A blue whale arises – work by modelers in an old fruit warehouse

A giant among giants

It is indisputably the largest exhibit in the OZEANEUM. At more than 30 meters long and weighing 200 metric tons, it is also the largest and heaviest known living creature on Earth. The blue whale in our collection of giant lives up to all of these records. This includes its origin and path to the ceiling of the impressive exhibition hall. Close cooperation by scientists, craftsmen and artists has yielded a natural replica made using a steel frame and Styrofoam. In its entirety, it is 26 meters long and even as a model it weighs 9 metric tons. The metalworkers led by CEO Hartwig Schröder from Rathenow and sculptor Peter Ardelt of Dresden and his team were instrumental in this process.

Besides its natural effect in the Hall of Whales, the life-sized model still had to satisfy a few other conditions. It had to be transported and assembled, but the entrance to the exhibit measures only 4 by 4 meters. So they created a collapsible metal frame, which was prefabricated by the metalworkers in an assembly hall in Stralsund. The body of the whale was also given its final form here and was transported to the OZEANEUM by a low loader trailer. Once it arrived on site, the long fins were added and the blue whale was lifted to its predetermined location, high above the heads of visitors. The story behind its design and presentation is certainly unique and was funded by the environmental organization Greenpeace to promote the protection of whales.