Silesian Zoological Garden

The Silesian Zoological Garden is in Chorzów, within the Silesian Park, and covers 47.5 ha. The garden was opened to visitors in 1958. Its trademark is the Dinosaur Valley with concrete reconstructions of extinct reptiles, but the collection also includes pavilions for exotic animals (the exotarium), an aquarium, a monkey house and an elephant house, as well as the Mini ZOO, where some of the animals can be fed and stroked.

How the zoo came to the Silesian Park

The park was created from 1951 on the initiative of the Katowice voivode, Gen. Jerzy Ziętek, on post-mining wasteland between Chorzów, Katowice and Siemianowice. Many facilities were planned in it, among them a zoological garden. The decision to build a modern zoo of nearly 50 ha was announced in 1953. The resolution provided for closing the older menageries: in Bytom, founded in 1898, and in Katowice, created in 1946. Both were closed in 1957.

Construction of the paths, fence and first buildings began in 1954. Animals from Bytom and Katowice were first taken to a makeshift zoo by the Łania restaurant, and as accommodation was completed they were moved to their proper enclosures. According to the garden's website, over half a million visitors came in its first year, and in 1961 attendance exceeded a million.

Dinosaur Valley

The Dinosaur Valley was completed in 1975. It holds 16 life-size models belonging to 7 species of large extinct reptiles. The reconstructions were based on remains found in 1963-1971 in the Gobi Desert by a Polish group of palaeontologists led by Prof. Zofia Kielan-Jaworowska. The original bones are kept by the Department of Palaeozoology of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw.

When it was created it was the only such exhibition in the country, and the models were the first reconstructions of newly discovered species.

Pavilions and enclosures

The exhibits listed by the garden on its website include an aquarium, an antelope house, an exotarium, a rainforest, a monkey house, an elephant house and a bird aviary. The exotarium was built in 1960 and today you can see monkeys and reptiles there. In 1965 a modern pavilion for elephants and hippopotamuses was opened. Over time, housing was also built for tapirs, camels, llamas, giraffes, tigers, pumas and snow leopards.

Newer investments include buildings for gibbons, an exhibit of Humboldt penguins, and facilities for giraffes, rhinoceroses and cheetahs. The exotarium, aquarium, antelope house and monkey house have also been modernised. The Mini ZOO is especially popular in spring and summer: rabbits, guinea pigs, goats and sheep live there.

Practical information

• Address: Promenada gen. Jerzego Ziętka 7, Chorzów.
• The zoo is open all year round, including holidays and days off work. Walking through the whole garden takes at least an hour.
• Opening hours depend on the month, and the ticket offices close earlier than the garden. The pavilions close slightly earlier than the rest of the garden. Check the current hours on the garden's website before your visit.
• On the zoo's website you will find a map with visiting routes and information on accessibility.
• About 200 m from the garden stands the Gate of the Silesian Zoological Garden in Chorzów.
• About a kilometre further on is the Silesian Park, in which the zoo stands.
• At a similar distance, about 1 km, is the Silesian Planetarium.
• About 2.2 km from the zoo you will find the Upper Silesian Ethnographic Park.
• In Katowice, about 3.6 km from the zoo, is the Silesian Museum in Katowice.