General Information

Jardin d’Acclimatation is a 20-hectare children’s amusement park, which offers such attractions as an archery range, house of mirrors, miniature-golf course, narrow-gauge train, pony ride, puppet theater, shooting galleries, and a science museum. In the past however, the park used to be a human zoo and ‘exhibited’ native Africans.

History: Highlights

Jardin d’Acclimatation de Paris was originally called Jardin Zoologique d’Aclimatation, because it was a zoo. It was opened on the 6th of October 1860 by Napoléon III and Empress Eugénie. During the siege of Paris (1870-1871) many of the animals in the menagerie were cooked and served in one of Paris’ finest restaurants.

History: Explained

An interesting fact is that from 1877 to 1912 the zoo was converted into a human zoo and ‘exhibited’ Nubians, Bushmen, Zulus and many other African peoples. In mid-colonialism, the curiosity of Parisians was attracted to the customs and lifestyles of foreign peoples and the exhibitions turned out to be very successful.