For more than 170 years, Cirque d’Hiver, the oldest circus in the world, has been the scene of many impressive acts.
In 1859, gymnast Jules Léotard, whose name would become synonymous with the one-piece suit, wowed audiences by launching himself from one trapeze to another without a safety net for the first time in public.
Half a century later, when circus performer Rosa Van Been married animal trainer Joseph Bouglione, the blessing took place inside the circus’ lion cage; In 1955, the film Trapeze, starring Gina Lollobrigida, Tony Curtis and Burt Lancaster, was filmed inside the imposing 20-sided building in the 11th arrondissement of Paris.
Today, however, the wow factor comes not from daring acts or smoke and mirrors in the ring, but from the discovery of an extraordinary panorama of painted canvas panels that were hidden for more than 70 years.
Following the discovery, the Cirque d’Hiver, whose name means Winter Circus, will undergo a complete restoration, returning it to its original 19th century glory.
Louis-Sampion Bouglione, whose family has owned the circus since 1934, said: “It’s wonderful to see them and see an important part of our history. We knew they existed because my father remembers seeing them, and we always hoped we could rediscover them one day. But we were afraid of the state they would be in or even if they were still there.”
As co-director and historian of the circus, Bouglione has spent decades researching the archives and has admitted that he often stayed awake at night wondering what the building looked like when Napoleon III officially opened it on December 11, 1852.
“So far we’ve only seen two (panels), but we’re going to open everything up to find out what’s there,” he said. “What’s really exciting and important is one of the few legacies of the circus from that time in painting.”
After the heritage-listed Cirque d’Hiver underwent a €2.2 million exterior renovation in 2007, the initial plan was to replace the red seating tiers around the ring. Architect Stéphane Millet, who is also renovating the stage of the Opera Garnier, proposed a more ambitious project.
“One of my tasks is to raise awareness about the importance of heritage and seek government help for projects, so I convinced the family to go a little further than their initial ambitions,” Millet said.
“What started with the seats has become a global project that includes everything; a bottom-up renovation. When you have heritage like this you have to show it.”
Millet has hired the Ministry of Culture and other authorities to finance much of the project, which he says will cost “several million euros.”
The Cirque d’Hiver, initially called Cirque Napoléon, was built in just eight months under the direction of architect Jacques Hittorff, responsible for the Gare du Nord. The original polygonal structure had a diameter of 42 meters, 40 stained glass windows and a wooden roof covered with decorated canvas designed to look like a tent, with false poles and hand-made moldings painted gold that looked like ropes and ties.
The 20 original paintings, 6 meters wide and almost two meters high and attached to wooden frames, depict warriors on horseback and scenes dedicated to equestrian arts. They were created by Nicolas Gosse and Félix-Joseph Barrias, highly sought-after painters of their time, and reflect the bas-relief panels on the exterior of the building that were renovated in 2007.
The first performers were former cavalry officers, but the acts soon diversified. Léotard would later inspire the popular English song, The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze Who Flew “Through the Air with the Greatest Ease,” written three years before his death in 1870, at the age of 32. Alexandre Dumas, the author of The Three Musketeers, was said to have been inspired by the beauty of the interior and wrote that the shows were so popular that the crowds had to be turned away.
Today, the shows no longer use wild animals in performances (they were discontinued in 2017) and remain very popular among Parisians. The building is a city landmark.
The renovation, which is expected to last four years, will begin in July when the paintings They are removed for restoration. They were covered with blue-painted wooden boards in the 1950s after being obscured by smoke from the original oil lamps and are believed to have been further damaged by leaking windows and several successive layers of decoration.
“It’s like wallpaper on old houses. Until we remove it all, we won’t know exactly what’s there or how much damage there is,” Millet said. “The canvas is very fragile but, from what we have seen, it is a wonderful piece of work. The fact that the panels have survived is testament to the quality of the painting.”
For Bouglione, the circus is very much a family affair. When Rosa Bouglione died in 2018, at age 107, she left 55 descendants, including children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. There have been several additions since then. Of the 20 family members still involved in Cirque d’Hiver, Louis-Sampion’s father, Émilien, is the oldest, at 91, while the two youngest are three.
“It’s family and everyone is involved in one way or another, even if it’s in small things. It’s work and we’ve found a way to make sure they’re both successful,” Bouglione said.
In recent years, in addition to the spectacular winter circus, which features a nine-piece orchestra, the building has been used for private events and political rallies.
The next few years will be a juggling act to ensure the circus show continues each winter while renovations take place during the two-month summer holidays, but Bouglione is confident they will be able to keep all the balls in the air.
“We’ll do the work during what we call the offseason,” he said. “It will take longer, but we can’t close. It’s a business and that’s why it has to work. Plus, people are passionate about the circus. They come when they are children and then they come with their own children and grandchildren. It’s a tradition.”
