Warsaw Zoological Garden
| Warsaw Zoological Garden | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Miejski Ogród Zoologiczny w Warszawie |
| place | Warsaw: Ulica Ratuszowa 1/3 |
| surface | 40 hectares |
| opening | March 11, 1928 |
| Animal species | 553 |
| Individuals | 3,566 |
| organization | |
| management | Andrzej G. Kruszewicz |
 The Rothschild giraffe enclosure of the Warsaw Zoo |
|
| http://www.zoo.waw.pl/ | |
The Warsaw Zoological Garden (Polish: Miejski Ogród Zoologiczny w Warszawie ) is located in the Praga-Północ district and was opened in 1928. At that time it was considered the largest zoo in Europe. The 40 hectare facility today has around 550 animal species with around 3,500 specimens. 600,000 people visit the zoo annually. The complex and the adjacent Praski Park have been a listed building since 1990 .
Development and existing
The zoo is located in the space between the Vistula -Uferstraße Wybrzeże Helskie , the Aleja Stefana Starzyńskiego which Ulica Jagiellońska and the Ulica Hall Tower . Entrances are in the north ( Starzyńskiego ) and in the south ( Ratuszowa , main entrance) of the area.
The main buildings on the site are the entrance area on the south side, the director's villa, the aquarium (contains a 100,000 liter salt water tank, this is where the only sand tiger shark in Poland is located ), a bird enclosure, the elephant house (6,000 square meters, opened in 2003) Monkey house (for gorillas and chimpanzees, opening 2008), a building for reptiles and invertebrates, the giraffe enclosure and the hippopotamus enclosure (opening 2010).
The animal species were divided as follows in 2011:
- Mammals - 67 species, 717 specimens
- Birds - 198 species, 951 specimens
- Reptiles - 86 species, 316 specimens
- Amphibians - 30 species, 354 specimens
- Fishes - 83 species, 1062 specimens
- Invertebrates - 89 species, 166 specimens
- Laboratory animals - 2 species, 310 specimens
history
The zoo was laid out in 1927 on the former site of the Aleksandryski Park based on a design by Leon Danielewicz. It was opened in March 1928 under the director Wenanty Burdziński (founder and director of the zoo in Kiev ). Some of the animals were bought by Mieczysław Pągowski's private zoo in Warsaw, while others were made available by the Pedagogical Museum, which also ran a small zoo. Lions, tigers and a female Indian elephant could already be shown at the opening. From this elephant cow ("Kasia") a cub was born for the first time in 1937 in a Polish zoo (see photo).
There had been private zoos in Warsaw since the 17th century, some of which were open to the public. So did the kings John III. Sobieski (in the Wilanów Palace ) and August the Strong (at the Marmont Summer Palace ) animal enclosures. On June 17, 1884, the lawyer Jan Maurycy Kamiński founded a zoo in the legal form of a joint stock company. Despite its great popularity, however, the park had to be liquidated six years later.
At the end of 1928 Jan Żabiński was appointed zoo director. Until the outbreak of war in 1939, buildings for monkeys and elephants, enclosures for antelopes and giraffes and a basin for seals were built under his leadership . During the bombing during the attack on Warsaw , the zoo suffered considerable damage and many animals were killed. Others were subsequently relocated (e.g. to Germany) or slaughtered and consumed.
Żabiński, who lived in a villa on the zoo, hid during the German occupation - together with his wife Antonina - persecuted Warsaw Jews in the largely empty animal shelters. In this way, the couple were able to save hundreds of Jews from the Holocaust , for which they were later awarded the Medal of the Righteous Among the Nations by the State of Israel . Żabiński, who was seriously injured during the Warsaw Uprising , rebuilt the zoo after the war; In 1949 it could be reopened. He directed it until 1951.
After the political change in 1989, the park was in a financial crisis. Private sponsors supported the preservation at that time. Companies still finance individual animals today. The zoo is a member of EAZA , an organization whose members are committed to animal welfare. The Panda Foundation operates a souvenir shop in the oldest building in the complex, the "Chata pod Strzechą" from 1928.
Popular culture
- The film The Zoo Director's Wife , which is based on the book of the same name by the author Diane Ackerman , is about the zoo director at the time, Jan Zabinski and his wife Antonia, who saved 300 Jews from the Holocaust during the Second World War.
literature
- Julius A. Chroscicki and Andrzej Rottermund: Architectural Atlas of Warsaw. 1st edition. Arkady, Warsaw 1978, p. 195.
Web links
- Official website of the Warsaw Zoological Garden (Polish)
- Warsaw Zoo as a haven . In: PolenJournal.de, April 7, 2017
- How hundreds of Jews survived in the Warsaw Zoo . In: MDR.de , March 29, 2018
- Katja Iken: The hiding place in the zoo . In: Spiegel Online , September 13, 2017
References and comments
- ↑ a b according to Information on the zoo's website (in English)
- ↑ a b according to a history on the zoo website (in Polish)
- ↑ a b as of December 31, 2011, according to Information on the zoo website (in Polish)
- ↑ according to Marco Polo Travel Guide Warsaw , 2nd edition, Mairdumont, Ostfildern 2009, p.88
- ↑ Register number 1434-A from July 3, 1990
- ↑ Leon Józef Danielewicz (1878-1970) was a Warsaw garden architect and chairman of the Warsaw Gardeners Society (Polish: Towarzystwo Ogrodnicze Warszawskie )
- ↑ Gustav Trampe (ed.): Humanity in inhuman times: Allee der Gerechten , Ullstein, 1995, p. 76
- ↑ a b c according to Małgorzata Danecka, Thorsten Hoppe: Discover Warsaw. Walking tours through the Polish capital. Trescher Verlag, ISBN 978-3-89794-116-8 , Berlin 2008, p. 247
- ↑ Sometimes pigs and foxes were bred here for the German occupiers
- ↑ according to Article The Zoo Director Who Saved Jews in the weekly “Warsaw Voice” from June 25, 2008 (in English)
- ↑ according to Information Warsaw ZOO ( Memento of the original from March 5, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. at Warsawtour.pl (in English)
- ↑ The wife of the zoo director. In: Filmstarts.de. Retrieved April 16, 2018 .
Coordinates: 52 ° 15 ′ 28 ″ N , 21 ° 1 ′ 20 ″ E