltd., who built the site as a joint venture with the City of Montreal and the Zoological Society of Montreal. The main aquarium featured penguin pools, exhibits space and a gift shop. The separate dolphin pool had a 900-seat auditorium, show pool and holding tanks. The aquarium complex was reduced in space when one of its original buildings was demolished.
History
Montreal Aquadome (1967–1991)
After a workers' strike in February 1980, two dolphins starved to death.[1] The surviving dolphins were sold to Flipper's Sea School, a roadside dolphin attraction in Florida. The already failing aquarium received even more negative publicity.
The city planned in 1988 to move the aquarium to a more popular location at the Old Port, but the plan did not come through when the city was mired in recession in the early 1990s.
On September 15, 1991, the aquarium officially closed. Most of its exhibits were transferred to the Biodome. The site of the former aquarium now belongs to the amusement park La Ronde. The main aquarium building is now the Pass Building and the dolphin pool is vacant and closed off from the public.
Nintendo Mégadôme (1995–2006)
![[icon]](/wiki/File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg){kind=small} | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (September 2021) |
The Nintendo Mégadôme opened inside the former aquarium space in 1995.[2] It was a Nintendo-sponsored video game centre with the then latest Nintendo video games and attractions.
References
- ^ Dr François Lubrina. "La fin pitoyable et tragique des dauphins de Montréal" (in French). Vetérinet. Archived from the original on 2011-07-24. Retrieved 2009-12-27.
- ^ spacemtfan (June 10, 2016). "The Vampire of Montreal: Part 18 of the Inverted Coaster Serie". ParkVault. Retrieved August 2, 2018.
External links
- Nintendo Mégadôme (in English)
- Photo and floor plan (linked)
