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| Dwarfs in the human zoo in Paris in 1906. |
The Jardin d'Acclimatation in Paris, now a children's amusement park with a zoo, was founded in 1860 by Napoléon III and Empress Eugénie as a zoo. In 1877 the zoo was converted into "l'Acclimatation Anthropologique", which until 1912 specialized in showing the customs and lifestyles of foreign, mainly African peoples. Nubians, Bushmen, Zulus and many other Africans were "exhibited" in the human zoo. These exhibitions were a great success, doubling the number of visitors.
Another popular exhibition was the "City of dwarfs" in 1906. The Swedish weekly Hvar 8 Dag included a brief account of the exhibition "concept":
"A rather peculiar exhibition will soon be opened in the Jardin d'Acclimatation. A colony of 300 living dwarfs has been assembled, for which a small city, with its own theater and church, etc., has been built."
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| A dwarf greets a visitor in front of his "dwarf city" house . The door height was 1 meter. |
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| A carriage with dwarfs coming from the dwarf city station. |
PS
Fortunately, times have changed. This kind of human zoo is unthinkable now. However, to my surprise, a Wikipedia article tells us that the concept of the human zoo has not completely disappeared:
A Congolese village was displayed at the Brussels 1958 World's Fair.[15] In April 1994, an example of an Ivory Coast village was presented as part of an African safari in Port-Saint-Père, near Nantes, in France, later called Planète Sauvage.[16]
An African village was opened in Augsburg's zoo in Germany in July 2005.[17] In August 2005, London Zoo also displayed humans wearing fig leaves.[18] In 2007, Adelaide Zoo ran a Human Zoo exhibit which consisted of a group of people who, as part of a study exercise, had applied to be housed in the former ape enclosure by day, but then returned home by night. The inhabitants took part in several exercises, much to the amusement of onlookers, who were asked for donations towards a new ape enclosure. In 2007, Pygmy performers at the Festival of Pan-African Music were housed (although not exhibited) at a zoo in Brazzaville, Congo.[19]
Living history museums or living farm museums are somewhat reminiscent of human zoos. Living history museums seek to show patrons how people live in different times or places. Employees or volunteers dress up and perform activities of daily life in the way that another culture would. In America, living history museums showcasing pioneer life may demonstrate baking bread, raising and harvesting crops, and keeping chickens. Generally, these volunteers go home at night.
