Сайт и доменное имя продается.

С предложениями по цене пишите на почту top@ottocom.ru

St. Petersburg Zoo, Leningrad Zoo (Saint Petersburg)

1 Alexander Park, Saint Petersburg (tel.: +7 812 232-82-60, +7 812 232-82-50), Metro station: "Gorkovskaya".

Map

Saint Petersburg Zoological Park (the Zoo, for short; officially called Leningrad Zoological Park) is the first Russia's zoological park. It was founded in the historical centre of Saint Petersburg, in the Alexander Park area, in 1865. The location of the Zoo has become part of the history of the city. Though the buildings of the Zoo constructed before the 1917 Russian Revolution have not been preserved, the general layout of the modern Zoo is similar to its layout of the late 19th century.

The first owners of the Zoo were Sofya and Yulius Gebgardts. The original main collection consisted of tigers, bears, lionesses, small predators, water birds, and parrots.

The period of 1873–1897, when the Zoo was owned by E. A. Rost, the second husband of Sofya Gebgardt, was the striking period of the 19th century history of the Zoo. During this period, the collection amounted to 1,161 animals. In order to maintain the collection, the income of the commercial part of the Zoo, which included a restaurant and a theatre, was used. Since 1879, ethnographic exhibitions were organised.

In 1898, Rost withdraw from the business. The Zoo sank into decay and was closed in 1909. At the same time, the issue of establishing a real scientific zoological park in the capital, which would decorate the "marvelous Saint Petersburg", was discussed. The idea of moving the Zoo to the Udelny Park also arose.

In 1910, the Russian actor and impresario S. N. Novikov became a new owner of the Zoo. The animals that were bought by him lived in the Zoo even after the 1917 Russian Revolution, for a long time: the female elephant Betty, the children's favourite, perished during the 1941–1944 Leningrad Blockade (during the air raid of the night of 8th-9th September), while the female hippo Beauty survived the Second World War.

In 1918, the Zoo was nationalized. For the purpose of managing the Zoo, the Academic Council was established. At the same time, the Scientific Library and the Animal Management Department were organised. In 1929, the Workshop of Young Biologists was founded. In 1932, polar bears started reproducing regularly. It was very uncommon for the time, and because of that a polar bear is depicted in the emblem of the Zoo. In 1940, a 171-hectarte (420-acre) plot in the Udelny Park area was handed over to the Zoo, on the occasion of its 75th foundation anniversary.

But the construction has never started because of the Second World War. During the war period, the Zoo suffered a lot of damage, but it did not stop its activities even during the ordeal of the Leningrad Blockade. Employees of the Zoo succeeded in preserving part of the animal collection and even managed to obtain the young. Lectures were held outside the Zoo, and in summer it remained open to the public. Despite the fact that the city of Leningrad has been given back its historical name, Saint Petersburg, the Park is now officially called Leningrad Zoological Park. The name has been preserved to commemorate the heroism of the employees who saved the Zoo during the blockade.

In the spring of 1944, the Zoo was permanently reopened to the public. Since any development of a new area was out of the question, the restoration of the Zoo's old area started. The most intensive construction was held in 1951. In 1952, the Leningrad Zoological Gardens, as the Zoo was then called, were renamed the Leningrad Zoological Park.

In the 1950s and 1960s, new animals were acquired. Owning to a wide variety of different species and a high level of scientific and educational work, the Zoo was recognized as one of the leading zoological parks in the Soviet Union.

In 1965, the Zoo's 100th foundation anniversary was celebrated. By that time, its collection had become one of the largest among the zoological parks of the Soviet Union, but most buildings had been in bad condition. Due to this fact, it was decided to perform a major renovation of the Zoo. The renovation works started in 1967, and it was planned to complete the renovation within 3 to 5 years by destroying all the old buildings and constructing new ones instead. In reality, the works lingered for a long time, and the remarkable animal collection was lost as a result. Later, it would be very difficult to recreate it. The open-air cages of elephants and hippopotamuses were destroyed; all the animals were transported to other cities: the hippopotamuses went to Kiev, the rhinoceros — to Grodno, and the African elephant — to Tashkent. By 1988, only eight buildings had been constructed. In 1996, construction works on a terrarium started, but they were left off due to lack of funds. The terrarium, which had been renamed "exotarrium", was opened to the public only in 2007; it has fish, snakes, lizards, turtles, crocodiles and other animals on display.

In 2005, the government of Saint Petersburg adopted a strategy for development of the Zoo within its historical location (where the Zoo is currently situated). According to the strategy the Zoo of the "Northern Capital" has to meet the European standards...

Image Gallery Image Preview (31) +...