Wilhelma Zoo and Botanical Garden

Germany's only combined zoo and botanical garden, set in an extraordinary Moorish-style palace complex

The Wilhelma is Germany's only combined zoological and botanical garden and one of Stuttgart's most popular attractions. The grounds, in the Bad Cannstatt district north of the center, were built in the 1840s as a private pleasure garden for King Wilhelm I of Württemberg in the Moorish style — a fashion for elaborately decorated "oriental" architecture that swept Romantic Europe in the mid-19th century.

The Moorish buildings that survive — with horseshoe arches, colorful tilework, and ornate facades — give the zoo a completely different atmosphere from conventional zoo design. Animals are housed in a mix of modern enclosures and historic glasshouses; the great ape house and the aquarium are particularly good. The botanical collections include a large historic greenhouse complex with tropical plants.

Wilhelma is in Bad Cannstatt, accessible by U-Bahn from the city center. It is worth a full day if you have children; without them, half a day covers the highlights. The setting in the Neckar valley, with the forested slopes rising behind, is unexpectedly pleasant.

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A story
Wilhelma was built between 1842 and 1853 as a private bathing resort for King Wilhelm I of Württemberg, who wanted his own exotic garden in the Moorish style fashionable in 19th-century Romantic architecture. After World War II, the damaged complex was converted into a public zoo and botanical garden rather than restored as a royal palace. The Moorish buildings — horseshoe arches, ornate tilework, striped stonework — still stand, making it one of the most architecturally unusual zoos in the world.