Cirque d'hiver (Paris)

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The Cirque d'Hiver ( winter circus ) is located in the 11th arrondissement of Paris and is the only remaining of 18 stationary Parisian circus buildings. It is one of the oldest circus buildings in the world.

Cirque d'Hiver (2014)

History of origin

Cirque d'Hiver - architectural drawing by Jakob Ignaz Hittorf (1841)

Circus entrepreneur Louis Dejean (1797–1879) owned the Cirque d'été ( summer circus ), which the Cologne architect Jakob Ignaz Hittorff , who lives in Paris , had built between 1841 and 1843 and which opened on May 6, 1843. Hittorff was then commissioned to build the Cirque d'Hiver. He designed a 20-sided oval building (Ikosagon) with a diameter of 41 meters and a 27.5 meter high dome . Unlike previous circus buildings, there were no columns inside to support the dome. This static task was taken over by the 55 cm thick encircling walls, 16.25 meters high and reinforced in each of the 20 corners by inner and outer Corinthian columns . The 20 frescoes are by Félix-Joseph Barrias and Nicolas Louis Gosse and tell the story of equestrianism, James Pradier took care of the equestrian statues. Construction began on April 17, 1852. The circus building was inaugurated on December 11, 1852 by Napoléon III after only 8 months of construction . , after which it was initially named Cirque Napoléon . Since October 27, 1861 orchestral performances have been held here under the direction of Jules Pasdeloup ( concerts populaires ). In 1870 it was renamed Cirque d'Hiver. Electric light has been illuminating the interior since August 29, 1907. The original capacity of 3900 spectators has now been reduced to a capacity of 2090 spectators by the theater seats installed by October 12, 1923. The circus has been owned by the Bouglione family since October 28, 1934. Today, in addition to the circus performances, numerous other types of events take place there, such as dressage events, musicals or fashion shows.

location

The Cirque d'Hiver is located at rue Amelot 110 , which runs parallel to Boulevard Filles du Calvaire (the extension of Boulevard du Temple ) in the 11th arrondissement of Paris. In its vicinity, the bus stop is Filles du Calvaire the Métro Line 8 .

Web links

Commons : Cirque d'hiver de Paris  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 48 ° 51 '48.1 "  N , 2 ° 22' 3.1"  E