“The Truman Show” starring Jim Carrey is one of the coolest movies of all time. Truman Burbank lives his entire life inside a giant dome and, without knowing it, is the unwitting star of his own TV show. Whether he’ll try to escape in the end, I won’t spoil that for you. (But c’mon, the movie is almost 30 years old. If you haven’t seen it by now…)
For your own Truman Experience, you just need to drive an hour out of Berlin. Right there before your eyes, in the middle of Brandenburg, stands the world’s largest self-supporting structure! It’s not the dome from the movie, but there’s something even better inside. Before we reveal what that is, let’s first take a look at the history of this mega-structure.
Cargolifter: A Monster Project for the New Millennium
The late 1990s were a time full of hope for the new millennium. This sentiment was reflected in the resurgence of a futuristic vision in which airships (often called “Zeppelins”— not to be confused with the name of this bunker complex) float through the sky.
The plan was for an absolute colossus: a 260-meter-long, flying crane-zeppelinweighing up to 160 tons . (For comparison, the famous Hindenburg was “only” 245 meters long.) They were supposed to transport materials to remote and hard-to-reach areas at speeds of up to 90 km/h . Empty, they could have traveled up to 10,000 km without stopping ! There were supposed to be 200 of them.
Huge isn’t enough—it has to be mega huge!
Cargolifter, the company behind the airships, also had big plans for the shipyard hall. Not just one, no, the new shipyard hall was supposed to be able to house two (!) such gigantic airships. To achieve this, a building of unprecedented scale had to be constructed: the Cargolifter airship hall.
In 2000, the world’s largest self-supporting building, standing 107 meters tall and 360 meters long, was completed after 19 months of construction. (The folks behind Stuttgart 21 could take a page from their book.) The Statue of Liberty could easily fit inside the hall. So if you want to feel like ants, all you have to do is stand in front of the massive 600-ton gates —as in the picture below, can you see the tiny people in the left corner?
A quick end and a tropical new beginning: The ultimate water park!
Sometimes history is ironic. While the “bad hall” from The Truman Show became a global icon, the operators of the “good hall” in Brandenburg unfortunately went bankrupt. The development of the giant zeppelin had swallowed up vast amounts of money, but the results never materialized. In the end, the hall remained, but the money for the airship had flown away. (While we’re on the subject: Here you can see the spot where Katniss destroys the Capitol airship.)
What to do with an empty hall of such magnitude? The answer came from investors in Malaysia with a crazy concept.
A tropical paradise in the middle of Brandenburg!
Since 2004, Tropical Islands has been one of the three most-visited water parks in Europe, alongside Therme Erding and Siam Park ! Under the dome, the temperature is always 26°C with 40–60% humidity— just like in the tropics!
The park has the world’s largest indoor rainforest. They’ve thought of everything: a beach, pools, water slides, bars, and restaurants. If you want to relax, you can go to the sauna, and if you want to work out, head to the gym.
The Cargolifter Hall was meant to encapsulate the dreams of the new millennium: in an unexpected way , that’s exactly what happened. If you want to break out of everyday life like Truman, you don’t have to leave the dome—you have to… go inside it!