On 25 January 1906, the Varna Municipal Council allotted money for the aquarium's construction and appointed a commission in order to select a suitable location for the building.

The foundation stone was laid on 22 October the same year in Varna's Sea Garden in the presence of Prince Ferdinand and the Bulgarian royal family, as well as many important statesmen and intellectuals.

[2] The building's facade is decorated with a sizable bas-relief of a clam and smaller reliefs of popular Black Sea species.

World War I and the severe sanctions imposed on Bulgaria with the Treaty of Neuilly did not permit the unveiling of the aquarium until 1932, when the maritime biological station was inaugurated by Tsar Boris III.

[4] The Varna Aquarium's library houses 30,000 volumes of specialized literature, including rare 19th-century books and maps.