The Monaco Oceanographic Museum, headed by Jacques Cousteau for more than 30 years and overlooking the sea from the rock of Monaco, is a must see in Monaco. In fact it is the most popular tourist attraction on the entire French Riviera. The Museum’s aquarium, complete with Shark Lagoon and Coral Garden, is an extraordinary precursor. And the exhibits are no less fun. From the Museum’s infamous whale skeleton to its mythical giant squid mold, a trip to the Monaco Oceanographic Museum is all about family fun.
Near the Cathedral and Palace, the museum, with its world-renowned shark tank, was built by Prince Albert I and completed in 1910. The visit
While there are plenty of skeletons of whales and other sea creatures upstairs, and even a few very cool machines that preceded the tiny submersibles that scientists today use to study the ocean floor, the favorite part in the museum is the basement level where the aquarium is.
It's all situated around the shark tank, which is really a multi-story tank where many kinds of fish, including a shark or two, live. Open on all sides from top to bottom, Girlawhirl loves sitting and just watching as the small brightly colored fish flitter around the bigger, more lumbering varieties. On both sides of the tank are wings of the building where lots of smaller tanks display 4000 species of fish and 200 families of invertebrates