Dresden Zoo

Dresden Zoo (Zoo Dresden) is a zoo at Tiergartenstraße 1, on the edge of the Großer Garten, opened on 9 May 1861.

What it is

The zoo is run by Zoo Dresden GmbH, whose shareholder named in its imprint is the Landeshauptstadt Dresden. The grounds laid out in 1860–61 measure 12.8 hectares, taken from the Großer Garten.

History

The zoo was founded as a joint-stock company, the Aktienverein, which began work in May 1860. Peter Joseph Lenné designed the zoo's grounds and Carl Adolph Canzler its buildings. Parts of the zoo are listed monuments, among them the rock enclosure and the Rosarium of 1911.

From 1878 the zoo staged Völkerschauen, shows of people from other cultures; the zoo itself calls them unacceptable by present-day standards. In the bombing raids of February 1945 the zoo was destroyed.

Seeing it

Checked 11 October 2026 The zoo has more than 1,000 animals of more than 200 species. Visitors can walk through a flamingo aviary, and the zoo has a house for Africa with African elephants and mandrills. The Orang-Utan-Haus houses orangutans, smooth-coated otters, binturongs and Aldabra giant tortoises, with an exhibition on the tropical rain forest. The Prof. Brandes-Haus shows tree-dwelling mammals, among them koalas and two-toed sloths.

Checked 11 October 2026 There are seven adventure playgrounds in the zoo. The zoo offers guided tours, among them a tour behind the scenes and a morning tour, and keeper meeting points where visitors can talk to the keepers.

Checked 11 October 2026 The zoo's own list of ways to get there names tram lines 4 and 13 and bus line 68 (stop Zoo), and says the walk from Dresden Hauptbahnhof takes about 20 minutes. Check the operator's own page before you go.

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