"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.
History
Construction phase
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.
Early years of running
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.
In March 1914, the Circus building was devastated by a fire which left only the outer walls standing. It was quickly rebuilt, under the direction of the architect Holger Jacobsen, and reopened in 1915 with the German Zirkus Sarrasani as tenant.
Architecture
The building is circular and topped by a shallow dome. The most destinctive feature of the facade is a frieze located just below the roof on the periphery of the outer wall. It was created by the sculptor Frederik Hammeleff and survived the fire in 1906. It depicts motifs from ancient Rome and Greece.
The Cirkus building today
Since 2003, the building has been leased by Wallmans salonger, a Swedish entertainment company, which uses it for a dinner and entertainment venue."
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