Yucatán Tropical Hall, Zlín Zoo (Tropická hala Yucatan)

Zlín Zoo grew up around Lešná Castle, about nine kilometres from the centre of Zlín. According to Czech Wikipedia, Count Josef Karel Seilern laid the foundations of a zoological collection there in the 1920s and 1930s; nationalised after the Second World War, the estate officially opened to the public in 1948. The castle itself, built between 1887 and 1893 by the architects Johann Mick and Viktor Siedek, keeps collections of paintings, porcelain and hunting trophies from the late nineteenth century.

The Yucatán Tropical Hall was designed by the architect František Petr. The City of Zlín website and the zoo's own page date its opening to October 2006, while English Wikipedia and an online travel guide give 2007. From the outset the scheme combined tropical planting, free-roaming animals and references to the Maya civilisation, which flourished on the Yucatán Peninsula more than a thousand years ago.

In 2012 the hall received giant otters; the zoo states that it has since been the only one in the Czech Republic and Slovakia to keep the species, which can be seen indoors and in an outdoor pool. The zoo, which reports more than 230 species and over 1,500 animals, welcomed 798,514 visitors in its record year, 2022.

The hall is a large glazed greenhouse on a metal frame; an online travel guide gives its height as 13 metres. Published floor areas differ: 900 m² according to that guide, more than 1,000 m² according to Czech Wikipedia.

Inside, the space is landscaped as a tropical forest floor with waterfalls and pools. A suspended walkway runs through the whole volume at canopy level, giving what the zoo describes as a bird's-eye view. The entrance is a replica of the Nunnery of Chichén Itzá, and the route continues past stone reliefs, murals, hieroglyphic inscriptions, sacrificial altars, the tomb of a Maya king, a sculpture of the sun god and a series of stelae. Video projections and panels deal with Maya art, religion, culture and ritual. Terrariums and large aquarium tanks are built into the scenery, so that plants, animals and architecture form a single stage set rather than separate displays.

The planting recreates a Central American rainforest. The City of Zlín website counts 1,700 plants in 257 species; the zoo's current page and Czech Wikipedia give 170 species and English Wikipedia about 250, figures that vary with the source and the date of the count.

More than twenty animal species live in the hall, most of them moving freely among the plants: the zoo lists tamarins, two-toed sloths, several species of parrots, cotingas and agami herons. The giant otters, which arrived in 2012, are the best-known residents. Terrariums hold reptiles and amphibians, including basilisks and matamata turtles according to Czech Wikipedia, while large aquarium tanks display turtles and freshwater fish.

The Yucatán hall stands in the central part of the zoo, about 250 metres west of Lešná Castle, whose period rooms can also be visited. Allow at least half an hour to follow the walkway and look at the terrariums and aquariums; being fully enclosed and heated, the hall is a welcome refuge on cold or wet days. The zoo, laid out by continent over several dozen hectares, deserves a full day: the Karibuni African reserve, the large Gora Ark vulture aviary and the Ray Bay stingray pool round off the visit.