Perhaps one of the most famous circuses on the planet. A century ago, a building was erected on Tsvetnoy Boulevard by order of Albert Salamonsky. For the first time, the circus opened by him began to attract people with entertaining shows for children, not only for adults. And in 1983, the brightest and funniest clown of this institution, artist Nikulin, became the director. It is his name that this legendary circus arena bears today.
How it all began
Albert Salamonsky, the father of the Moscow Circus, was from Italy and was the world's most famous hereditary circus performer. He was also a successful entrepreneur, as he managed to establish several arenas, heading them as a manager. Among them are not only the Nikulinsky circus, but also the famous Riga circus. By the way, before the opening of the Salamon Circus, circus numbers could only be worn by the age of 18+. After all, such shows were considered in demand exclusively by adults. It was with the circus on the boulevard that the chronicle of the creation of entertainment programs for the youngest enthusiastic spectators began, the privilege of the circus arena also became the holding of New Year trees with delicious gifts.
The building with the arena was erected in 1880. On October 20, 1980, the circus already received its visitors. An interesting story is that the first ruble that a sold circus ticket brought him, he put in a frame and placed it on the wall behind the cashier's back.
On the opening day, it was possible to choose a seat in one of 5 rows of soft seats, on the bed or on the mezzanine. The tickets for the second seats with ordinary benches without any numbering or for standing spectators were more budgetary. Of course, the building has gone through many reconstructions and rebuildings, but all these years it has invariably served as a circus.
Who performed
On the stage of the circus, which later became known as the Nikulinsky circus, famous and beloved people came out. There was applause here:
- acrobats Oceanos
- Lazarenko Vitaly
- famous for the performances with graceful horses Vilmams Truzzi
- Sosins jumped under the very dome
- Marta Sur performed musical numbers
- the Koch sisters with numbers under the dome
- "Cunning" Kio
The directors who made the circus famous:
- Arnold Arnold
- Boris Shakhet (invented to combine a number with elephants with beautiful dancers)
- Yuri Yursky
- Mark Mestechkin
- N. S. Baikalov and A. V. Asanov
Impressive features
- The main life principle of the actor and entrepreneur Salamonsky: "How can it be called a circus if the audience laughs little in it?"
- The dome of the arena reaches a height of 22 meters; it is one of the largest domes in Russia.
- The monument to the artist Yuri Nikulin opposite the circus was erected on 3.09.2000. This is the creation of the sculptor Rukavishnikov. The famous clown is shown near his Adler Trumpf Junior car, which was immortalized in the memory of people by the Soviet movie "Prisoner of the Caucasus". By the way, this car was Nikulin's personal property.
- In 1982, the circus was filming a New Year's concert-performance called "Attraction". This festive program included the premiere of the then new song by Alla Borisovna Pugacheva, which is still popular today - "A Million Scarlet Roses". The singer simultaneously sang and circled under the dome on a circus trapeze. The concert number and the song itself became the brightest performance of the decade.
- Nikulin's circus is warmly "friends" with the capital show "Field of Miracles". So, in 1992, in this building on Tsvetnoy Boulevard, the 100th anniversary game of the program was held. And 8 years later, in November 2010, another jubilee performance was held in the circus - a concert in honor of the 20th anniversary of the national program.
Innovators
The circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard was an innovative circus not only for introducing programs for children. He worked in a new way in everything, one step ahead of his time. Artistic directors were constantly on the lookout for finds: new actors, new talents, new acrobats, new numbers, new shows. By order of Vladimir Lenin in 1919, the institution was nationalized. Now the former circus of businessman Salamonsky became the first circus with the prefix "state".
But he still remained at home, family, but innovative. And he opened more and more young artists: animal trainers, equilibrists, jugglers, dancers, gymnasts. At the end of the 50s. the circus restored the pantomime with water.
During the Great Patriotic War, the circus did not stop performances for a day. During these years, an interesting and very motivating place in the program was given to tricks showing military battles. This is how the pantomime "Three Ours" became famous, in which motorcyclists demonstrated a fight, a scene with trainers - a fight for a horse, as well as a clownery of acrobats who portrayed two fascists. Clown Pencil brilliantly satirically ridiculed the fascist soldiers. The finale boggled the imagination: a real tank was rolled out into the arena, which crushed enemy pillboxes.
The circus has become a full-fledged theater of performances. Performances were staged here, the years of demonstrations were 1956, 1959, 1962, as well as children's parties-performances (vacation program).
Talented and funny
The circus does not have the right to be called such without its own, who know how to make clowns laugh to tears.
Famous all over the planet - funny clown Pencil. The Pravda newspaper printed posters for the theatrical capital. Every day, on the pages of the edition, one printed line never changed: “Pencil appears in the arena”.
In the old circus, the famous "solar clown" was the artist and consummate humorist Oleg Popov.
And in 1946, the institution even created its own clownery studio, from which in subsequent years real talented clowns were released on various stages of the country.
The most famous clownery actors were the graduates of the second edition of the great clowns of the century, Yuri Nikulin and Mikhail Shuydin. Those who like to laugh went to the Moscow Circus just to enjoy their performances to their fullest.
Nikulin
Yuri Nikulin became the head of this Moscow institution in 1983. He held the final (farewell) grand show in an old historic building in August 1985. And then the old dilapidated building was razed to the ground. But in 1987, the first brick was laid and a capsule with a letter to descendants was walled up under the new building.
The new building was opened with a circus performance in 1989.
In 1996, in honor of the 75th anniversary of Nikulin, the circus was named after him. When Nikulin died, in 1997, the talented son of the artist Maxim began to manage the institution.
Address and opening hours
Schedule:
- every day from 11:00 to 19:00
- lunch break - from 14:00 to 15:00
- if there are performances in the morning, then the lunch break is from 12:30 pm to 13:30 pm.
Address: Moscow, metro station "Tsvetnoy Bulvar", b. Tsvetnoy, house N13. T.: 8 495 625-89-70.
