Ciniselli Circus

The Circus Ciniselli ( Russian: Цирк Чинизелли ) was the first stone building erected as a permanent circus in Russia. It is located in Saint Petersburg on the banks of the Neva left arm Fontanka. The remaining building was opened on December 26, 1877. It has a large stage with 13 meters in diameter and stables for 150 horses. The architect was Vasily Kenel.

The Italian circus artist Gaetano Ciniselli (1815-1881) visited St. Petersburg for the first time in 1847 as a member of the circus troupe of Alessandro Guerra. In 1869 he came with his brother Carl -Magnus Hinne back to Russia and has appeared in performances in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Ciniselli now remained in Russia and took over in 1875, the two circus locations of Hinne.

The Ciniselli family ran the circuses until their emigration in 1921. They had the buildings are often rented out for entertainment events with a high number of visitors, such as for the World Wrestling Championship in 1898 and Max Reinhardt 's production of Oedipus the King in 1911.

Two rooms of the building is since 1928 the first circus museum in the world, where more than 80,000 objects were exhibited in 2002.