Antwerp Zoo opened on 21 July 1843 on less than 1.6 hectares, and grew to more than 10.5 hectares in its early years. Its first director was the zoologist and botanist Jacques Kets, and it is run, as it was then, by the Royal Zoological Society of Antwerp, the KMDA, founded the same year as an association. It is the oldest animal park in Belgium. Today it sits next to Antwerp Central Station, which was completed in 1905, six decades after the first animals arrived.

The zoo’s own branding calls it one of the oldest in the world. Amsterdam’s Artis is five years older: Gerard Westerman and two fellow enthusiasts founded it in 1838 on an estate at what was then the edge of that city. Both now sit in the middle of their cities, and both still use 19th-century buildings.

Temples for animals

Antwerp’s answer has been to keep the buildings. The Egyptian temple dates from 1856 and the Moorish temple from 1885; the second still houses okapis, and in 1918 Antwerp became the first zoo in the world to keep them. The zoo now supports the Okapi Conservation Project in Congo and takes part in the European breeding programme for the species. In 1920 a stadium at the zoo hosted the Olympic boxing and wrestling, and on 1 January 1983 the whole park was classified as a monument.

The Hippo House shows how the place survives. It was built in 1885, largely destroyed in the Second World War, rebuilt in 1952 and extended in 2003 with the Hippotopia area. After a recent renovation, pygmy hippos returned in July 2025: Nimba, a female from Denmark, with a partner, Dabou, due from France that autumn. About 2,500 pygmy hippos are left in the wild in West Africa, and around 130 live in 64 European zoos. “The pygmy hippo is much smaller and somewhat shyer than its larger relative,” said Gunter, one of the keepers. The Marsh Biotope around it also holds palm fruit bats, a first for Belgium.

Who lives here

The zoo keeps about 5,000 animals of 950 species. In November 2025 it welcomed Ayo, a western lowland gorilla and silverback who came directly from France, chosen by the international conservation breeding programme as the new male for its five female gorillas. Penguins live in an area called Vriesland. With its sister park, Planckendael in Mechelen, the KMDA keeps more than 7,000.

Who pays

The KMDA is a bigger business than the zoo gate suggests. It runs Antwerp Zoo, Planckendael, the De Zegge nature reserve in Geel, a Centre for Research and Conservation, and the Elisabeth Center conference and concert venue, home of the Queen Elisabeth Hall. It counts more than two million visitors a year and describes itself as the largest operator of tourist attractions in Belgium.

In October 2026 the society learned that Flanders was cutting the operating subsidies for its two zoos, worth €3.4 million a year. The money paid for the upkeep of the listed buildings, for keeping the zoo open through the loss-making winter months and for a reduced rate for visitors on low incomes. “We are in shock,” said Dries Herpoelaert, the KMDA’s director. “We never received a warning or a request about it.” The upkeep of the monuments, he said, “is very expensive, and we cannot bear these costs alone.” The society took its case to the office of the tourism minister, Melissa Depraetere.

On 26 October the government found €2 million for the coming years, moved from the mobility budget to tourism, which covers part of the gap. Layoffs are still expected. “Our message apparently got through,” Herpoelaert said. “We are much more than a place where animals are shown.”

The listed buildings are the strongest case for public money. Tickets can pay for keepers and hay; an Egyptian temple from 1856 on a protected site is heritage, and heritage is the government’s job whoever happens to live inside it.

Visiting

The zoo is open every day of the year. The zoo’s own site gives the day’s hours and feeding programme; keeper talks and feeding times are in Dutch only. Ticket prices vary by day, children under three go free, and booking at least a day ahead takes €2 off an adult ticket and €1 off a child’s. An individual annual membership costs €112 and a family one €249; members get in from nine, an hour before everyone else.

The subsidy paid, among other things, for opening in winter. On 1 November 2026 the gates opened at ten.