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Concept
Ménagerie du Jardin des plantes
Summary
The ménagerie du Jardin des plantes is a zoo in Paris, France, belonging to the botanical garden Jardin des Plantes. Founded in 1794, largely with animals brought from the royal zoo of the Palace of Versailles, abandoned because of the French Revolution, it is the second oldest zoological garden in the world (after Tiergarten Schönbrunn). Today, the zoo contains many rare smaller and medium-sized mammals, and a variety of birds and reptiles.
The zoo is located directly by the Seine in the centre of Paris. It takes up about one third of the Jardin des Plantes.
Jardin des plantes
In the beginning the term Jardin des Plantes referred only to a botanical garden of , created and built by the royal physicians Jean Herouard and Guy de La Brosse. It therefore became known as the royal herb garden. Created in 1626 and opened for the public in 1635, it is the oldest part of the national research and educational institute for science, the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle, which was founded in 1793.
In the course of the French Revolution the menagerie was formally established in 1794. According to a decision of the National Assembly in 1793, exotic animals in private hands were to be donated to the Menagerie in Versailles or killed, stuffed and donated to the natural scientists of the Jardin des Plantes. However, the scientists let the animals (the exact number of which is unknown) live. The Royal Menagerie in Versailles (ménagerie royale) was dissolved and these animals were also transferred to the Jardin des Plantes. Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre (1737–1814) is considered to be the founder of the menagerie. He was committed to the principles of keeping exotic animals in their natural environment, having regard to their needs, placing them under scientific supervision, and allowing public access in the interest of public education.
The Jardin was free for all visitors and tourists right from its inception. While the menagerie at first was just provisional it grew in the first three decades of the 19th century to be the largest exotic animal collection in Europe.
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