ABSTRACT
Bohemian kings were keeping lions in Prague Castle as early as the thirteenth century. By the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries the Prague collection of wild animals was probably unequalled in Europe. Prague was no more than one of the provincial capitals of the Austro-Hungarian Empire when new zoological gardens were being opened during the nineteenth century in many of the big cities of Europe and America. Dr. Jiri Janda's ambition was finally realized when the Zoo, the Zoologicka Zahrada Praha – the Zoological Garden of Prague – was opened to the public on 28 September 1931. The pair of Przewalski's horses which Prague Zoo received in 1932 had belonged to the Zootechnical Institute of the Prague Agricultural High School. Tigers have always been a feature of the Prague Zoo. The stars of the Prague collections, the Przewalski's horses, share with other herds of hoofed animals the lush enclosures on the hillside and hilltop.
