Cirkus Verdensteater (Oslo) - Revision history

Djando: /* Image Gallery */

2025-09-27T19:42:12Z

‎Image Gallery

Djando: /* Image Gallery */

2025-07-05T20:12:28Z

‎Image Gallery

Djando: /* A Multivalent Venue */

2025-07-05T20:11:45Z

‎A Multivalent Venue

Djando: /* A Multivalent Venue */

2025-07-05T20:10:02Z

‎A Multivalent Venue

Djando at 20:02, 5 July 2025

2025-07-05T20:02:33Z

Djando at 19:59, 5 July 2025

2025-07-05T19:59:33Z

Djando at 19:58, 5 July 2025

2025-07-05T19:58:34Z

Djando: /* A Polyvalent Venue */

2025-07-03T23:03:18Z

‎A Polyvalent Venue

Djando: /* Image Gallery */

2025-07-01T19:45:49Z

‎Image Gallery

Djando: /* Image Gallery */

2025-07-01T19:37:31Z

‎Image Gallery

@@ Line 37: / Line 37: @@
 File:Oslo_Cirkus_map.png|Map showing the Cirkus Vardensteater in Kristiania (1902)
 File:Oslo_Cirkus_modern_map.png|Map showing the old emplacement of the Cirkus Vardensteater in today's Oslo.
-File:Cirkus_Verdensteater_Christiania.jpg|Cirkus Vardensteater in kristiania (c.1905)
+File:Cirkus_Verdensteater_Christiania.jpg|Cirkus Vardensteater in Kristiania (c.1905)
 File:Orlando_Tigers_in_Oslo.jpg|Cirkus Orlando's tiger act at Cirkus Vardensteater (1908)
 File:Tivoli_%2B_Cirkus_Oslo.jpg|Oslo's Tivoli Gardens (c.1910)

@@ Line 40: / Line 40: @@
 File:Orlando_Tigers_in_Oslo.jpg|Cirkus Orlando's tiger act at Cirkus Vardensteater (1908)
 File:Tivoli_%2B_Cirkus_Oslo.jpg|Oslo's Tivoli Gardens (c.1910)
-File:Oslo_Cirkus_Verdensteater.png|Cirkus_Verdensteater (c.1930)
+File:Oslo_Cirkus_Verdensteater.png|Cirkus Verdensteater (c.1930)
 File:Oslo_Cirkus_and_Tivoli.jpg|The Tivoli and the circus in their final years (1930)
 File:Oslo_Circus_(1933).jpg|Side view, Cirkus Verdensteater (1933)

@@ Line 18: / Line 18: @@
 Nonetheless, visiting circuses still performed in the building. Besides Cirkus Schumann, the Cirkus Verdensteater hosted, over the years, [[Circus Corty-Althoff]], [[Cirkus Kolzer]], [[Circus Beketov]], William Caspar's [[Cirque du Nord]], [[Circus Carré]], [[Circus Ed. Wulff]], [[The Houcke Dynasty|Hippolyte Houcke]]'s ''Nouveau Cirque'', [[Cirkus Orlando]], Andrea Ciniselli's [[Circus Ciniselli]], among others, and [[Circus Hagenbeck]] in 1916&mdash;the last tenant before a long hiatus that will be broken only with the final return of the Schumanns in 1935.
-Unfortunately, Vika, the part of the city in which the circus stood was quite ancient and in need of remodeling. When it was decided in 1916 that a new City Hall would be built in that neighborhood, the old, dilapidated buildings that still stood in the area had to disappear to allow a modern redesign of the district. The Tivoli Gardens and the Cirkus Verdensteater were for some time the last remnants of the old neighborhood, until they were eventually demolished in 1935, never to be replaced.
+Unfortunately, Vika, the part of the city in which the circus stood was quite ancient and in need of remodeling. When it was decided in 1916 that a new City Hall would be built in that neighborhood, the old, sometimes dilapidated buildings that still stood in the area had to disappear to allow a modern redesign of the district. The Tivoli Gardens and the Cirkus Verdensteater were for some time the last remnants of the old neighborhood, until they were eventually demolished in 1935, never to be replaced.
 ==Suggested Reading==

