After walking, we drove south to the Tampa/St. Petersburg area. Our campsite in Ruskin faces a lovely lake. We awoke shortly after the sun and went to Sarasota to be among the first visitors at the John and Mable Ringling Complex. Those of you who have been traveling with us for a while may recall our visit last spring to the summer home of the Ringling Circus in Baraboo, WI. Sarasota, FL became the summer and more permanent home for the Ringlings. The complex consists of circus museums, an art museum, their home and gardens. We saw them all and closed the place down.
The Ringlings became avid baroque art collectors on their trips to Europe. They amassed a worthy collection of religious art primarily by Rubens. They even went so far as to duplicate columns from paintings into real columns in doorways. Their collection, as intended, is now a museum of art owned by the state. Our docent provide a good lesson in art history.
Beyond art, the Ringlings saved historic rooms from demolition. Two rooms in the museum
originally were in the Astor Mansion on 5th Avenue.
Standing on the Gulf of Mexico is the 31- room mansion Ca d’Zan, the House of John in Spanish, recently restored to the way it looked when the Ringlings lived there. The court with its chandelier from the Waldorf Astoria overlooks the dock for their yacht.
The grounds of the complex contain rose gardens, Mable’s secret garden, banyan trees, and a lovely red poinsettia.
What most people do first, we did later, and that was view the movie about the Ringling’s. It is a tale of the five brothers who formed the circus, the lovely marriage of John and Mable, and the loss of Mable and the Ringling fortune. Ringling, once one of the richest men in America, lost all but $311 of his fortune but kept his home and art collection which he left to the state of Florida.
The theater is from a palace of Queen Catherina of Cypress. It was acquired and restored by the first director of the art museum. We returned there later in the evening to enjoy (for the severaleth time) “Driving Miss Daisy.”
The Ringlings were circus people and the complex contains a most amazing circus: a 3800 square feet miniature fully contained big top circus. The Tibbal Learning Center contains the 50 year and still going work of Howard Tibbals. He has hand crafted every detail of circus life, even the dining hall, toilets, and side show. The roar of animals and cheers of the crowd follow as visitors wander around the model saying, “I remember that.” It took Anna Lee back to her childhood when the big top rolled into Denver and she got to go to the circus.
Tibbals and other craftspeople still create models for the miniature circus and other displays.
The Circus Museum has the Wisconsin, the Ringling’s private rail car, found and restored by Tibbals. Like Baraboo, there is also a display of historic circus wagons. A small area pays tribute to one of the greatest clowns of all, Emmett Kelly.
After over six hours at the center, we still did not see everything and next year there will be circus acts and a hall of fame for visitors to enjoy.
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