Ménagerie du Jardin des Plantes

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Plan of the zoo
The Manul ( Felis manul ), also Pallas cat

The Ménagerie du Jardin des Plantes is a zoological garden founded in 1793 on the Rive Gauche (left bank) of the Seine in the east of Paris ( 5th arrondissement ). The facility is the oldest scientifically managed zoo in the world. It is part of the botanical garden called Jardin des Plantes , which was created in 1626 by Jean Herouard and Guy de La Brosse , the personal physicians of King Louis XIII. , as the Royal Medicinal Herb Garden on an originally 23.5 hectare site and opened to the public in 1635. Both the zoo and the botanical garden, of which the former takes up about a third of the area, have been part of this renowned state research and educational institute for natural sciences since the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle was founded (1793). This includes the larger Parc zoologique de Paris , which is located in the 12th arrondissement .

history

Animal painter in the Jardin des Plantes, from L'Illustration magazine , August 1902

In the course of the French Revolution , according to a resolution of the National Assembly in 1793, exotic animals in the possession of private showmen were either given to the former royal menagerie ( ménagerie royale ) in Versailles or left to the naturalists of the Jardin des Plantes for stuffing. Contrary to the regulation, the latter let the animals, the exact number of which is unknown, live. Later, the menagerie in Versailles was also closed and these animals also came to the Jardin des Plantes.

The menagerie was founded by Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre (1737–1814). His principles envisaged a scientific management of the facility, the near-natural keeping of exotic animals taking into account their living needs and at the same time the public accessibility for the education of the nation . In fact, the Ménagerie was open to all visitors free of charge from the start. Although it was originally only set up temporarily, it grew within the first three decades of the 19th century to become the most extensive keeping of exotic animals in Europe. The zoo was initially under the scientific management of the then professor of zoology at the Muséum Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire (1772-1844) and from 1805 Frédéric Cuvier , who was replaced in 1836 by Geoffroy's son Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire .

research

By integrating the menagerie into the state research institute of the natural history museum ( Muséum national d'histoire naturelle ), doctors and zoologists at the institute were able to study the animals. In addition to studies on vertebrate animals , investigations into systematics , morphology and comparative anatomy were carried out, such as those carried out by Georges Cuvier. Étienne Geoffroy and Fréderic Cuvier, Georges Cuvier's brother, devoted themselves to observing behavior . The animals there were not only scientifically identified and observed, but could also be drawn from life for the first time. Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire and Frédéric Cuvier then published their results in the four-part work Histoire des Mammifières . The work first appeared in 1826 and over time has become a fundamental work on the biology of exotic animals. Furthermore, plans were drawn up by Frédéric Cuvier which dealt with the breeding of new domestic animal breeds, which he considered feasible in the foreseeable future. Because the Jardin des Plantes was accessible to everyone, one would think that the scientists presented many of their research results in order to "enlighten" the supposedly less educated classes of society. However, the menagerie was seen more as a realization of the term utopia and the animals were seen as carriers of moral qualities, so to speak. They assumed a kind of role model function for the people.

Academy dispute of 1830

Frédéric Cuvier and Etienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire both took the idealistic view that the blueprint of all living things is based on uniform principles. This concise opinion led to the famous academy dispute with Georges Cuvier in 1830 . The main point of contention was the question of the variability of species and possible evolution in nature. Georges Cuvier was of the opinion that the animal kingdom is subdivided into individual constant groups, which ultimately led to a rejection of the idea of ​​evolution.

Attractions and species growth

Orangutans , 2006

The range of species on offer at the zoo was expanded mainly through French explorers, colonial officials or gifts from private individuals. For this reason, the attractions of the Jardin are by no means limited to native species. In 1804, the so-called "Rotonde" (round dome building) was added to the basic equipment, which from 1808 housed large animals such as elephants. In 1805 a bear pit followed and only in 1821 there was the so-called fauverie (German predator house). In 1825 the aviaries (bird houses) for the birds of prey were added and two years later a pheasantry .

Probably the most famous single inhabitant was a giraffe named Zarafa , who came to the menagerie on June 30, 1827 and lived for another 18 years. Zarafa was the first giraffe in Europe in recent times and sparked almost hysterical mass enthusiasm in Paris.

In 1837 there was a monkey house for the first time, while a reptile enclosure was only opened in 1870. Most of the animals were kept in functional, laterally arranged, classical and gallery-like buildings. The design and arrangement can therefore be regarded as an expression of the imperial power of France. In another part, the Vallée suisse , which was laid out as a romantic garden, there were an increasing number of small houses in which exotic animals such as antelopes were kept .

Vivarium

Several buildings from that period still exist today: the semicircular pheasantry (1827), the reptile house and the new pheasantry (1881).

At the beginning of the 20th century, a wintering building (1905), a small monkey house (1928), a vivarium (1929), a new monkey house (1934) and a predator house (1932) were built. After this boom, half a century passed without any further innovations , with the exception of the restoration of the bear pit and various technical extensions. It was not until 1983 that a new domicile was created for the birds of prey in the park. Various renovations were carried out in the 1980s, such as the rotonde, the large aviary and the reptile house.

At the beginning of the 21st century, the "new pheasantry" from 1881 was restored. However, since the entire system is a listed building, hardly any new systems can be built.

Today the zoo does not have any large animals such as elephants or rhinos, but it can come up with a large number of sometimes rare, small and medium-sized mammals. These include Binturongs , red pandas , clouded leopards , snow leopards , China leopard , Südpudus , Visayan warty pigs and lowland Anoas . Another focus is the rare mountain ungulates, represented by screw goats , blue sheep , steppe wild sheep , West Caucasian ibexes , Sichuan takins , central Chinese gorals and mountain goats . The largest animals in the zoo include gaure , Przewalski's horses and house yaks . Monkeys are represented by Bornean orangutans , Roloway monkeys and crested monkeys, among others . The park is also home to numerous species of birds, reptiles and amphibians.

literature

  • Werner Kourist: 400 years of the zoo. In the mirror of the Werner Kourist collection. Bonn 1976, pp. 70-73.
  • Annelore Rieke-Müller, Lothar Dittrich: The lion roars next door. The establishment of zoological gardens in the German-speaking area 1833-1869. Cologne / Weimar / Vienna 1998, ISBN 3412007986
  • Eric Baratay, Elisabeth Hardouin-Fugier: Zoo. From the menagerie to the zoo. Berlin 2000, ISBN 3803136040
  • Lothar Dittrich, Dietrich von Engelhardt & Annelore Rieke-Müller (eds.): The cultural history of the zoo . Berlin 2001, ISBN 3861354829

Foreign language literature

  • Wilfrid Blunt: The Ark in the Park - The Zoo in the 19th Century , London 1976.
  • Richard W. Burkhardt: La Ménagerie et la vie du Muséum ; In: Le Muséum au premier siècle de son histoire , ed. v. Claude Blanckaer et al. Paris: Éditions du Muséum national d'histoire naturelle, 1997, pp. 481–508.

Web links

Commons : Ménagerie du Jardin des Plantes  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 48 ° 50 ′ 43.6 "  N , 2 ° 21 ′ 37.2"  E