Bookable
An Apollonaut travel guide
The place behind the detail.
A founding gift, a habitat on an ocean scale and galleries that keep growing offer several ways into the story of the Georgia Aquarium.
On this page
A gift to the city
Bernard Marcus, a co-founder of The Home Depot, gave $250 million through his foundation to build the aquarium, and the Coca-Cola Company donated the land beside Centennial Olympic Park.
The Georgia Aquarium opened on 23 November 2005, without debt, and welcomed 2.9 million visitors in 2019.
The largest in the United States
The aquarium was the largest in the world from its opening until 2012 and is still the largest in the United States, with more than 11 million US gallons of water.
Its Ocean Voyager habitat alone holds 6.3 million gallons and is home to whale sharks and manta rays.
Galleries that keep growing
Dolphin Coast was completed in 2010, SHARKS! Predators of the Deep opened in 2020 and Explorers Cove in 2024. The aquarium is a member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.
This history belongs to the place and the people who shaped it. The History page offers a longer introduction, and the timeline gives a short route through selected milestones.
Read at the source
Sources & further reading
Links lead to the original publishers.
