Oceanário de Lisboa presents “Forests Underwater by Takashi Amano"

The exhibition launches the amazing world of tropical forests and their aquatic sistems through an outstanding nature aquarium that will immerse visitors in the magnificience of these ecosystems as they are part of their balance and envolving them on their conservation, accompanied by an original music of Rodrigo Leão, a Portuguese famous musician and composer.

Tropical forests are among the richest and most diverse habitats on Earth. Despite covering less than six per cent of planet's land surface, more than half of all the biodiversity live in these areas of pristine forests, some still untouched and intangible for most people.

The Oceanário create with the exhibition "Forests Underwater", an unique experience of full integration with nature in an original and powerful way, where art, beauty and nature combine in perfection.

The centerpiece of this exhibition born from an invitation to Takashi Amano, the most famous aquascaper, to create the largest nature aquarium in the world, with 40 meters long and 160,000 liters of fresh water. The artistic and conceptual vision of this Japanese master aquascaper is an interpretation of the tropical forests that reveals the great power of their balance.

Takashi Amano introduced the Japanese gardening techniques and the wabi sabi aesthetic, to design a new wave of planted aquariums, known as "nature aquariums." The result is an experience of contemplation, relaxation, stillness and simplicity, motivating visitors to find the beauty of imperfection and the nature shaped by time.

The Oceanário create with this exhibition an intense sensory experience through scents and sounds of the forests. However, the apotheosis comes with the contemplation of the "jewel" created by Takashi Amano, accompanied by the exaltation of listening to the original music, created by the musician and composer, Rodrigo Leão.

Invited by Oceanário de Lisboa, the musician Rodrigo Leão created a composition inspired in the concept of this exhibition, the perfect combination between art and nature. Seconded by a string quartet, Rodrigo Leão recorded "Forests Underwater", a thirteen minutes suite that offers the perfect musical counterpoint to the master aquascaper Takashi Amano's vision, music that seems to be enveloped by the same magic atmosphere and weightlessness that may be found in his underwater landscapes.

After the success of the first temporary exhibition, "Sea Turtles. The Journey", which received more than 2,000,000 visitors, the Oceanário de Lisboa, to reinforce the commitment to nature conservation, presents now a new exhibition, where a sensorial and emotional world will transport the visitors back to the origins of life.

A new reason to (re)visit the Oceanário de Lisboa!

FACTS ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

| Aquarium with 160 m3, U-shape design, 40m long and 2,5m wide

| The aquarium's layout includes 4 tons of sand, 25 tons of volcanic rocks from Azores and 78 tree trunks from Scotland and Malaysia

| 40 species of tropical freshwater fish

| 46 species of aquatic plants

| The largest "nature aquarium" in the world ever created by Takashi Amano

| First aquarium with author's signature, at Oceanário de Lisboa

| 1.5 million visitors expected in 30 months