Titanic artifacts now at aquarium

About 200 pieces from the world’s most famous shipwreck went on display at an unlikely site Friday: the Georgia Aquarium. It’s the first time the Titanic exhibition has been at an aquarium.

The artifacts didn’t have to travel far: Like the aquarium, they are housed in Atlanta. Officials with Premier Exhibitions, which has guardianship over the 5,500-piece collection, are hoping the tactic will breathe new life into the 14-year-old show and help visitors better grasp the role the ocean has played in the story of the ill-fated ship. And aquarium officials hope the first-of-its-kind exhibition will bring more visitors to one of the world’s largest fish tanks, where attendance numbers have been on a steady decline since it opened in 2005.

Premier’s collection, valued at nearly $200 million, contains almost everything recovered from the wreckage of the RMS Titanic, which has sat 2.5 miles below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean since the boat sank on April 15, 1912.