The Ringling

Sarasota boasts world-class arts at The Ringling, a Bayfront museum & courtyard comprising old masters’ works, a circus museum, a cafe, playground among the Banyan trees, and exquisite walking trails and rose garden tours. Visitors can also explore Ca’d’Zan, the former home of Ringling Brothers circus founder John Ringling and his wife, Mable. Throughout the year, The Ringling invites visitors to concerts, presentations, weddings, and holiday decorations.

ART MUSEUM & COURTYARD

SARASOTA

Enjoy free admission to the art museum & courtyard on Mondays throughout the year. The manicured grouds, cafe, and playground are open to the public throughout the week. The museum is made up of 21 galleries of American art, Asian art, contemporary art, European paintings, and ancient artifacts from Cyprus. The collection consists of over 10,000 pieces including decorative arts, drawings, paintings, photographs, prints, and sculptures that range from antiquity to contemporary art. The museum contains works by Bernini, Boudin, Duchamp, Gainsborough, Poussin, Velaquez, and more. Its collection of Rubens paintings is world-renowned, and a towering replica of Michelangelo’s David greets visitors to the courtyard.

CA’ D’ZAN & ROSE GARDEN

SARASOTA

The Ringlings built their winter home, a 56-room, 22,000 square foot, Venetian Gothic mansion named Ca d’Zan or “House of John, on Sarasota Bay. This winter home, built in 1926, cost the Ringlings $1.5M. John Ringling’s bedroom is furnished with pieces made in France in the 1850s. He paid $35,000 for the 9-piece set ($750,000 today). Incidentally, are you aware the living room chandelier in the Ca d’Zan came from the original Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York, the very hotel that was torn down in 1929 to make way for the Empire State Building? At Christmas, Ringling staff transform the home for the holidays while Mable’s inimitable rose garden is pruned throughout the year by wonderful volunteers. The Ringling is more than an art museum.

CIRCUS MUSEUM

SARASOTA

A bygone circus era springs to life at the Circus Museum Tibbals Learning Center on the campus of The Ringling. In 2006, Howard Tibbals and his wife Janice created and debuted a remarkable 44,000-piece re-creation of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus (c. 1919-1938) model in the 3,800 square foot center. This miniature version of a complete circus wows visitors who feel as if they’ve stepped back in time to a real three-ring circus. Throughout the Center, circus legends are cast, costumes are displayed, a 924-square-foot circus mural hangs, and the real chariot that led the greatest show on earth into each town reminds all of us of the way to the big show.

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THE RINGLING

ART MUSEUM & COURTYARD

SARASOTA

CA’ D’ZAN & ROSE GARDEN

SARASOTA

CIRCUS MUSEUM

SARASOTA

Sarasota US