Circus Nikulin - Revision history

Djando: /* Circus Nikulin on Tsvetnoy Boulevard */

2025-08-14T03:15:59Z

‎Circus Nikulin on Tsvetnoy Boulevard

Djando: /* Circus Salamonsky */

2025-08-14T03:04:44Z

‎Circus Salamonsky

Djando: /* Circus Salamonsky */

2025-08-13T23:04:16Z

‎Circus Salamonsky

Djando at 02:26, 28 April 2025

2025-04-28T02:26:14Z

Djando: /* The Soviet Era */

2025-03-14T21:43:21Z

‎The Soviet Era

Djando at 20:09, 22 January 2025

2025-01-22T20:09:17Z

Djando: /* The Nikitins’ Competition */

2024-09-02T05:41:11Z

‎The Nikitins’ Competition

Djando: /* Circus Salamonsky */

2024-09-02T05:39:16Z

‎Circus Salamonsky

Djando: /* The Circus On Tsvetnoy Boulevard */

2024-08-31T21:30:13Z

‎The Circus On Tsvetnoy Boulevard

Djando: /* Image Gallery */

2024-08-11T20:04:39Z

‎Image Gallery

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 After the War, while new circuses were mushrooming all over the Soviet Union, the Circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard was the circus of reference, the place where each of the 5,000 Soviet circus performers dreamed of playing. This was the time, too, when the Soviet circus reached its artistic peak, and for the next forty years would gradually change the image of circus arts the world over. The Circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard became the epicenter of this renaissance, until its preeminence was contested by the new, state-of-the-art circus that Leonid Brezhnev had had built at Vernadsky Avenue, on Lenin Hill, near Moscow University&mdash;and which is known today as Moscow’s [[Bolshoi Circus]].
-[[File:Tsvetnoy_Blvd_(c.1970).jpg|thumb|left|400px|The Old Circus before its demolition (c.1980)]]If the new circus’s amenities were indeed impressive, and the artistic possibilities they offered were (and remain) unmatched, it didn’t have, with its 3,500 seats, the same warmth and intimacy as the "old circus" on Tsvetnoy Boulevard&mdash;neither did it have its rich history and tradition. Furthermore, the new circus was located far from the center of Moscow: The "old circus" (as it became known) remained Moscow’s most popular circus, and it never lost its place in the heart of the Muscovite audience.
+[[File:Tsvetnoy_Blvd_(c.1970).jpg|thumb|left|400px|The Old Circus before its demolition (c.1980)]]If the new circus’s amenities were indeed impressive, and the artistic possibilities they offered were (and remain) unmatched. With its 3,500 seats,t didn’t have the same warmth and intimacy as the "old circus" on Tsvetnoy Boulevard&mdash;neither did it have its rich history and tradition. Furthermore, the new circus was located far from the center of Moscow: The "old circus" (as it became known) remained Moscow’s most popular circus, and it never lost its place in the heart of the Muscovite audience.
 But the Circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard didn’t stay "old" for long. In 1982, its management was given to the most famous and beloved star of the Russian circus, the great clown (and movie actor) [[Yury Nikulin]] (1921-1997). Under his watch, the circus gave an emotional last performance on August 13, 1985, before being torn down. A sign of the changes taking place in the Soviet Union, its reconstruction was entrusted to a Finnish company named "Polar". Nikolai Ryzhkov, the Chairman of the Council of Ministers, helped Nikulin raise the money.

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 In May 1880, Moscow’s newspapers announced that Albert Salamonsky had begun the construction of a new circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard, near the Panorama&mdash;a circular building where a 360º landcape ''trompe l’œil'' painting was exhibited, a popular urban attraction in the nineteenth century. The circus, designed by the architect August Weber and financed by Aleksandr Danilov, a gold mining entrepreneur and circus enthusiast, was completed on October 12, and opened to the public eight days later.
-An imposing stone structure, it was said to accommodate 4,000 spectators, a largely inflated number since most of them would have had to stand in a vast promenade located at the periphery of the house, behind the last row of seats. It was a circular circus (or, more precisely, a twelve-sided polygon), on the model popularized by Paris’s [[Cirque des Champs-Elysées]]: it didn’t have, added to the ring, the classical theater stage that had been the norm since the original circuses of [[Philip Astley]] and [[Charles Hughes]] had appeared in the eighteenth century.
+An imposing stone structure, it was said to accommodate 4,000 spectators, a largely inflated number since probably one thousand of them (or more) would have had to stand in a vast promenade located at the periphery of the house, behind the last row of seats. It was a circular circus (or, more precisely, a twelve-sided polygon), on the model popularized by Paris’s [[Cirque des Champs-Elysées]]: it didn’t have, added to the ring, the classical theater stage that had been the norm since the original circuses of [[Philip Astley]] and [[Charles Hughes]] had appeared in the eighteenth century.
 The circus stables, which could accommodate one hundred horses, were open to the public during the intermission, and, adjacent to the majestic entrance to the building, was a café that would become, over the years, Salamonsky’s favorite hangout&mdash;to the point when his wife, the famous equestrienne [[Lina Schwarz]], would have to take over the daily administration of the circus which her husband had gradually become unable to assume.

