Aqua Park B.

This aqua park was a widely known recreation area in the eastern part of Germany.
It was opened in 1985, when Germany was still separated.
At the time, the construction cost almost 45 million Deutsche Mark, of which the state put in nine million as a non-interest-bearing loan. During the soccer season 1986/87, the aqua park became the shirt sponsor of a traditional German soccer club.
In the early years, the aqua park had about 600.000 visitors every year, but the number of visitors declined and fell to about 300.000 in the year 2001.
The manager of the park declared that it was essentially the "public character" of the park that had contibuted to its downfall.
There were massive problems with youth gangs that were getting very territorial about the pools. Three security guards were hired, but they couldn't do anything about it.
The security problems and the increasing structural decay scared off a lot of the potential visitors, especially families.
At the end of 2002, the aqua park was closed by the local health authority due to an infestation with rats, bird droppings and for the hygienic control of epidemics.

More photos in Part 2...and to view the full gallery, please visit my website.