The Ringling is a museum on the former estate of John & Mable Ringling. John Ringling was one of the five brothers who owned and operated the circus rightly called “The Greatest Show on Earth.” His success with the circus and entrepreneurial skills helped to make him, in the Roaring Twenties, one of the richest men in America. In 1911, John and his wife, Mable, purchased 20 acres of waterfront property in Sarasota. The grounds now include two circus museum buildings, art museum, gardens and a 36,000 sq ft fifty six room mansion called Ca’d’Zan.
We decided to check out The Ringling with my mom and aunt who were visiting. All I can say is this place is incredible. You can easily spend an entire day at this place. We were able get through both circus museum buildings, first floor tour of the mansion and walk through the gardens but ran out of time and did not go through the art museum.
Circus Museum – Tibbals Learning Center
This building houses an incredible scale model of the circus. By walking through this section you get a great understanding of what was involved with putting on “The Greatest Show on Earth”. I hope my pictures give you a glance into the circus world.
The model was absolutely amazing. The above video gives you a great look at the entire display. It is one of those things you have to see in person to really appreciate. Let’s move on to some other areas of this building.
I’m going to share with you some pictures of the grounds as I take you through the buildings. We had a beautiful 🌞 day for our visit as you can see from the pictures.
Circus Museum – Historic Gallery
Hope you enjoyed this post. If you ever get a chance to visit Sarasota definitely put this place on your itinerary.