@@ Line 16: / Line 16: @@
 [[File:Interior_-_Cirkus_Verdensteater.jpg|thumb|right|400px|Cirkus Schumann at the Cirkus Verdensteater (1935)]]Since it had no permanent company, the circus quickly became a multivalent performing space, hosting activities that were not necessarily related to its original function (thus its later name, ''Cirkus Verdensteater''): In 1896, for instance, it presented the first cinema performance in Norway, and will be used as a movie theater quite often, notably in its latter years. It became also well-known and appreciated for its music concerts&mdash;and its own resident orchestra had been led by such guest conductors as the celebrated Norwegian composers Johan Svendsen (1840–1911) and Edvard Grieg (1843–1907).
-Nonetheless, visiting circuses still performed in the building. Besides Cirkus Schumann, which remained an occasional visitor, the Cirkus Verdensteater hosted, over the years, [[Circus Corty-Althoff]], [[Cirkus Kolzer]], [[Circus Beketov]], William Caspar's [[Cirque du Nord]], [[Circus Carré]], [[Circus Ed. Wulff]], [[The Houcke Dynasty|Hippolyte Houcke]]'s ''Nouveau Cirque'', [[Cirkus Orlando]], Andrea Ciniselli's [[Circus Ciniselli]], among others, and [[Circus Hagenbeck]] in 1916&mdash;the last tenant before a long hiatus that will be broken only with the final return of the Schumanns in 1935.
+Nonetheless, visiting circuses still performed in the building. Besides Cirkus Schumann, the Cirkus Verdensteater hosted, over the years, [[Circus Corty-Althoff]], [[Cirkus Kolzer]], [[Circus Beketov]], William Caspar's [[Cirque du Nord]], [[Circus Carré]], [[Circus Ed. Wulff]], [[The Houcke Dynasty|Hippolyte Houcke]]'s ''Nouveau Cirque'', [[Cirkus Orlando]], Andrea Ciniselli's [[Circus Ciniselli]], among others, and [[Circus Hagenbeck]] in 1916&mdash;the last tenant before a long hiatus that will be broken only with the final return of the Schumanns in 1935.
 Unfortunately, Vika, the part of the city in which the circus stood was quite ancient and in need of remodeling. When it was decided in 1916 that a new City Hall would be built in that neighborhood, the old, dilapidated buildings that still stood in the area had to disappear to allow a modern redesign of the district. The Tivoli Gardens and the Cirkus Verdensteater were for some time the last remnants of the old neighborhood, until they were eventually demolished in 1935, never to be replaced.

@@ Line 6: / Line 6: @@
 At the time of the circus's construction, the city was still called Kristiania, or Christiania (it will become Oslo in 1925), and the circus was known originally as ''Cirkusbygningen i Kristiania'' ("Kristiania's circus building"). It was built by a Danish businessman named Bernhard Holger Jacobsen (1866-1933), who had purchased the piece of land on which the Tivoli Gardens stood in 1887. The Tivoli Gardens were a place of entertainment with, among other attractions, a restaurant, a cabaret called ''Le Chat Noir'' (after Paris's famous cabaret in Montmartre), and a small theater. The Gardens also welcomed visiting circuses in various wooden structures, and Jacobsen thought building a large permanent circus there would be a good business move.
-The architect he chose was Ove Laurentius Ekman (1847-1921), who had designed several buildings in Kristiania, none of which of great significance: The Cirkusbygningen was to be his now-vanished masterpiece. It was a massive structure of red brick, with a monumental stone façade in the Neo-Renaissance style fashionable at the time, which opened on a vast foyer. The entire building occupied a total surface of 3,200 square meters (3,827 square yards). The house itself was 40 meters in diameter (131.23 feet), with a cupola that culminated at 32 meters (105 feet).
+The architect he chose was Ove Laurentius Ekman (1847-1921), who had designed several buildings in Kristiania, none of which of great significance: The Cirkusbygningen was to be his now-vanished masterpiece. It was a massive structure of red brick with a monumental stone façade, in the Neo-Renaissance style fashionable at the time, which opened on a vast foyer. The entire building occupied a total surface of 3,200 square meters (3,827 square yards). The house itself was 40 meters in diameter (131.23 feet), with a cupola that culminated at 32 meters (105 feet).
-It could accommodate 2,200 spectators, with four rows of seats around the ring and a row of boxes just behind them, and a third category with six rows of seats on the upper level divided in two categories, and a ''promenoir'' (standing room gallery) on two levels. The circus had a metallic infrastructure, with metallic columns that supported the cupola on the periphery behind the boxes. The orchestra was positioned above the ring entrance, with a large "royal box" facing it. The rest of the building housed stables for sixty horses (under the seating in the periphery of the house), storage rooms, dressing rooms for the performers, and rooms for the administration. Heated with hot air and equipped with electric lighting, it was quite state-of-the-art for its time. The total cost of the construction amounted to 300,000 kronen, quite a significant amount at the time.
+It could accommodate 2,200 spectators, with four rows of seats around the ring and a row of boxes just behind them, and a third category with six rows of seats on the upper level divided in two categories, and a ''promenoir'' (standing room gallery) on two levels. The circus had a metallic infrastructure, with metallic columns that supported the cupola on the periphery behind the boxes. The orchestra was positioned above the ring entrance, with a large "royal box" facing it. The rest of the building housed stables for sixty horses (under the seating in the periphery of the house), storage rooms, dressing rooms for the performers, and offices for the administration. Heated with hot air and equipped with electric lighting, it was quite state-of-the-art for its time. The total cost of the construction amounted to 300,000 kronen, quite a significant amount in 1890.
 ===A Multivalent Venue===

