Poznan Old Zoo

Open : minimum 9am-4pm

Entrace fee: No, the aquarium though: 

• Adult 8,- PLN
• Child 6,- PLN

Food: The Zoo has a places where you can get a snack

Taking photos: Is allowed, if publiciesed, please mention the zoo on your homepage


 

The old Zoo, formerly called the Menagerie, was founded in an unusual way by a group of witty bowling players. They met with a pint of beer in the now-defunct restaurant Starogardzko Railway Station . It's a certain day of 1871, in which the bowlers president celebrates his 50th birthday. Imagine his surprise when he saw, not so much of his guests, which carried their gifts! These were encountered on the streets of Poznan: pig, goat, sheep, cat, rabbit, squirrel, goose, duck, chicken, peacock, trained bears and monkeys. Menagerie, by virtue of its size and requirements, was at the request of the venerable jubilarian placed in the restaurant's garden, "so that these animals were exposed continuously in the garden, not only for entertainment but also to teach them and to viewers that, as yet modest collection, became the nucleus of a future zoological collection. "Thus, in 1874. a stock company was founded to create a Zoo. Until the outbreak of World War I the Garden developed rapidly and on many levels - it was a place where it had alongside the animals were held regularly concerts, shows and other events. Between 1913 and 1914 Strauss conductet here twice , the last descendant of the Viennese "waltz king" and the director of the Imperial - Royal balls of Court along with his 40-piece orchestra. In July, 1914. organized a major exhibition presenting ethnographic tribes of the Nile valley. The time of World War I and the postwar years were a period of stagnation in the zoo. Decreasing the number of animals, workers and visitors. At the time of acquisition of the Garden by the Polish authorities in 1919. It had just 243 representatives of 75 species of animals. The 1920s is the time of Renaissance of the ZOO: in 1923 it joined the newly formed Society for the Protection of the European Bison, contributing largely to save this species from extinction, and the opening of the First State National Exhibition in 1929 (now Poznan International Fair) built a new pavilion and facilities, while others were adapted to new needs. Before the outbreak of World War II it had a population of 1184 zoo animals from 300 species. Only 175 animals survived until the end of the war , but in April 1945 the garden re-opened its doors to the visitors In 1974, on the one hundredt anniversary of the zoo at. Zwierzyniecka, the New Zoo opened to public on the White Mountain, near Lake Malta. The first inhabitants situated on the edge of hilly, wooded terrain, the former European red deer, fallow deer, camels, llamas and their wild ancestors - guanako. Their enclosures were provisional in character. The New Zoo underwent a systematic expansion. Created new paddocks and pavilions for the growing number of animals. Originally planned to transfer the old zoo as a whole, but in 1976 it was included in the register of monuments, and must therefor be preserved. The end of the seventies and eighties due to the economic situation is not conducive to the further development of the New Zoo, and the reconstruction of the Old. The activities were limited to the repair properly, but about the new investment was particularly difficult. More investment was started again in the mid-nineties. In the New Zoo was created a Hall of nocturnal animals, children's garden and giraffes enclosure, aviary for birds of prey, a complex of enclosures for animals of South America, a tiger enclosure and one for Japanese macaques. The Old Zoo, after solving the problem of heating of the area pavilions "Reptile World" and the exposure of amphibians and fish opened to the public. The old zoo in the future play a role is the object of teaching with exposures of small animals, and a new breeding center of endangered species and recreation. At the New Zoo the Elephant House was built, beeing the zoos most expensive house so far.