Sarasota celebrates the Circus

Travel

Sarasota celebrates the Circus

Ringling Brothers Circus Museum and Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, Fla.

Circus magnate John Ringling and wife Mable patterned their opulent mansion on Sarasota Bay after Venetian palaces.

One of Florida's most famous architectural landmarks and historic homes, the Ca d'Zan (House of John) Mansion was John and Mable Ringling's winter residence in the 1920s.

The courtyard at The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art.

The Five Graces Circus Band Wagon, pulled by no fewer than 40 horses,when it led the Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey traditional circus parades, is displayed at the Museum of the American Circus in Sarasota, Fla.

The Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, Fla., displays the extensive art and antiquities collection amassed by John and Mabel Ringling, including works by Rubens. John Ringling purchased many works at New York and London auctions in the 1920s, including Cypriot, Greek and Roman antiquities.

Visitors prepare to enter the Museum of the American Circus at the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, Fla.

A poster depicting the five Ringling brothers, who turned a small traveling circus into an entertainment empire, is displayed at Museum of the American Circus in Sarasota, Fla.

Howard Tibbals unloads the train for his miniature Howard Bros. Circus, now on display in the Tibbals Learning Center on the John and Mable Ringling estate in Sarasota, Fla. Building one of the wagons to transport his circus can take months. Each has unique dimensions because each was designed for a different function in the circus; one might carry folding chairs while another transports dinnerware and pots and pans for the dining tent.

An intricate miniature circus covers 3,800 square feet at the Museum of the American Circus.

These ostriches are part of a 148-foot-long, half-inch scale, miniature circus street parade model built by Harold Dunn. The model is among displays at the Tibbals Learning Center in Sarasota, Fla.

When the circus came to town in the 1930s, spectators were allowed into the menagerie tent for an upclose look at zebras, camels, llamas, lions and tigers and other animals performing in the show. This scene from the Howard Bros. Circus, now on display at the Tibbals Learning Center in Sarasota, Fla., depicts the easy access of those days.

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Circus magnate John Ringling and wife Mable patterned their opulent mansion on Sarasota Bay after Venetian palaces.

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