The Arabian Nights – zoo architecture
- Elephant Gate
One of Zoo Berlin’s characteristic features is its juxtaposition of historical and modern animal houses, relating during a single visit to the zoo the whole history of over one and a half centuries of animal keeping. Even buying the admission ticket transports you back to the nineteenth century.
The entrance to the zoo on Budapester Strasse is the reconstructed Elephant Gate of 1899 that was completely destroyed in the last war and resurrected in all its original detail in 1984. Two recumbent elephants of Elbe sandstone bear a sweeping roof ornamented with elaborate carvings and East Asian paintings. As equally inviting as a hundred years previously, the Gate entices the guest into a zoo world of exotic fauna. It is one of the most photographed sights in Berlin.
Built in 1905 this Indo-Russian double blockhouse is home to the American bison on the one side and the Eurasian bison on the other. The Bison House reminds visitors of a Canadian timber house, not least of all with its Native American façade paintings and the faithfully reproduced totem poles in front of the building.
- The new Hippopotamus House
The layouts of the most recent animal houses at Zoo Berlin once again bear testimony to enclosures in close touch with nature. Opened in 1997 the Hippopotamus House is the latest addition to a long tradition and is the fourth home to Berlin’s hippopotamuses that were fortunate enough to witness the whole richly faceted range of the zoo’s architecture. Their newest home is a hippopotamus aquarium, spanned by two fine-meshed glass domes where visitors can watch both above and underwater.
In a virtually natural environment the animals are at the focus of attention. All water treatment installations have been banished below ground.