Zoological Garden and Acclimatisation Society Fund (1854-1885)
The great relations that Mariano de la Paz Graells, professor of the Museum in that time, had with Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilarie, director of the Société Zoologique of France, make him able to show to Isabella II the project of a similar institution. The objetive of it's will be the introduction, acclimatisation and domestication of exotic animals brought by the the overseas colonies to provide new resources for Spanish agriculture and industry
This found reveals the creation process of the Spanish Acclimatisation Society (SEA), founded in 1855 with the headquarters in the Museum and directed by Graells.
In the reorganization regulation of the Museum in 1857, the foundation of the Madrid Zoological Garden is already being contemplated, which will be aimed at the domestication of wild species for the purpose of economic profitability. In 1859, the Madrid Zoological Garden is inaugurated in the grounds of the Botanical Garden. This makes able to Spain to be in the top of Europe in this area, because the Garden of the Société opened many years later. Since its foundation, the Zoological Garden of the Botanic Garden had a budget of his own and was looked after by the assistant professor of Zoology, supervised by Graells.
Regardless of that initial enthusiasm, the Spanish project has a short life. In the 1868 Revolution, called "La Gloriosa", was not only the result of the dethronement and exile of Isabella II, but also the closing of the doors of the Zoo of Acclimatisation due to the lack of budgets and scientific projects, 10 years after its creation.
The manufacturers of this found were distinguished people like Isabel II and this husband Francisco de Asís, Francisco Méndez Álvaro -Madrid mayor in the reign of Isabel II-; the liberal politic Martín de los Heros; the militar engineering and academic researcher Antonio Remón Zarco del Valle y Huet; el V Marqués de Perales del Río, and the militar Francisco Serrano, that sent new species to the Zoological Garden when he was general en Cuba. In addition, there is Graells personal archive, that testifies its relationship with the Société zoologique d'acclimatation and all the documentation produced by the Spanish Acclimatisation Society and the Zoological Garden in the course of its activity (study and care of animals), including the founding project. The documents after the suppression of the Spanish Acclimatisation Society include related correspondence between the Museum and other institutions.
Libraries and Archives CSIC Network (in Spanish): Zoological Garden and Acclimatisation Society Fund