Sarasota County Florida - a cultural alternative to Disney World

The Ringling Museum of Art - Sarasota Florida

The Ringling estate, now The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, consists of several buildings including Cà d'Zan, the Museum of the Circus, and the original Art Museum building. Now comprising sixty-six acres, the Museum and the adjacent New College campus of the University of South Florida, together with the FSU Center for the Performing Arts and FSU/Asolo Conservatory, form Florida's most important cultural and educational district, serving the entire State of Florida.

The Ringling Residence, Cà d'Zan (Venetian dialect for "House of John"), along with the original Museum building (the Art Galleries), is an eclectic combination of architectural styles. Dominantly Italianate, the buildings were designed by Dwight James Baum (Cà d'Zan) and John H. Phillips (the Art Museum). Both were built at a cost of over $5 million - a large sum even at that time. The Museum incorporates many architectural elements that the Ringlings brought back from Europe.

The Museum's Courtyard is arcaded on three sides by Loggias. It is inhabited by statues of Greek and Roman gods and goddesses, copies of predominately ancient and Mannerist sculpture which enhance the architecture and form a charming twentieth-century American version of a European formal garden.

The Ringling Art Galleries are disposed within the building around this Courtyard. Over 400 objects from the Museum's permanent collection, including paintings, drawings, prints, decorative arts, and photography are on view for the public in these galleries. (Unfortunately, due to restricted space, not all of the Museum's collections can be exhibited at one time.) In 1998-99, the Art Galleries were completely reinstalled Reinstallation

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