175 Years Berlin Zoo
175 Years Berlin Zoo
Berlin 1841: King Wilhelm IV is modernising the small provincial capital on the Spree at full speed. Construction is underway everywhere in Berlin. Industrial companies are springing up like mushrooms. It smokes and hisses, it works and smoulders in Berlin. New times are dawning.
The zoologist and enlightener Martin Hinrich Lichtenstein skilfully succeeds in making the idea of a public zoo palatable to King Wilhelm IV. Together with the naturalist and world traveller Alexander von Humboldt, he enthused that the establishment of such an institution – the first in Germany – would enhance Wilhelm’s reputation throughout Europe. In one fell swoop, Berlin would draw level with the capital cities of London and Vienna.
Wilhelm liked the idea and gave Lichtenstein the grounds of the royal pheasantry in Berlin’s Tiergarten for free, where the zoo opened its doors for the first time in 1844. But the zoo’s international reputation was a while in coming. On many days, there was hardly a single visitor to the grounds. It was not until Prussia’s victory over France in 1871 that the collection was massively expanded and the zoo’s rise to become a visitor magnet began.
Today, with 4.5 million visitors a year to its three facilities – the Zoological Garden, Aquarium and Tierpark Berlin-Friedrichsfelde – Berlin Zoo is one of the great attractions of the cosmopolitan city of Berlin – and I had the great pleasure of shooting and producing the image film for the anniversary. Last weekend, the film premiered at the big gala for the zoo’s birthday in front of 750 invited guests from the city’s celebrities. I would like to take this opportunity to once again thank Marketing Director Christiane Reiss for her trust, the zoo staff for their great support, as well as ARRI Rental Berlin and Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg, who helped us a lot with the production of the film.