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 === Circus Salamonsky ===
-[[File:Albert_Salamonsky.png|thumb|right|300px|Albert Salamonsky (c.1875)]]Hinné had hired Salamonsky in 1869 to perform with his horses and his company in the Austrian-Hungarian director’s [[The_Circuses_Of_Moscow#Circus_Hinn.C3.A9_.281868-1892.29|new building]] in Moscow. Salamonsky, who was an accomplished high school rider, and an outstanding trainer of "liberty" acts, had obtained a considerable success with Hinné, and he began afterward to tour regularly in Russia. In 1879, he built a circus in Odessa, but a shrewd businessman, he knew that the place to make real money was Moscow&mdash;the Empire’s wealthy merchant center&mdash;where Hinné’s circus, which was mostly harboring foreign touring companies, had no true identity of its own.
+[[File:Albert_Salamonsky.png|thumb|right|300px|Albert Salamonsky (c.1875)]]Hinné had hired Salamonsky in 1869 to perform with his horses and his company in the Austrian-Hungarian director’s [[The_Circuses_Of_Moscow#Circus_Hinn.C3.A9_.281868-1892.29|new building]] in Moscow. Salamonsky, who was an accomplished high school rider, and an outstanding trainer of "liberty" acts, had obtained a considerable success with Hinné, and he began afterward to tour regularly in Russia. From 1873 to 1878, he had managed the huge circus on Berlin's Karlstrasse (which became aftwards [[Zirkus Renz]]). In 1879, he built a circus in Odessa, but a shrewd businessman, he knew that the place to make real money was Moscow&mdash;the Empire’s wealthy merchant center&mdash;where Hinné’s circus, which was mostly harboring foreign touring companies, had no true identity of its own.
 Albert Salamonsky found a perfect location on Tsvetnoy Boulevard (literally, the "colorful boulevard," so called because of its large dividing promenade adorned with gardens). Tsvetnoy Boulevard led to the Ring, the first circular boulevard that defines downtown Moscow today, but which was at the time marking the city limits. Tsvetnoy Boulevard was a favorite destination for Muscovites, who found there many cafés and distractions, including fairground attractions such as traveling menageries and theaters, to which the boulevard offered ample space to install their ''balagans''.

← Older revision		Revision as of 02:26, 28 April 2025
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	== The Circus On Tsvetnoy Boulevard ==		== The Circus On Tsvetnoy Boulevard ==

