On the trail of vanished circus buildings
by Swantje Kawecki
There is scarcely an image more closely associated with the circus than that of the circus tent. The circus and its tent go together like hand and foot and, from today’s perspective, are almost inseparable – not least because of how they are portrayed in popular culture.
In fact, however, circus performances did not always take place in tents. The modern circus, as we know it today, developed instead in Britain during the 1780s and 1790s, when an increasing number of travelling artists settled down. This development also led to the construction of permanent circus buildings. The early development of the circus was consequently closely linked to permanent venues. The circus tent, on the other hand – just like the nomadic nature attributed to the circus – was not introduced until 1825 in the USA under the direction of circus proprietor Joshuah Purdy Brown.
Today, contemporary circus takes place in a variety of venues: in public spaces, in dance halls, on theatre stages or indeed in circus tents. But what has become of the huge circus buildings of the 18th century? We get to explore this question during the CircusDanceFestival together with researchers Mirjam Hildbrand and Johanna Hilari.
It is one of the first warm days in Cologne, just in time for the start of the CircusDanceFestival. After the city pop-ups brought circus to the city’s various neighbourhoods the previous weekend, we stayed in the city centre on Thursday for a brief insight into Cologne’s circus history.
People are bustling about on the terraces around Neumarkt and Rudolfplatz. When I arrive at the entrance to the Apostelkirche, a small group is already gathered. Among them are the researchers from Grit, Mirjam Hildbrand and Johanna Hilari. They focus on the marginalised history of theatre and circus, which is little known or even forgotten. They try to dig it out of the archives and bring it back to life.
Whilst we are still waiting for the rest of the group, someone across the street is playing the saxophone; it’s a coincidence, yet it frames the moment perfectly, like a little welcome intro. For an hour and a half, Mirjam and Johanna will guide us through Cologne city centre and to the Aachener Weiher – on the trail of the vanished circus buildings.
Yes, the circus had buildings: grand stone structures, architecturally modelled on ancient examples, which could accommodate up to 3,000 people. From the 18th century onwards, they shaped the cityscapes of major European cities. The venues were designed to feature both a circus ring and a proscenium stage, as found in bourgeois theatres and opera houses. A seating arrangement tailored to class society, along with tiered ticket prices, regulated financial and spatial access whilst simultaneously enabling different social milieus to mingle.
Back at the Apostelkirche on Neumarkt, our route takes us into Gertrudenstraße – right next to today’s Sparkasse building. It is hard to imagine that a magnificent circus once stood here. Mirjam and Johana, however, prove us wrong.
Old building plans, posters and letters from the years 1878 to 1950 show that it was precisely at this spot that the German-Dutch Carré Circus established its Cologne venue. Carré had previously built circus venues in Vienna and Amsterdam, the latter later becoming the company’s headquarters. In Cologne, however, the company remained for only seven to eight years. Why the circus abandoned its venue after such a short time is a part of the story that remains unclear to this day. Over time, the building was used for various purposes, most recently as a cinema and variety theatre, before it was finally destroyed during the Second World War. The remains were acquired by the Kreissparkasse, and with them its origins faded into oblivion.
With a short walk to the Aachener Weiher and into the city’s famous green belt, we head to the next historical site. Unlike the monumental stone circus buildings of the 19th century, the Williams building was designed with pragmatism in mind: a functional, multi-purpose hall of the post-war era. Much about the building remains a mystery to this day. Neither complete building plans nor precise information on its construction have been found so far.
The venue was run by Circus Williams under the management of Carola Williams, born Carola Althoff. She came from one of the most significant German circus dynasties of all time. The name Althoff had shaped European circus history for decades – yet it disappeared from the company’s name when she married Harry Williams. The traditional Althoff Circus became the Williams Circus. The fact that a woman’s public legacy and her family history were subsumed into her husband’s name also reveals the patriarchal structures that continue to have an impact to this day.
Yet the Williams building, too, lasted only a few years and was dismantled as early as 1956 – just as short-lived as the Carré building on Neumarkt had been before it. In 1957, the Williams Circus moved into winter quarters in Cologne-Mülheim, before Carola Williams withdrew completely from the business in 1968. With that, the circus gradually disbanded. It is all the more symbolic that the former winter quarters in Mülheim were eventually taken over by the young Circus Roncalli in the early 1980s – as if the Cologne circus were reclaiming its space.
And all that remains today to remind us of this history is a stone plaque on the Grüngürtel opposite the Aachener Weiher and, more recently, the new Wikipedia article by Mirjam Hildbrand and Johanna Hilari.
A look at the history of the circus proves that permanent venues are far more than mere performance spaces. They create the opportunity to bring people together on a long-term basis, to become part of the urban landscape, and to offer artists a lasting anchor point. Whilst the circus has long been associated with mobility and the image of the travelling circus tent, stable spatial structures have repeatedly been crucial to its development and social visibility. And today, artists are responding to this gap by, for example, transforming an old industrial hall on the Osthof site in Cologne Kalk into the Creation Centre Contemporary Circus, thereby giving the scene – but also the city and the public – a place once again.
Hildbrand, Mirjam. 2023. Theaterlobby attackiert Zirkus. Zur Wende im Kräfteverhältnis zweier Theaterformen zwischen 1869 und 1918 in Berlin. Bd. 4. Ästhetische Praxis. Brill Fink.
Trapp, Franziska. 2020. Lektüren des Zeitgenössischen Zirkus: Ein Modell zur text-kontext-orientierten Aufführungsanalyse. De Gruyter.