The transnational experience of a Catalan nationalist: Pere Rossell i Vilar and the reform of the Barcelona Zoo (1918-1921)

Abstract

Pere M. Rossell i Vilar (1883-1933), a veterinarian and later politician, is well known as a promoter of scientific animal husbandry. He applied his ideas of a «Catalan race» not only to livestock (cattle and pork) but also to human beings. Because of his insistence on «racial purity», historians called him a «modern racist». Much less known is his  important role in the attempts to reform the Barcelona Zoo between 1918 and 1932. In this context, in 1919 and 1921, Rossell produced two voluminous memoranda that have not yet been studied. In these memoirs, he tried to present the state-ofthe-art in zoo management by presenting a wealth of data on European and North American zoos. They dealt with issues such as the  construction of animal houses, animal diseases, economic parameters, and zoo personnel. The first memoràndum was to a large part based on reports published by the French zoo reformer Gustave Loisel. The second one was the fruit of Rossell’s zoo voyage through Western and Central Europe in the summer of 1920. Rossell was deeply influenced by the «zoo revolution» of Carl Hagenbeck and his concept of enclosures without visible bars or fences put into practice in the «animal paradise» of Stellingen outside Hamburg. This article will show how both Rossell’s reading of Loisel and his enthusiasm for Hagenbeck, drove the reform discussion in Barcelona in the 1920s and beyond. It will thus highlight the relevance of transurban networks of zoos as well as the ongoing debate about the goal of the zoo, torn between scientific research, acclimatization, and site of mass culture. Through constant communication, cooperation but also competition, zoos co-evolved. Finally, the article will ask how Rossell’s Catalan nationalism and biological racism coexisted with his transnational vision of a modern zoo.