Cirque d'été

The Cirque d'Été (Summer Circus), a former Parisian equestrian theatre (and a type of indoor hippodrome), was built in 1841 to designs by the architect Jacques Hittorff. It was used as the summer home of the Théâtre Franconi, the equestrian troupe of the Cirque Olympique, the license for which had been sold in 1836 to Louis Dejean by Adolphe Franconi, the grandson of its founder, Antonio Franconi. The cirque was later also used for other purposes, including grand concerts conducted by Hector Berlioz.

The new theatre was located on the north-east side of the present Rond-Point of the Champs-Élysées. At first called the Cirque National, it also became known as the Cirque des Champs-Élysées and the Cirque Olympique des Champs-Élysées. In 1853 it was renamed Cirque de l'Impératrice (in honor of the new Empress Eugénie), a name which it retained until the fall of the empire in 1870.

The cirque on the Champs-Élysées should not be confused with the same company's winter theatre, the Cirque Olympique on the Boulevard du Temple, which had opened in 1827, or with the company's later winter theatre, the Cirque Napoléon (on the rue des Filles Calvaires), also built for Louis Dejean and opened in 1852. The latter theatre dropped the name Cirque Napoléon in 1870 and became primarily known as the Cirque d'Hiver (Winter Circus). The theatre on the Champs-Élysées was demolished in 1902.

In 1836 Louis Dejean, the owner of the Cirque Olympique on the boulevard du Temple, obtained an additional license for a summer tent-circus at the Carré Marigny on the Champs-Élysées. This was replaced in 1841 by a polygonal stone edifice with 16 sides. A pedimented porch on the east side was surmounted with a bronze equestrian statue designed by Pradier, and panels on the other sides sported ornamental bas-relief horses' heads designed by Duret and Bosio. The theatre was spacious and held as many as 4,000 to 6,000 spectators. To the north was a rectangular building which included the stables. The interior was decorated in a Moorish style,and the roof was supported by light iron columns. The ceiling was decorated with compartments enclosing equestrian figures, and a chandelier with 130 gas jets hung over the center of the performance ring, which was surrounded by sixteen rows of seats. The stadium-style seating was "raked so sharply that those who wished might admire the costumes of fashionable women from head to toe."

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Wikipedia