The history of Tiergarten Schönbrunn goes back to Empress Maria Theresia and her husband Franz Stephan von Lothringen (Franz I).

In 1745, Franz I commissioned the architect Jean Nicholas Jadot der Ville-Issey, to design a menagerie in the park of Schönbrunn, the new Habsburg-Lothringen summer residence.

The facility consisted of 12 enclosures with equally sized animal houses. In the summer of 1752, after a one-year construction period, the animals were brought to the zoo and presented to the public.

The octagonal pavilion in the center of the facility, designed as a breakfast room and salon,was only completed in 1759. Even today, this pavilion remains the zoo’s historical centerpiece.

Tiergarten Schönbrunn is the oldest zoo in the world!