Jardin d'Acclimatation

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CEO

Marc-Antoine Jamet

Creation date

1860

Headquarters

Bois de Boulogne, Carrefour des Sablons , 75116 Paris - France

The Flying Chairs - Jardin d'Acclimatation - Paris © Sylvain Bachelot

IdentityJARDIN D'ACCLIMATATION

The Jardin d’Acclimatation was the vision of one couple: Emperor Napoléon III and Empress Eugénie. Inspired by Hyde Park, which marked their stay in London, they, in turn, made their Parisian dream of a park for enjoyment and leisure come true, on the edge of the Bois de Boulogne. To bring their project to fruition, the Emperor took on the team that was radically reshaping Paris at the time: Baron Georges-Eugène Haussmann, Prefect of the Seine department, engineer Jean-Charles Alphand, landscape-architect Jean-Pierre Barillet-Deschamps, and architect Gabriel Davioud. They combined their talents to create this 20-hectare park, which would go on to become a jewel in the capital’s crown. Originally, the Jardin d’Acclimatation was home to a zoological society. Its objective was to ‘acclimatise’ fauna and flora from around the world, as well as far-off civilisations and cultures. Today, determined to preserve this unique 19th-century heritage, its landscapes and its architecture, the Jardin d’Acclimatation offers the inhabitants of Paris and the surrounding region, as well as tourists from around the world, a joyful, modern and naturally-Parisian attraction park, along with a farm and an aviary gathering 400 animals and birds.

The identity of the Jardin d’Acclimatation is based on a collection of feelings, images, and places that every Parisian knew as a child and which now forms their collective imagination. It is both a testimony to an unalterable world and a source of new enchantment, a heritage shared by every family, which is passed down from generation to generation, the symbol of a Paris that is both timeless and modern.

Marc-Antoine Jamet

Chairman of the Jardin d’Acclimatation

70
MILLION EUROS TO RENOVATE THE JARDIN D’ACCLIMATATION IN 2018
42
RIDES AND ATTRACTIONS FOR LITTLE ONES AND BIG ONES
18
HECTARES OF LAWNS, MEADOWS AND WALKS

ICON

In 3 minutes, 400 meters of rotations and bends, peaking at up to 45km/hour, the five "Speed Rockets" shuttles, the park's flagship attraction, whizz visitors off on a unique roller-coaster ride between the pines and the sequoias. For thrill seekers!

The Speed Rockets at the Jardin d'acclimatation in Paris © Sylvain Bachelot

MUSE

The Spanish-born Countess Eugénie de Montijo became Empress of France at the age of 27, and remained so until France’s defeat by Prussia in 1870. It was she who, along with the Emperor, created the Jardin d’Acclimatation. Guided by the great zoologist, Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, the park’s first director and an ardent defender of the observation of animals in their natural habitat, the young woman devoted herself to her scientific occupations. For example, she decided to develop the rearing of silkworms in France. To do this, she created one of the first silk farms in the very heart of the Jardin d’Acclimatation. It still exists and now houses an elegant café. A protector of the arts and literature, she, who appreciated Stendhal and Mérimée, also participated in the transformation of Paris at the height of the urban and industrial revolution.