At the edge of the Port of Las Palmas on Gran Canaria stands a white, wave-patterned building that holds Europe’s most dramatic single aquarium view: a curved acrylic window 36 meters wide and seven meters tall, the largest of its kind in the world. This is Poema del Mar — “Poem of the Sea” — the Loro Parque Group’s 2017 deep-water statement piece.
The aquarium takes its name from “Poema del Atlántico,” the celebrated painting cycle by Canarian artist Néstor Martín-Fernández de la Torre, whose designs inspired the building itself. Regional government backed the project as strategically important to Canary Islands tourism, and it has become one of Las Palmas’ flagship attractions.
Key Stats
| Total water volume | 7.5 million liters across 35 represented ecosystems |
| Opened | December 17, 2017 (public opening January 8, 2018) |
| Location | Puerto de la Luz, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain |
| Signature tank | Deep Sea — world’s largest curved window, 36 m × 7 m |
| Window | 140-ton acrylic panel |
| Owner | Loro Parque Group |
Three Worlds Under One Roof
Poema del Mar is organized as a descent through three zones. La Jungla comes first: a skylit landscape of rainforest vegetation, waterfalls, and freshwater tanks paying homage to five continents. Next is Arrecife, a walk around an enormous coral cylinder alive with reef fish. The route ends at Deep Sea, where the floor drops away behind that vast curved window and sharks and rays patrol a blue void that feels genuinely oceanic.
The Record Window
The Deep Sea window is the aquarium’s calling card: a single piece of methacrylate 36 meters long, seven meters high, and weighing 140 tons. Spanish sources describe the exhibit behind it as the largest saltwater aquarium display in Europe. For scale, the facility’s total 7.5 million liters place it around 23rd among the largest aquariums in the world — remarkable for an island aquarium that opened less than a decade ago.
A Conservation Outpost in the Atlantic
Like its sister facility Loro Parque on Tenerife, Poema del Mar pairs exhibition with conservation work. The aquarium collaborates with the European Commission and the UN Environment Programme on a coalition of aquariums fighting plastic pollution, runs education workshops, and rehabilitates injured sea turtles for release back into Atlantic waters.
FAQ
What is special about Poema del Mar?
Its Deep Sea exhibit features the largest curved aquarium window in the world — 36 meters wide, 7 meters tall, made from 140 tons of acrylic. The aquarium holds 7.5 million liters of water across 35 recreated ecosystems.
When did Poema del Mar open?
The aquarium was inaugurated on December 17, 2017, and opened its doors to the public on January 8, 2018. It is owned by the Loro Parque Group.
Where is Poema del Mar located?
Beside the Puerto de la Luz in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, the capital of Gran Canaria in Spain’s Canary Islands, a short walk from the Santa Catalina district and the city’s cruise terminal.
Photo: Aneta p via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0)