The Great Moscow State Circus

History of the Circus

The Great Moscow State Circus was opened on 30th of April 1971 and was designed and built under the guidance of I.Belopolsky. Its impressive auditorium is an enormous 36 meters tall and can seat up to 3,400 people. The circus building contains all the necessary technology and equipment to makes its daring and varied range of acts possible.

The floor of the main auditorium is an impressive 18 meters deep and features five interchangeable rings, which are used for the various horse, water, ice and animal acts featured in each performance. The circus also has a sixth ring, which is used for rehearsals and as a place where the artistes warm up before their acts.

The Circus employs approximately several hundreds artistes at the present time, many of whom have been awarded the prestigious titles of People's Artistes and Honored Artistes of the Russian Federation. These artists perform over fifty specialized acts, ranging from clowning, juggling and aerial gymnastics to bear and porcupine training acts.

Many of the artists take part in numerous European and international circus festivals and competitions and tour every year to over 20 countries throughout the world with the rest of the Great Moscow State Circus troupe.

In 1996 the Circus celebrated its 25th anniversary with a "Silver Show on the Vorobievy Hills", which was organized and staged by the People's Artist of Russia and director of the Great Moscow Circus, Leonid Kostyuk. The performance was a great success and more than 500,000 spectators, including many foreigners, visited the show. Kostyuk, who used to perform in the ring himself and won a "Golden Clown" prize at the International Circus Festival in Monte-Carlo, still directs the circus as well as working as a professor at the Russian Academy of Performing Arts.

Performances

Performances are held at the Great Moscow State Circus on a daily basis with matinees starting at 3pm and evening performances starting at 7pm.