Budapest Zoo and Botanical Garden

Listen for a moment. Under the traffic of the city, there is another layer of sound here. Parrots call. Gravel crunches under strollers. Somewhere a large animal shifts its weight against a wall. The air smells of wet leaves, warm hay and, now and then, something wilder. You are standing at the edge of Budapest's City Park, at one of the oldest zoos in the world. It has been welcoming visitors since the middle of the nineteenth century.

The zoo opened in 1866. At that time, Budapest was not yet a single city. Buda and Pest sat on opposite banks of the Danube, and they would unite only a few years later. The founders were a group of Hungarian naturalists and public figures. They wanted a place where ordinary people could see living animals and learn about the natural world. In the early decades, the collection was modest. Many of the first animals were native Hungarian species.

The zoo you walk through today was shaped mostly in the early twentieth century. Around the 1910s, the grounds went through a major rebuilding. Many of the old wooden structures came down. In their place rose a set of buildings that turned the zoo into something unusual — a garden of architecture as much as a garden of animals. The director of that era pushed for a modern design. Animals were to be seen in settings that suggested their homelands.

Two young architects carried much of this work. Their names were Károly Kós and Dezső Zrumeczky. Both were drawn to Hungarian folk building traditions, especially the timber villages of Transylvania, a region now part of Romania. You can see that influence in steep roofs, carved wood and simple rural shapes. Zrumeczky died young, during the First World War. Several of the buildings here are among the few works he left behind.

Now look for the elephant house. Many visitors walk straight past the architecture and head for the animals. But pause here. The building borrows from the domes and towers of Islamic architecture, the style of mosques across North Africa and the Middle East. Its surfaces carry glazed ceramic tiles and decoration. Much of this ceramic work comes from the Zsolnay factory, a Hungarian workshop famous for its shining, colourful tiles. You will see the same family of ceramics on rooftops across Budapest.

This mix of styles is the heart of the place. The early twentieth century in Hungary was the age of Art Nouveau, a movement that loved curving lines, natural forms and craft details. Architects here combined that taste with folk motifs and with images of distant lands. The result can feel a little like a stage set. A building for animals from one continent might borrow the shapes of temples or palaces from that same region.

Above the paths, you will notice a large artificial mountain. It is called the Great Rock. It was built during the same rebuilding period, and for many years it was one of the largest structures of its kind. It is not real stone. It is a constructed shell shaped to look like cliffs and ledges. Mountain animals once used its slopes. Inside, the hollow structure has served other purposes over the years, including space for exhibits.

Here is something many visitors miss. This is not only a zoo. It is also a botanical garden, and the plant collection is a serious part of the work here. Walk slowly and you will see labelled trees, carefully kept beds and glasshouses full of tropical growth. The plants are not decoration around the enclosures. They are a living collection in their own right. In some corners, the trees are older than anyone walking beneath them.

The glass palm house deserves a visit, especially on a cold day. Step inside and the temperature rises sharply. Your glasses may fog. The air turns thick and humid, and the light comes down green through broad leaves. Iron and glass frame the space, a building style that became popular across Europe in the nineteenth century. In such houses, plants and small animals often share the same warm space, so look up as well as around.

The zoo also carries the marks of a hard century. The Second World War hit Budapest severely, and the city suffered a long siege in the winter of 1944 and 1945. The zoo was badly damaged. Many animals died, and much of the collection had to be rebuilt afterwards. Some of the historic buildings were later restored. When you see fresh paint on an old façade, you may be looking at decades of patient repair.

Look around at the neighbours, too. Just next door is the Széchenyi Bath, one of the city's great thermal spas, with its yellow walls and steaming outdoor pools. City Park itself is full of museums, a castle built for a national exhibition and wide lawns. Budapest sits on a network of hot springs. That warm underground water is part of everyday life in this district, and in winter you can sometimes see steam rising near the baths.

The zoo is still changing. In recent years, there has been work on expansion and new spaces at the edge of the grounds, and modern enclosures now stand beside the historic ones. This contrast is worth noticing. An early twentieth century building, designed to impress, may sit a few steps from a modern habitat, designed for animal welfare. The two together show how ideas about keeping animals have shifted across more than 150 years.

As you continue your walk, let your eyes move between the animals and the buildings that hold them. Notice the carved wood, the bright tiles, the shape of a roof against the sky. Notice the old trees and the sound of birds above the paths. When you leave through the gates and step back into City Park, the noise of the city will return. But for a few minutes more, listen to this quieter world.