Circus Building, Copenhagen
| The Circus Building | |
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The Circus Building
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| General information | |
| Architectural style | Historicism |
| Town or city | Copenhagen |
| Country | Denmark |
| Coordinates | 55°40′34″N 12°33′54″E / 55.6761°N 12.5650°ECoordinates: 55°40′34″N 12°33′54″E / 55.6761°N 12.5650°E |
| Construction started | 1885 |
| Completed | 1886 |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | Henrik Vilhelm Brinkopff |
The Circus Building (Danish: Cirkusbygningen) on Axel Torv in Copenhagen, Denmark. is a circular building completed in 1886 to serve as a venue for circus performances. The last circus to use the building was in 1990
The Circus building was designed by the architect Henrik Vilhelm Brinkopff and built from 1885 to 1886 in the area outside the former Western City Gate which was Copenhagen's premier entertainment district with nearly venues such as Tivoli Gardens and National Scala, inaugurated Cirkus Benneweis in 1882 and since then it has housed a variety of other events and activities. It is now used for shows and as a restaurant.
At that time, circus tents were relatively uncommon. Instead, touring circus companies performed in permanent venues. They were generally simple wooden structures but in major cities elaborate circus buildings in brick and stone became increasingly common. Ernst Renz, director of Circus Renz and artist who had made a fortune on his trade, had built extravagant circus buildings in cities such as Berlin, Hamburg, Vienna and Breslau. In Copenhagen he leased the new building on a three-year contract.
The first plans envisioned an extravagant building with an elaborate facade with statues and Greek columns but in the end a much simpler design was chosen.
The Circus Building was inaugurated on 8 May 1886 but Renz sub-rented the building in 1887 to his German colleague, Albert Schumann the Elder, who, a few years earlier, had opened a circus in the Swedish town of Malmö on the other side of the Øresund.
Renz did not renew his lease after the 1888 season and died in 1891. Instead the Circus building played host to performances by a variety of visiting foreign circus companies which passed through Copenhagen on their European tours.
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Wikipedia