It is, say the builders, the world’s biggest indoor water attraction, complete with a lagoon, sandy beach and rainforest.
And inevitably perhaps for a German theme park, there will be 900 sun loungers.
Next week Europe’s first covered tropical island is to open its doors in Brand, a hamlet in former communist East Germany.
The theme park, called Tropical Islands, is being built inside a 107-metre high hall, which was originally used to house zeppelins, and is next to the site of a former Russian military airport.
Colin Au, a British-educated Malaysian businessman, bought the giant dome after the airship company that owned it went bust.
On Wednesday, Au shrugged off comparisons with the Millennium Dome in east London and said he was confident his tropical island would be a success. Unlike the Eden Project in Cornwall, guests would be able to swim in the lagoon and sea, he said, and would even be able to sleep on the beach in a hired tent.
Swimmers would not be allowed to take all of their clothes off but would be able to enjoy year-round temperatures of between 25C and 27C, he said.
”Our main target is Berliners,” he said. ”It’s very cold in Berlin for nine months of the year. Most people can’t fly to Majorca or Cuba for the weekend. They can come here instead.
”Unlike the Eden Project it won’t be too humid. And there will also be entertainment.”
Evening visitors would see a show enacting the history of Brazil, complete with semi-naked Indians, shaven-headed Roman Catholic priests, and Portuguese soldiers, who on closer inspection during a preview on Wednesday, appeared to be women wearing false moustaches. The island would also be open 24 hours and would have a late-night techno nightclub.
Au admitted that one of the greatest challenges to the project had been to deal with German bureaucracy.
”There is a bamboo tower in the middle of the island. We were asked for its measurements. We have been building bamboo towers for thousands of years but have never previously measured them,” he said.
As well as teak deckchairs, the island would also offer yoga and samba lessons apparently aimed at Berlin’s affluent elderly.
The park has been built in one of Germany’s most depressed states, Brandenburg, an hour’s drive south of the capital, and in the Spreewald, a vast area of pine forest and rivers popular in summer with walkers and kayakers.
Like all of the former East Germany, Brandenburg suffers from high unemployment, currently running at between 15% and 20%.
Previous state initiatives to create jobs here have failed dismally.
Au acquired the giant dome for the bargain basement price of â,¬14-million after the airbase factory collapsed in the late 90s leaving the German taxpayer with an â,¬80m bill.
On Wednesday Au said that if the project was successful he would try to build more islands in other parts of northern Europe.
”We have decided to bring some sun to the Germans. After all, the weather here can be so depressing.” – Guardian Unlimited Â