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You’ll Never Guess What’s Inside This Former Soviet Airplane Hangar

Feb. 22, 2013 2:11pm Liz Klimas

Would you believe this …

Germanys Tropical Islands Resort Situated in a Former Airplane Hangar

(Photo: Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

…could be inside this?

(Photo: Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

Or that this freezing cold family…

(Photo: Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

…will soon be doing this?

(Photo: Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

The giant airplane hangar turned resort called Tropical Islands is located on a former Soviet air force base in Brandenburg, Germany.

The main Tropical Island hall is 1,181 feet long, nearly 689 feet wide and 351 feet tall. According to the resort’s website, the Statue of Liberty could easily fit inside, as could eight football fields.

Attractions include a Bali Lagoon with cave and waterfall, sandy beaches, an African Jungle Lift, the tallest water slide in Germany, miniature golf, balloon rides and what it calls the world’s largest indoor rainforest.

The resort actually opened in 2004, but recent photos of it drew our attention. According to the company’s website, transforming from an airplane hangar into a tropical escape was “a huge challenge for the architects.”

“[The] construction needed to be able to withstand the volume of rain and snow that could accumulate on a 70,000 m2 roof, and the heating demands were also considerable. Almost 14,000 tonnes of steel were used for the building,” the company stated.

Here are more photos of the resort:

Watch this promotional video for Tropical Islands:

(H/T: NeatORama)

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Comments (143)

Tickdog
Posted on February 22, 2013 at 3:20pm
That is awesome!
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- 19RANDY59
  Posted on February 22, 2013 at 4:20pm
  Yeah, but I have to ask. Did we pay for this?
  
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- Thevoice
  Posted on February 22, 2013 at 6:25pm
  Place looks great, and looking at the photos the place being filled with good, respectful of others “Germans” they should have a great place for years to come… Come to think of it I remember Chicago and Detroit neighboorhood that were that nice years ago. Hold on let me google Obama phone lady and see what happened….
- banjarmon
  Posted on February 22, 2013 at 8:11pm
  Do they have to get out of the pool every five minutes like the do in the US for breaks???
  
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- sillyfreshness
  Posted on February 22, 2013 at 10:28pm
  Holy crap how big is this hanger? It looks like a small city could fit in it! Why can’t we have something cool like that here in the US?
  
  Report this comment
- OlefromMN
  Posted on February 22, 2013 at 10:36pm
  Well I’ll be a monkey’s uncle! Is that capitalism that I see? From the Ruskies?
  
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- Obama_In_Zee_PeePee_By_Glenn_Beck
  Posted on February 23, 2013 at 2:14am
  “You’ll Never Guess What’s Inside This Former Soviet Airplane Hangar”
  
  The Clintons? Obama and his White House staff? The new location for Washington DC?
  All of the above?
  
  “AMERICA’S LOST HISTORY! :: Glenn Beck UNVEILS Our Plunge Into Obama’s Marxist Tyranny!!”
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukc-z9MmEiU
  
  Report this comment
- old white guy
  Posted on February 23, 2013 at 7:32am
  i would like to have the annual heating costs transferred to my bank account every year.
  
  Report this comment
- Use.some.common.sense
  Posted on February 23, 2013 at 8:27am
  The stainless steel water slide is awesome! The fact that I only saw ONE fat guy in a speedo is even more awesome.. If this were in the US that pic might look a little different… In fact maybe they built that water slide out of stainless in case the Americans visited?.. To support the extra weight
  
  Report this comment
jmeister8
Posted on February 22, 2013 at 3:19pm
Lets do something like that here. A domed area with its own island, and people can live there and we will have freedom and liberty in there. We can call it America land as a nostlgic look at what America used to be.

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- NotAConstituencyGroup
  Posted on February 22, 2013 at 3:37pm
  I was totally thinking Logan’s Run…
  
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- BostonHarold
  Posted on February 22, 2013 at 5:01pm
  There’s a famous old wooden zeppelin hangar of those monstrous dimensions at Lakehust Naval Air Station in NJ. They used to garage the Hindenburg in it.
  
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- dgPehrson
  Posted on February 22, 2013 at 7:44pm
  Are you insane!?! Capitalism would never survive in there. It’s way to small and we would grow way too big. This is the progressives perfect place. They can take the dome and if they see that the people are too large or not contributing to their society, then they can just gas the place in one shot and start all over with the remaining survivors. They have have their one ruler and as much government assistance as they want. It will be like simcity to them.
  
  Report this comment
- Rodeoamy
  Posted on February 22, 2013 at 10:19pm
  Could be a use for the Astrodome.
  
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lfoa
Posted on February 22, 2013 at 3:19pm
“You didn’t build that….”
Barack Hussein Obama

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- Fubared
  Posted on February 22, 2013 at 6:18pm
  Bet there is p in the ool.
  
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capitalismrocks
Posted on February 22, 2013 at 3:14pm
Outstanding !!!

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- chips1
  Posted on February 22, 2013 at 5:16pm
  This is great. In 500 years, WALLE can save us again.
  
