Botanical Garden and Zoo of Asunción
| Botanical Garden and Zoo of Asunción | |
|---|---|
| Jardín Botánico y Zoológico de Asunción | |
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| Motto | Natura miranda in maximum minimis investigacioni rerum naturalium Paraguarie consecrata |
| Location | Asunción, Paraguay |
| Coordinates | 25°14′55.58″S 57°34′23.09″W / 25.2487722°S 57.5730806°WCoordinates: 25°14′55.58″S 57°34′23.09″W / 25.2487722°S 57.5730806°W |
| Area | 110 hectares (270 acres) |
| Created | 1914 |
| Founder | Karl Friebig |
| Designer | Anna Gertz |
| Operated by | Municipalidad de Asunción |
| Open | Open all year |
| Camp sites | one (public) |
| Plants | 23065 |
| Director | Maris Llorens |
| Website | http://www.mca.gov.py/zoo.htm |
| No. of animals | 337 |
|---|---|
| No. of species | 64 |
The Botanical Garden and Zoo of Asunción (Jardín Botánico y Zoológico de Asunción) is a botanical garden and zoo located in Asunción, capital of the Republic of Paraguay.
The Botanical Garden and Zoo is one of the principal open spaces of the city of Asunción, set in natural forest covering 110 hectares (270 acres) to the north of the city. The zoo is home to nearly seventy species of wildlife including birds, mammals and reptiles, mostly representing the fauna of South America. The botanical garden is home to native species, exhibiting in particular the variety and beauty of its lush trees.
This sprawling property was the former country house and estate of Carlos Antonio Lopez, president of Paraguay between 1842 and 1862. Lopez ordered the construction of "Casa Lopez" as his home in the 1840s. Besides its historical value, the main building is very representative of the era in which it was built, in terms of technology, architecture and decoration, and is registered in the "Catalogue of Buildings and Sites of Urban Planning, architectural , Historical and Artistic Heritage of the city of Asunción",and specially protected by Law 946/82 "Protection of Cultural Property".
In 1896, Lopez's descendants sold the estate to the Agricultural Bank, by then in state ownership.
The garden was created as such in 1914 by German scientists Karl Freibig and his wife, Anna Gertz. Fiebrig was professor of botany and zoology at the University of Asunción, having settled in Paraguay in 1910 following plant and insect collecting trips to Paraguay for European museums between 1904 and 1909. Fiebrig founded a school of Agriculture in 1916. Fiebrig also founded a "Cotton Institute" which helped fund the garden complex. The zoo was subsequently established by the same scientists, with a very advanced approach for the time, housing the animals in a setting as close as possible to their natural habitat. Gertz is credited with much of the landscape design of the gardens, though some projects were truncated following her death in May 1920. She was buried in the gardens.
Fiebrig continued as director of the garden and zoo, and remarried in 1925. In addition to his professorship, in 1934, was also made director of the Paraguayan Department of Agriculture. In 1936, in the aftermath of the Chaco War, a wave of xenophobic sentiment forced Fiebrig to leave Paraguay with his second wife and family. Responsibility for the estate passed from the state to its present owner, the Municipality of Asunción.
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