Visiting the Ringling Museum

I was very excited that one of my friends from the DC area happened to be in Florida recently, so we got to hang out while she was here! We thought we'd visit The Ringling, a set of museums on the Ringling grounds all about the Ringling family and circus. I had visited as a child, but I really just remembered Ca’ d’Zan, the actual mansion where John and Mable Ringling lived (the name translates as "House of John" in Venetian, fun fact). But there is A LOT more than that!

And this is just the outside!

We started there, since you have to pay extra to see the mansion (an adult ticket to have access to all the museums is $40, which seems steep, but you get your money's worth. You'll see!). The house really is spectacular: painted ceilings, colored glass, a fancy mint green kitchen just like Marjorie Merriweather Post's at Hillwood... The Ringlings were living well and in style. And it looks out on Sarasota Bay; the view is spectacular!

Looking into the Great Room, you can see the colored glass in the windows. Very unique!

Not only are the ceilings painted, but they are carved, too.

This ceiling made me think of the movie Never Been Kissed, when the prom's theme is "couples throughout history."

This is the Great Room, piano and chandelier included, of course.

The tiling outside of the home is so cool, and you can look right out on the Bay!

All the windows in the back of the house allow for lots of light and a great view of the water.

The grounds are also neat, full of tropical plants. There was a garden, but because it was so hot out, we raced through the rose garden to get to the art museum. 

Rocktrumpet

Banyan trees are everywhere on the property. They are amazing! It's like they grow into each other and create columns and rooms. I feel like you could live inside their fortresses.

Those are not birds nests with eggs. This is a nicker bean plant, and those are the seed pods with seeds!

Next we headed to the art galleries. This museum is huge. There is some modern art (I particularly liked the section featuring local artists), but a lot of it is Renaissance art that the Ringlings had collected themselves (lots of Rubens). I think wealthy people like to collect Renaissance art because everyone is in agreement that it is indeed art. BUT there are only so many Virgin and child paintings I can look at...

This work is by Elisabeth Condon. I love the Florida vibe! I want one of her pieces in my house!

This artist used a lot of her kids drawings, which seems like cheating, but I did like the pig.

These huge swamp paintings were on carved wood. I felt transported!

They even have their own copy of the David!

And there are not one but TWO museums dedicated to the circus! One is all about the Ringlings and the history of the circus, and the other one houses a massive model circus (the biggest in the world!), which was built entirely by Howard Tibbals (for whom the building is named). Talk about someone turning their childhood hobby into a dream job!

John Ringling had his own passenger train to travel on (called the Wisconsin). It has been completely restored. If RVs had been around in his day, he would have loved that!

I never thought about how the wheels of all the wagons and floats would be decorated. I also learned that a bandwagon is a wagon that holds the band. I never thought about where the phrase "jump on the bandwagon" came from!

A creepy composite of all the circus employees: clowns, acrobats, bell boys, everyone!

Now this is a top hat I would wear!

Me in a clown car. I fit!

Warrior Two on the back of a horse. But imagine if he were running!

A big part of the circus back then was biological oddities, like Siamese twins, bearded ladies, etc. This gentleman had no legs, stunted arms with tiny hands, and YET he drew this self-portrait! You can't see it from far away, but the curls in his wig are actually tiny phrases from the Bible. Amazing!

And here are a bunch of photos of the model circus:

For all you train lovers out there. Train travel was big during this time, and that's how the circus would move from town to town.

A three-ring circus had a lot going on under the Big Top! While most of the model is static, there were some aerialists who swung from the top of the tent.

Parades seemed like part of the circus, too. I think the parade would come through the town as marketing for the actual circus later that day.

This is a view of the whole model from upstairs. It's way bigger in real life!

We were at the Ringling for HOURS. The time went by quickly, but we had no idea that we'd meet at 10:40am and still not be done four hours later. But we made it through and treated ourselves to lunch at the museum restaurant. I almost never go to those, but we were starving, and the menu wasn't ridiculously expensive as one might expect (the food was good, too!). It was a very enjoyable day, and I would totally go back! So any friends who are visiting who wanna go: I'm game!