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johnmancini
Posted on February 22, 2013 at 3:06pm
Capitalism has spread to germany, while socialism is spreading here. We are living in Bizarro World

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- Ishmot2
  Posted on February 22, 2013 at 6:30pm
  JOHNMANCINI You surely don’t think the Soviet Union was in Germany do you? But you are right capitalism is spreading in places, like former Soviet Union and Germany, while socialism is been forced down our throats here.
  
  Report this comment
- DimmuBorgir
  Posted on February 22, 2013 at 6:51pm
  @ISHMOT2
  
  read the first sentence of the article.
  
  The giant airplane hangar turned resort called Tropical Islands is located on a former Soviet air force base in Brandenburg, Germany.
  
  Report this comment
- Galt45
  Posted on February 22, 2013 at 7:45pm
  Ishmot2. Yes, the Soviet Union was in Germany, or East Germany as it was then called. The former SSRs are becoming more free while we are losing our freedom. We are indeed living in Bizarro World.
  
  Report this comment
KickinBack
Posted on February 22, 2013 at 3:03pm
Pretty darn cool. And think of the jobs created to maintain it! Of course here, Solyndra comes first…

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- afishfarted
  Posted on February 22, 2013 at 3:11pm
  That is really COOL !! Obama would never allow it though
  
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battles
Posted on February 22, 2013 at 2:58pm
Typical Russian efficiency. Look at how high that roof is. It has to be hugely costly to heat the place.

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- BehindBlueEyes
  Posted on February 22, 2013 at 3:16pm
  I was thinking the same thing. It must take a huge amount just to maintain the HVAC system.
  
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- jakartaman
  Posted on February 22, 2013 at 3:59pm
  I heard they built their own coal plant for all their energy needs.
  
  Report this comment
- MyAlaska
  Posted on February 22, 2013 at 4:27pm
  Liz’s story forgot to mention that it’s and Aircraft Hanger not an “airplane” hanger. It was for lighter-than-air craft. ie. Zepplins. The story also neglected to mention it was only a ‘Russian’ base after the war ended. It was, obviously, a Nazi-Germany hanger.
  
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- GCT
  Posted on February 24, 2013 at 8:04pm
  I’ll bet that the hangar pre-dated the Nazis. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was built by the Kaiser, before World War I, since they had Zeppelins before then.
  
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- drrgb
  Posted on February 24, 2013 at 10:05pm
  Actual built in the 90s long after Russians and Nazis were gone. The Airship was the CargoLifter.
  
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CargoLifter
  
  Report this comment
Anonymous T. Irrelevant
Posted on February 22, 2013 at 2:51pm
I have been sent emails about this place. Looks nice and is a good idea. We need some of those in the cold areas of the US.

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- PK_SEA
  Posted on February 22, 2013 at 3:47pm
  They are everywhere in the US. Here are a few, but there are plenty more than these…
  
  http://voices.yahoo.com/top-four-indoor-water-parks-america-5562761.html?cat=16
  
  Report this comment
MyAlaska
Posted on February 22, 2013 at 2:51pm
This story is 9 years old. ..NINE…. YEARS. Geeze.

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- KickinBack
  Posted on February 22, 2013 at 3:00pm
  This is the first I’ve heard of it. Guess that makes it one minute old to me.
  
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- Max jones
  Posted on February 22, 2013 at 3:13pm
  Good old American ingenuity. (sarc_and envy)
  
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- 48Straight
  Posted on February 22, 2013 at 8:07pm
  Shhhhhhh, dont wake up the sleeping people here, be very very quiet!
  
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- DLV
  Posted on February 22, 2013 at 11:29pm
  48- even if this story is nine years old you can’t expect everyone to know everything.
  
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THX-1138
Posted on February 22, 2013 at 2:50pm
That is one *serious* Indoor Pool…

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Chuck Stein
Posted on February 22, 2013 at 2:50pm
Way cool. But I wonder about some of the buildings in the “tropics” there: European Middle Age (“halbholz” in German — we call it “Tudor”) style buildings?

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- CLEttinger
  Posted on February 22, 2013 at 2:58pm
  Thats wierd, but what is stranger is people lying around on the “beach” indoors trying to tan?
  
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- Max jones
  Posted on February 22, 2013 at 3:19pm
  CLETTINGER….Maybe just trying relax. another deception, this one fun.
  
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wilbstal
Posted on February 22, 2013 at 2:46pm
i would blow it up and send all the folks to work they are all lazy bastards

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- M13
  Posted on February 24, 2013 at 6:54pm
  You had better stick to blowing up your doll under the bed.
  
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GuruMeditation
Posted on February 22, 2013 at 2:44pm
Looks like a party!

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allandwd
Posted on February 22, 2013 at 2:38pm
Awesome !!! No other words to describe it…..Need one here in Northern Virginia…

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GoodStuff
Posted on February 22, 2013 at 2:38pm
They should do this at the Astrodome. It’s just sitting there doing nothing.

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- Max jones
  Posted on February 22, 2013 at 3:16pm
  Need a prospectus and investors list. Then let capitalism do its thing….Oh, wait, I forgot….stupid me.
  
