Old Zoo (Stare Zoo), Poznań

The Old Zoo (Stare Zoo) is a small, historic zoological garden just off Zwierzyniecka Street in central Poznań, and it is considered the oldest continuously operating zoo in Poland. Founded in 1874, it draws visitors who want a walkable, tree-shaded park where the animals share space with 19th-century pavilions and an alpinarium that make the visit as much about the setting as the wildlife.

The Old Zoo occupies a leafy park close to the city centre, so a visit is easy to do on foot and does not demand a full day. Its character comes from the surviving period pavilions and a rock-garden alpinarium, features that earned it heritage protection rather than the scale of a modern safari park. Because it is now paired with the larger New Zoo across the city, animal collections and layouts change over time, so check the official Poznań Zoological Garden channels for what is currently on show before you go.

The garden traces back to an eccentric 1871 collection of animals reportedly given as a birthday gift, which grew into a formal zoo founded in 1874. It expanded quickly: by 1909 it already held around 900 animals of more than 400 species and was drawing roughly 250,000 visitors a year. That long, unbroken history is the reason it is regarded as Poland's oldest continuously operating zoological garden.

In 1978 the Old Zoo was entered on the heritage register as a rare surviving example of a historic vivarium, a designation that recognises the site itself rather than any single exhibit. The protected pavilions and alpinarium show how a European city zoo of the late 19th and early 20th centuries was laid out, which gives the park an appeal for people interested in architecture and social history as well as animals.

Its central-city location off Zwierzyniecka Street makes the Old Zoo simple to fold into a wider walk around town, and its modest size suits families with young children or anyone short on time. If you want a bigger, more modern collection as well, it now forms one half of the combined Poznań Zoological Garden alongside the New Zoo further out. See our Poznań guide for how to pair it with the Old Market Square and other nearby sights.