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 The Committee for the Arts, however, was still overseeing the circus; under Truzzi’s management, which lasted until 1924, and afterwards, the Circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard continued to present a stream of edifying political spectacles, including one written by Vladimir Mayakovsky, ''Moscow Burns'' (1930). Like most of the others, ''Moscow Burns'' had a rather icy reception. Nonetheless, the use of writers, directors, designers, choreographers, and musicians who were not originally involved with the circus arts, would have a significant and lasting impact on the Soviet circus.
-[[File:Tsvetnoy_Boulevard_1937.jpg|thumb|right|400px|The Soviet-style façade of the new Circus on Tsvetnoi Boulevard (1937)]]Williams Truzzi died unexpectedly, at age forty-two, in 1931. During his tenure in Moscow and then in St.Petersburg, he had shown that like any other performing art, circus worked better in the hands of professionals. At long last, in 1936, the Soviet circus was placed under the control of a specialized agency, the Circus Central Management (GosTsirk, replaced in 1957 by [[SoyuzGosTsirk]], the Union of State Circuses). The very first action of the Central Management was to demolish most of the old Salamonsky building, and replace it with a circus more adapted to the needs of the times.
+Williams Truzzi died unexpectedly, at age forty-two, in 1931. During his tenure in Moscow and then in St.Petersburg, he had shown that like any other performing art, circus worked better in the hands of professionals. At long last, in 1936, the Soviet circus was placed under the control of a specialized agency, the Circus Central Management (GosTsirk, replaced in 1957 by [[SoyuzGosTsirk]], the Union of State Circuses). The very first action of the Central Management was to demolish most of the old Salamonsky building, and replace it with a circus more adapted to the needs of the times.
-The new circus, which opened in 1937, was officially named ''Moscow State Circus of the Order of Lenin'', but to its Muscovite audiences, it remained the Circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard. Its façade had lost the aristocratic looks of the old Circus Salamonsky, but its house had retained a classic elegance, and with 1,500 seats (gone were the promenade and the uncomfortable benches of the popular section), it had an atmosphere of warmth and intimacy. Only the best acts of the land were invited to perform at the Circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard&mdash;and to Soviet circus artists, playing there quickly become a badge of artistic achievement.
+[[File:Tsvetnoy_Boulevard_1937.jpg|thumb|right|400px|The Soviet-style façade of the new Circus on Tsvetnoi Boulevard (1937)]]The new circus, which opened in 1937, was officially named ''Moscow State Circus of the Order of Lenin'', but to its Muscovite audiences, it remained the Circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard. Its façade had lost the aristocratic looks of the old Circus Salamonsky, but its house had retained a classic elegance, and with 1,500 seats (gone were the promenade and the uncomfortable benches of the popular section), it had an atmosphere of warmth and intimacy. Only the best acts of the land were invited to perform at the Circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard&mdash;and to Soviet circus artists, playing there quickly become a badge of artistic achievement.
 Toward the end of WWII, in February 1944, the Circus hosted the first All-Union Circus Competition, a festival of the new crop of acts that had graduated from the Circus College in the previous years. This would become an important annual event: The laureates were assured of a contract on Tsvetnoy Boulevard, and starting in 1956, they could also be invited on international tours of the so-called [[Moscow Circus]]&mdash;indeed a much coveted privilege under the reclusive Soviet regime. These tours filled SoyuzGosTsirk coffers, and the dreary façade of the Old Circus was revamped in a more cheerful color and style.

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:09, 22 January 2025
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	== The Circus On Tsvetnoy Boulevard ==		== The Circus On Tsvetnoy Boulevard ==

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 === The Nikitins’ Competition ===
-[[File:Circus_Salamonsky_in_Moscow.jpg|thumb|left|400px|Circus Salamonsky (c.1900) with the Panorama on the left, behind the circus façade.]]In 1886, the first truly Russian circus directors, the [[The Nikitin Brothers|Nikitin]] brothers, bought the Panorama adjacent to Circus Salamonsky, and transformed it into a circus! Needless to say, Albert Salamonsky was not amused: at the end of the season, he bought back the Panorama building at a price (30,000 roubles) that gave a substantial profit to the Nikitin brothers, and he transformed it into a manège where he rehearsed his horses in public and gave riding lessons. The transaction included a promise signed by Dmitri Nikitin that the brothers wouldn’t compete with Salamonsky in Moscow. (Salamonsky later sold the Panorama, whose building is extant&mdash;albeit not without many substantial transformations over the years&mdash;and houses today the Mir Theater.)
+[[File:Circus_Salamonsky_in_Moscow.jpg|thumb|left|400px|Circus Salamonsky (c.1900) with the Panorama on the left, behind the circus façade.]]In 1886, the first truly Russian circus directors, the [[The Nikitin Brothers|Nikitin]] brothers, bought the Panorama adjacent to Circus Salamonsky, and transformed it into a circus! Needless to say, Albert Salamonsky was not amused: at the end of the season, he bought back the Panorama building at a price (30,000 roubles) that gave a substantial profit to the Nikitin brothers, and he transformed it into a manège where he rehearsed his horses in public and gave riding lessons. The transaction included a promise signed by Dmitri Nikitin that the brothers wouldn’t compete with Salamonsky in Moscow. (Salamonsky later sold the Panorama, whose building is extant&mdash;albeit not without many substantial transformations over the years&mdash;and houses today the Mir Theatre.)
 The Nikitins returned to Moscow in 1888, and rented this time the old Circus Hinné. Salamonsky went to remind them of their signed promise, but the wily brothers argued that the letter of agreement had been signed by Dmitri Nikitin, who had left by then his brothers to create his own enterprise, and consequently, they (Piotr and Akim Nikitin) were not bound by the agreement. Luckily for Salamonsky, the business at the old circus didn’t prove satisfactory, and the Nikitins decided not to renew their lease at the end of the season.

