La Ménagerie, le zoo du Jardin des Plantes

The Menagerie of the Jardin des Plantes began as a radical experiment in science and democracy during the French Revolution. In the early seventeen nineties, revolutionaries viewed the royal menagerie at the Palace of Versailles as a grotesque symbol of aristocratic waste. They demanded the liberation of the animals, arguing that they were being cruelly kept to satisfy the arrogance of tyrants. Rather than simply setting the animals loose, scientists from the nearby botanical gardens intervened and secured the survivors to establish a new, public institution dedicated to study and natural history.