Sunlit foliage in Tiergarten ('Animal Garden'), Berlin, Germany. The Großer Tiergarten, simply known as Tiergarten, is an urban public park of Germany located in the middle of Berlin, completely in the homonymous locality. The park is of 210 hectares (520 acres); and among urban gardens of Germany, only the Englischer Garten of Munich (417 ha or 1,030 acres) is larger. The beginnings of the Tiergarten can be traced back to 1527. It was founded as a hunting area for the king, and was situated to the west of the Coelln city wall, which was the sister town of Old Berlin. It also sat in the same vicinity as the Berlin Stadtschloss. In 1530 the expansion began; acres of land were purchased and the garden began to expand towards the north and west. The total area extended beyond the current Tiergarten, and the forests were perfect for hunting deer and other wild animals. The king had wild animals placed within the Tiergarten, which was fenced off from the outside to prevent the creatures from escaping, and was the main hunting ground for the electors of Brandenburg. This king’s hobby, however, began to fade away as the city of Berlin began to expand and the hunting area shrank to accommodate the growth.