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Zoo of Barcelona

The zoo of Barcelona has opened its doors the first time the day of the Mercè, mistress of Barcelona in 1892. In this time, animals were from the farm of Lluís Martí i Codolar called Granja Vella who gave them to the City Council of Barcelona.

After to have approved the acquisition of those animals, they installed them in the enclosure of public property that had remained free after the Universal Exhibition of 1888 in the Ciutadella park.

The conception of a zoological park has been evolving with the times, in a process in which the dignifying of the living conditions of the animals has managed to turn into the first goal of the City Hall.

The zoo of Barcelona is a magnificent garden that occupies approximately 13 hectares of the enclosure of the Ciutadella and that contains a collection of animals composed by more than 400 different species and 7500 specimens from the whole world.

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Now the zoo will extend its territory from its 13 original hectares to 18 hectares which will divide in 2 section:

  • terrestrial zoo of the Ciutadella park with 10 hectares
  • marine zoo of Besòs with 8 hectares.

Located near the forum (ronda del litoral), the project for the marine zoo will begin the first semester of 2009 and it has been scheduled to end in 2014 normally. Nevertheless, it will not be until 2015 when both spaces will be fully operational, in fact once the remodelling of Ciutadella's space will be finished.

It will cost 200 millions of euros and both installations are part of the urban transformation that creates new itineraries and centralities in the city.

The main characteristic of the new zoological park will be its distribution by biomass according to the diverse biogeography regions of the world. Thus the model of cage will be given up in order to conceive a space based on different biomass.

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The terrestrial zone will be divided in biomass as the jungle, the steppe, the savannah, the island of flowers and of Madagascar. The marine zone will opt to differentiate the animals according to the gradient of the temperatures in cold, mediterranean, oceanic and tropical waters.

In addition, the museum of natural sciences of Barcelona will be located in this future marine zoo – you can find one part of this museum in the botanic garden and the other one in the Ciutadella park.

In spite of the works of renovation of the terrestrial zone of the Ciutadella, this part of zoo will always remain opened to the public. If you need more information like opening time, prices… check out its official website.