Prague Zoo will pay about CZK 267 million for the construction of a new gorilla pavilion

The Prague Zoo will pay CZK 267.22 million for the construction of a new gorilla pavilion. The exhibition, which will be the largest exhibition space at the Troja Zoo after its completion, is now being built by the Strabag company. The construction company was originally supposed to build the exhibition space CZK 13 million cheaper. This follows from the contract from 2019 between the zoo and the construction company and from the amendment to the contract from mid-October. The pavilion should open in the fall of 2022.

According to the project of the ABM architects studio, a building measuring approximately 56 by 56 meters is being built in the upper part of the zoo. Mostly the ground floor building should blend in as much as possible with the surrounding environment, which should be taken care of, among other things, by the green roof of the building overgrown with plants in the temperate zone. The interiors of the pavilion will resemble the natural middle lowland gorillas, the Central African rainforests. The interior will be open to about 150 people at a time, more than the existing ape pavilion at the bottom of the garden. Outdoor enclosures for animals will occupy 3000 sqm.

At the pavilion, the construction company is also building a new entrance to the zoo with cash registers and turnstiles. People will also be able to come to the gorilla pavilion from the neighboring African House, where giraffes can be seen, and across the new footbridge that spans Pod Hrachovkou Street.

The pavilion will be home to a seven-member group of lowland gorillas led by a male Richard. It will also be inhabited by mantle guerrillas, vertebrates, hamster mice or Egyptian fruit bats. The jungle environment will help to induce plants such as antlers, vines or ficus in the indoor and outdoor areas of the exhibition.

The zoo decided to build a new pavilion due to the experience of floods in 2002 and 2013. The current pavilion is in the lowest part of the garden, which was flooded during the floods in 2002 and when a male gorilla died. According to the director of the zoo, Miroslav Bobek, another reason why the new exhibition is being built is that the current pavilion, which dates from the 1990s, is outdated and unfriendly to visitors.

The Prague Zoo has been breeding lowland gorillas since 1963. The first gorilla inmate of the garden in Troja was a male Titan, after which a female Nigra came to the zoo. The first cub was born in the Prague Zoo in 2014. The female Moja thus became the first gorilla cub born in a zoo in the Czech Republic.

The Prague Zoo, established by the Prague City Hall, is one of the most visited places in the capital. This year, 841,667 people visited it in mid-October. Due to the covid-19 pandemic and related government measures, the garden was not opened to the public until April 12, with a limited number of visitors. Before the pandemic, about 1.4 million people passed through the gates of the zoo in the Czech capital every year. So far, most people visited the garden in 2019, when 1,456,526 visitors came.

Source: CTK