Sarasota County Florida - a cultural alternative to Disney World

The Ringling Brothers Museum - Sarasota Florida

The Ringling residence is among the most charming creations of 1920s interest in ornately decorated mansions for the rich and famous. In the tradition of Hearst's San Simeon and Deering's Vizcaya, Ringling's Cà d'Zan represents the American domestic architectural preoccupation with historical styles during the period. The historic mansion is in the midst of a multimillion-dollar restoration scheduled for completion in the fall of 2001.

Cà d'Zan is a 30-room mini-palace of mixed but primarily Venetian Gothic decoration and fairly common-sense-American structural design and plan. The rooms of the mansion reflect the Ringlings' taste and times, showing a glimpse of the private life behind the mansion walls by presenting many of Ringling's decorative arts objects as well as a portion of the tapestry, silver, porcelain and furniture collections.

The Ringling Museum grounds also include the Original Asolo Theater building which houses the Museum's most important period room: an Italian Baroque theater interior purchased in Italy and reassembled at the Museum in the early 1950s. The theater illustrates the scale and the concept of Baroque theater design.

The Museum's first director converted the estate's original garage to the Museum of the Circus galleries in 1948. The intention was to display a collection of circus art and memorabilia - from posters and photographs to wagons and costumes - assembled with state support to honor the Museum's founder. It continues to do so and ongoing circus-related exhibitions are on display.

Included on the estate are the Banyan Café, two gift shops, and the acres of parkland and gardens with Banyan and palm trees among the wide variety of native and exotic plant materials.

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