Diergaarde Blijdorp — Rotterdam Zoo — was founded on 18 May 1857 as the Rotterdamsche Diergaarde, a Victorian-era garden in the middle of the city. Yet the zoo you visit today is also a 20th-century landmark: in 1940 it moved to the Blijdorp district and reopened on 7 December that year in a striking ensemble designed by architect Sybold van Ravesteyn, who also designed Rotterdam’s central railway station.
The move came at a dark moment. The old zoo had already been damaged by bombing two days before the devastating Rotterdam Blitz of 14 May 1940, which destroyed most of the city centre. Street names like Diergaardesingel — “Zoo Lane” — still mark where the original zoo stood. Its 1857 founding keeps Blijdorp firmly among the oldest zoos in the world.
Key Stats
| Opened | 18 May 1857 (relocated to Blijdorp, 7 December 1940) |
| Location | Blijdorp district, Rotterdam, Netherlands |
| Animals | 16,671 animals of 562 species (October 2023) |
| Area | About 34 hectares (84 acres) |
| Annual visitors | About 1.5 million (2019) |
Van Ravesteyn’s Monument Zoo
The 1940 zoo was conceived as a total work of architecture, with the sweeping Rivièrahal as its centrepiece. In 2007 the whole complex was declared a rijksmonument — a Dutch national heritage site — making Blijdorp one of the few zoos in the world protected as a monument in its entirety.
The Oceanium and a Doubled Zoo
In 2001 Blijdorp almost doubled in size when it opened a new western half centred on the Oceanium, a huge walk-through aquarium whose underwater tunnel carries visitors beneath sharks, rays and sea turtles. The expansion took the site to roughly 34 hectares.
The collection is enormous: an October 2023 count recorded 16,671 animals of 562 species, from Asian elephants and okapis to the invertebrates and fish of the Oceanium. Before the pandemic the zoo welcomed more than 1.5 million visitors in a single year, making it one of the Netherlands’ most popular attractions.
Explore more: Explore more zoos and aquariums.
Diergaarde Blijdorp FAQs
When was Diergaarde Blijdorp founded?
The zoo was founded on 18 May 1857 as the Rotterdamsche Diergaarde. It moved to its current Blijdorp site and reopened on 7 December 1940.
Why did Rotterdam Zoo move in 1940?
The old city-centre zoo had been damaged by bombing days before the Rotterdam Blitz of May 1940, and the collection moved to the new Sybold van Ravesteyn-designed park in the Blijdorp district that December.
What is the Oceanium?
The Oceanium is Blijdorp’s large aquarium complex, opened in 2001, with a walk-through underwater tunnel; its addition nearly doubled the size of the zoo.
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Photo: Rudolphous / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.