Jardin d'Acclimatation

The Jardin d Acclimatation opened in eighteen sixty as an ambitious scientific experiment. Emperor Napoleon the Third and Empress Eugenie envisioned a place where exotic plants and animals from across the French colonial empire could adjust to the climate of Paris. Designed by the same team responsible for the modernization of the city, the garden served as a center for zoological study and elite social gatherings under the Second Empire. Visitors walked through these nineteen hectares to marvel at creatures like giraffes and camels that had never before been seen in such proximity by the average Parisian.