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 Despite his devastating weakness for the bottle, Albert Salamonsky was a remarkable artist and a great artistic director, and his new Moscow circus quickly acquired an excellent reputation all over Europe. His horsemanship was greatly admired in the equestrian world, and he trained a host of good equestrians, among whom Eugen Marder-Salamonsky (pupils at the time often adopted their mentor’s name) who, in 1882, presented an equestrian carousel of 32 horses in the ring of Circus Salmonsky.
-Circus Salamonsky, which Muscovites began to refer as the "Circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard," had no serious competition from what was now known as the "old circus Hinné"&mdash;which had passed under the management of [[Gaetano Ciniselli]]&mdash;whose image was that of a circus house for rent to whoever paid the fee, and the branch of a St. Petersburg institution to boot. Circus Salamonsky had no trouble appearing as the ''genuine'' Moscow circus.
+Circus Salamonsky, which Muscovites began to refer as the "Circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard," had no serious competition from what had become known as the "old circus Hinné"&mdash;which had passed under the management of [[Gaetano Ciniselli]]&mdash;whose image was that of a circus house for rent to whoever paid the fee, and the branch of a St. Petersburg institution to boot. Circus Salamonsky had no trouble appearing as the ''genuine'' Moscow circus.
 === The Nikitins’ Competition ===

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 The Circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard: Three distinct circus buildings, actually, have been known under that name. The three buildings have occupied the exact same place, 13 Tsvetnoy Boulevard, with no longer interruption than the time needed for their reconstruction. Yet, for the Muscovites, they have been one and the same&mdash;their circus, just wearing different coats.
-Before the Soviet revolution, Russian circus history was principally written in St. Petersburg, the Russian Empire’s capital, and began when the French equestrian [[Jacques Tourniaire]] built the ''Cirque Olympique'', Russia’s first circus, in 1827 near the Fontanka canal, on the spot where [[Circus Ciniselli]] (which is extant) would be erected half a century later. Tourniaire had performed in Moscow in 1826, but this was in the private manège of the Pashkov House, which today houses the Russian State Library&mdash;with its magnificent manège refurbished as its main reading roon.
+Before the Soviet revolution, Russian circus history was principally written in St. Petersburg, the Russian Empire’s capital, and began when the French equestrian [[Jacques Tourniaire]] built the ''Cirque Olympique'', Russia’s first circus, in 1827 near the Fontanka canal, on the spot where [[Circus Ciniselli]] (which is extant) would be erected half a century later. Tourniaire had performed in Moscow in 1826, but this was in the private manège of the Pashkov House, which today houses the Russian State Library&mdash;with its magnificent manège refurbished as its main reading room.
 Moscow’s first circus was a wooden structure erected in the Niskuchnye Gardens in 1830, which lasted three summer seasons. The second circus, [[Laura Bassin]]’s, was built in 1853 and lasted only two seasons. The third was the circus the Austrian-Hungarian equestrian [[Carl Magnus Hinné]] had built in 1869 as the Moscow branch of his St. Petersburg flagship circus; it would remain active, under various managements, until 1896.  Then, in 1880, [[Albert Salamonsky]] (1839-1913), a brilliant German equestrian and director, built a brand new circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard.

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 File:Nikulin_Monte-Carlo-Moscow.jpeg|Circus Nikulin Poster (2018)
 File:Circus_Nikulin_Poster_2022.jpg|Circus Nikulin Poster (2022)
-ile:Studio_Circus_Nikulin.jpg|The rehersal studio (2023)
+File:Studio_Circus_Nikulin.jpg|The Rehersal Studio (2023)
 File:Stables_Circus_Nikulin_(2023).jpg|Stables at Circus Nikulin (2023)
 File:Nikulin_night_2023.jpg|Circus Nikulin on Tsvetnoy Boulevard (2023)