@@ Line 4: / Line 4: @@
 [[File:Cirkus_Verdensteater_Christiania.jpg|thumb|left|400px|The Cirkus Verdensteater (c.1905)]]From 1890 to 1935, Oslo, the capital of Norway, housed a magnificent circus building known as the ''Cirkus Verdensteater'' ("Circus World Theater"). It was located  at the corner of Klingenberggata and Bakkegaden, in the old Vika neighborhood, and adjacent to the Tivoli Gardens&mdash;a part of the city that completely disappeared when this area was demolished and rebuilt in the 1930s. The circus stood approximately where the Klingenberg movie theater is now, in the middle of the present Olav V Gate.
-At the time of the circus's construction, the city was still called Kristiania (it will become Oslo in 1925), and the circus was known originally as ''Cirkusbygningen i Kristiania'' ("Kristiania's circus building"). It was built by a Danish businessman named Bernhard Holger Jacobsen (1866-1933), who had purchased the piece of land on which the Tivoli Gardens stood in 1887. The Tivoli Gardens were a place of entertainment with, among other attractions, a restaurant, a cabaret called ''Le Chat Noir'' (after Paris's famous cabaret in Montmartre), and a small theater. The Gardens also welcomed visiting circuses in various wooden structures, and Jacobsen thought building a large permanent circus there would be a good business move.
+At the time of the circus's construction, the city was still called Kristiania, or Christiania (it will become Oslo in 1925), and the circus was known originally as ''Cirkusbygningen i Kristiania'' ("Kristiania's circus building"). It was built by a Danish businessman named Bernhard Holger Jacobsen (1866-1933), who had purchased the piece of land on which the Tivoli Gardens stood in 1887. The Tivoli Gardens were a place of entertainment with, among other attractions, a restaurant, a cabaret called ''Le Chat Noir'' (after Paris's famous cabaret in Montmartre), and a small theater. The Gardens also welcomed visiting circuses in various wooden structures, and Jacobsen thought building a large permanent circus there would be a good business move.
 The architect he chose was Ove Laurentius Ekman (1847-1921), who had designed several buildings in Kristiana, none of which of great significance: The Cirkusbygningen was to be his now-vanished masterpiece. It was a massive structure of red brick, with a monumental stone façade in the Neo-Renaissance style fashionable at the time, which opened on a vast foyer. The entire building occupied a total surface of 3,200 square meters (3,827 square yards). The house itself was 40 meters in diameter (131.23 feet), with a cupola that culminated at 32 meters (105 feet).

@@ Line 10: / Line 10: @@
 It could accommodate 2,200 spectators, with four rows of seats around the ring and a row of boxes just behind them, and a third category with six rows of seats on the upper level divided in two categories, and a ''promenoir'' (standing room gallery) on two levels. The circus had a metallic infrastructure, with metallic columns that supported the cupola on the periphery behind the boxes. The orchestra was positioned above the ring entrance, with a large "royal box" facing it. The rest of the building housed stables for sixty horses (under the seating in the periphery of the house), storage rooms, dressing rooms for the performers, and rooms for the administration. Heated with hot air and equipped with electric lighting, it was quite state-of-the-art for its time. The total cost of the construction amounted to 300,000 kronen, quite a significant amount at the time.
-===A Polyvalent Venue===
+===A Multivalent Venue===
 Holger Jacobsen, who owned the Tivoli Gardens and the circus until 1897, was not himself a showman, and the Cirkusbygningen had been built principally to accommodate independent, often foreign, circus companies visiting Oslo. It opened with great fanfare on March 15, 1890, with Gothold Schumann's renowned [[Cirkus Schumann]], which was then based in Sweden and had often shown in Oslo. Gothold's son and successor, [[The Schumann Dynasty|Max]], and Max's sons and grandsons, would bring Cirkus Schumann again to Oslo the three following years, and another time in 1896. The demolition of the building to make place for the new Vika neighborhood happened in 1935: closing a chapter it had opened, Cirkus Schumann returned to Oslo that year, the last circus to perform in the building&mdash;after a long hiatus when it had been used for other purposes.

@@ Line 31: / Line 31: @@
 File:Oslo_Circus_Plan.jpg|Ekman's house plan of the circus building (c.1889)
 File:Oslo_Circus_floor_plan.jpg|Ekman's floor plan of the circus building (c.1889)
 File:Bernhard_Holger_Jacobsen.png|Bernhard Holger Jacobsen (1890)
 File:Ove_Ekman_portrait.jpg|Ove Ekman (1898)

@@ Line 43: / Line 43: @@
 File:Oslo_Circus_(1933).jpg|Side view, Cirkus Verdensteater (1933)
 File:Schumann_Oslo.jpg|Cirkus Schumann at the Cirkus Vardensteater (1935)
 File:Interior_-_Cirkus_Verdensteater.jpg|Last performance of Cirkus Schumann at the Cirkus Verdensteater (1935)
 File:Oslo_Circus_demolition.jpg|Cirkus Verdensteater demolition (1935)