  Report this comment
- chips1
  Posted on February 22, 2013 at 5:28pm
  Swimming will be outlawed after Obama bans drilling for water.
  
  Report this comment
TheEDGE
Posted on February 22, 2013 at 2:33pm
Why does this bring Pauly Shore to mind?

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FISH_BONE
Posted on February 22, 2013 at 2:30pm
Those Germans: First ShamWow, now this. Is there anything they can’t do?

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- RJJinGadsden
  Posted on February 22, 2013 at 3:41pm
  Really. Sort of makes you wonder what is in the old hanger where Francis Gary Powers used to park his plane at the end of his work day.
  
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ellietoo
Posted on February 22, 2013 at 2:30pm
I wish they would build one of those in NYS.

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spfoam1
Posted on February 22, 2013 at 2:27pm
The Germans made great use of this old Soviet hanger (in Krausnick, Germany). The Russians are too busy plotting against the US to build something like this.

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- Nlitend1
  Posted on February 22, 2013 at 2:49pm
  lol.
  yes, the entire russian nation is very busy with this.
  
  Report this comment
- spfoam1
  Posted on February 22, 2013 at 3:49pm
  You’re right, it’s not the entire Russian nation. It’s just the ones that make any difference, starting with Putin.
  
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- KP74
  Posted on February 22, 2013 at 4:08pm
  Not Russian or Soviet, built commercially by a firm in Germany after the wall came down.
  
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- MyAlaska
  Posted on February 22, 2013 at 4:30pm
  LOL it’s not an “old soviet hanger”! It’s an old German hanger that the Russians happened to be occupying after the war ended. It’s a Nazi Zepplin hanger.
  
  Report this comment
KP74
Posted on February 22, 2013 at 2:26pm
The title is misleading. The hangar was built on the grounds of the former Soviet air base but was never intended (nor used) for airplanes.

The hangar was purpose built to house the CargoLifter Air Ship (think Blimp or Zeppelin) production. The firm never was able to build any of the CargoLifters for commercial sale and the hangar was sold off as part of the liquidation proceedings.

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- Displacedsoutherner
  Posted on February 22, 2013 at 3:41pm
  Thanks, I was hoping someone would point out that is not an airplane hangar but a blimp/air ship hangar. Some of the Russian stuff was a bit crude but they had definitely progressed past blimps/Zeppelins prior to occupying Germany after WW2.
  
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- landman1
  Posted on February 22, 2013 at 4:33pm
  Oh the humanity!!!!!
  
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- chips1
  Posted on February 22, 2013 at 5:47pm
  It’s called the “Shiela Jackson Lee”.
  
  Report this comment
righthanddrive
Posted on February 22, 2013 at 2:25pm
I’d like to ‘pile on’ that John Kerry comment…This is proof enough that global warming is so over and gone. Here are people having to shelter their their favourite tropical beach from the ice and snow that is all around them. Soon the islands of HI will have to construct these tropical shelters for us and our children to enjoy in the future.

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- Shasta
  Posted on February 22, 2013 at 2:31pm
  That is why these greedy, power hungry and lying liberals renamed it to ‘climate control’. Now no matter what the weather, they can grab more control of our lives.
  
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Tri-ox
Posted on February 22, 2013 at 2:23pm
How totally awesome is that?

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Margyt
Posted on February 22, 2013 at 2:21pm
All it needs to be perfect is remnants of the Berlin Wall in the buildings. What a beautiful place built on wonderful irony.

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- everydaywoman
  Posted on February 22, 2013 at 4:03pm
  Great idea!
  
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Stoic one
Posted on February 22, 2013 at 2:17pm
Good use of and old structure.

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Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on February 22, 2013 at 2:15pm
At least now we know why John Kerry was so desperate to reach Russia.

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- huey6367
  Posted on February 22, 2013 at 2:22pm
  Maybe he’ll go swimming with a cynder block chained to his neck.
  
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- Steelhead
  Posted on February 22, 2013 at 2:24pm
  this is Germany snowtard
  
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- IndyGuy
  Posted on February 22, 2013 at 2:26pm
  Actually he had to deliver Obama’s message of what in Amerika they will get…Due to his flexibility after his election…
  
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- barber2
  Posted on February 22, 2013 at 2:40pm
  INDY: Yes. And the funniest thing is that the Russians don’t even care. Obama/ Kerry are jokes to them also. The Russians won’t even answer the phone !
  
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- Anonymous T. Irrelevant
  Posted on February 22, 2013 at 2:49pm
  That answer may have been for what Obama will get personally. He was stressed and strained before the election. After he won, he relaxed and is now more flexible. He and Putin will have lots of fun nights.
  
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- AbrahamsSheepdog
  Posted on February 23, 2013 at 9:21am
  Video night! Civil war, ladden, benghazi greatest drone clips, bidden blunders, 2 Amen. double tongue speak, do you guys do blu-ray?
  
  Report this comment
- Bruce1369
  Posted on February 23, 2013 at 7:39pm
  Don’t tease, huey6367.
  
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