Nikulin Moscow Circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard

The Old Moscow Circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard is one of the oldest circuses in Russia. A hundred years ago, in 1880, this building on Tsvetnoy Boulevard was built for the circus of Albert Salamonsky office of merchant Danilov. They say that Salamonsky framed the first ruble received for a ticket and hung it at the ticket office. When the circus received the first spectators on October 20, 1880, there were five rows of armchairs, lodges, a flat floor, second seats with wooden unnumbered shops and a standing gallery. Then the building was repeatedly adjusted and completed, but all his long century served the circus. The most famous artists performed on his arena. Anatoly and Vladimir Durov, Vitaly Lazarenko, Williams Truzzi with their trained horses. Sosina's unmatched jumpers. First-class jockeys Vasily Sobolevsky and Herbert Cook. Graceful dancer Martha Sur, Acrobats Oceanos. The incomparable equalisers of Sister Koch. The famous “cunning” Kyo, who fascinated all the boys. The circus was celebrated by its famous directors, and everyone was tireless in the search. Boris Shakhet made elegant dancers make their partners huge elephants. The success of the circus was largely facilitated by the work of the Artistic Director Yu.S. Yursky, who thundered with his theatrical parades-prologues, the main director M.S. Mestechkin, the director A.G. Arnold, the directors N.S. Baikalov and A.V. Asanov. Artistic director of the circus art studio Izyaslav Nemchinsky created a true revelation of the century on the Moscow arena - "Bear Circus" by Valentin Filatov. Mark Mestechkin in one beautiful winter made clowns from the outdoor circus balcony, or, as he was called in the old days, rausa, sing mischievous verses on the whole Tsvetnoy Boulevard: Circuses were built on the market - Such is the story. We don’t live the old-fashioned way – the market is attached to us. The circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard actually lived and worked out of the old way. He kept looking. Search for new numbers. Searching for new performances. Searching for new names. In 1919, by decree of Lenin, the circus was nationalized. The former Salamonsky circus became the first state circus. This homely cozy circus, where, more often than ever, a young one is born, at different times opened the names of trainers Sarvat and Olga Begbudi, equalizers Leonid Kostyuk and Alexei Sarach, juggler Sergei Ignatov, air gymnasts Nadezhda Drozdova, Valery and Yuri Pantelenko. We can say that the Moscow circus has long been staged, releasing new numbers, attractions, performances, large pantomimes, special children's performances on the circus conveyor. Here in the late fifties restored water pantomime. One after another, three performances appeared - "Youth Celebrates" (1956), "Happy Swimming" (1059), "Carnival in Cuba" (1962). Here, children's performances are reliably established, which, as a rule, go on vacation days. And what a self-respecting circus without its own clowns! Here began the unfading glory of the Pencil. In those years, the newspaper “Pravda” gave ads to theatrical Moscow. And every day only one line among them was unchanged: "In the arena - a pencil." More than once he performed in the old circus “solar clown” Oleg Popov. In 1946, a clown studio was established. Many of her pets came out in different years on the arenas of the country. Yuri Kotov and Boris Romanov. Leonid Kukso, Dog Aibolit Alexander Popov, the head of the dog "choir" Sergey Bouslayev ... On the Moscow arena shone star Leonid Engibarova, who called himself a correspondence student of Charlie Chaplin. He inspiredly showed people his, similar to fairy tales, facial scenes. He was called the clown with autumn in his heart. But undoubtedly, the most famous clowns, which the Moscow circus gave the light, were the studios of the second issue Yuri Nikulin and Mikhail Shuidin. Sometimes just for them people took tickets to the circus, not paying much attention to who else appears in the program. During the war of 1941-1945, the circus did not stop working. Rooms worked, new programs were installed. A special place in the productions was occupied by stunt episodes related to military operations. In the arena, in the famous pantomime "Three of Ours", there were motorcycle fights, a fight for a horse, acrobatic clowning of two German soldiers. In the final, a real tank went to the arena and crushed enemy pillboxes. In the clown reprise of the brilliant clown Pencil in the grotesque-satirical style, fascist warriors were ridiculed. In 1983, the leadership of the circus was taken by the People’s Artist of the USSR, the famous clown and artist Yuri Nikulin. On August 13, 1985, the last performance took place in the old circus building. This performance became a grand memorable event for all Muscovites. After that, the old building was broken down. On October 19, 1987, the first stone was laid for the construction of a new building, and a capsule was walled there. A few years later, on September 29, 1989, a new building of the Old Moscow Circus was opened with the program “Hello, Old Circus!” (directors V. Krymko, N. Makovskaya). July 1996. The main director of the circus was appointed Honored Artist Valentin Gneushev. In December 1996, after the 75th anniversary of Yuri Nikulin, the circus was given the name “Moscow Circus Nikulin on Tsvetny Boulevard”. In August 1997, after the death of Yuri Nikulin, his son Maxim Nikulin was elected General Director. The new circus building now has modern technical equipment, newly equipped administrative rooms, dressing rooms, animal rooms, in short, the entire interior. Unusually beautiful was the new spectator foyer. The auditorium, with only minor changes, tried to reproduce as it was before the reconstruction. Today, the Old Moscow Circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard is still ready to host more than 2,000 people.