Nizhny Novgorod (State) Circus — a state circus in Nizhny Novgorod with a permanent company. In addition to regular performances, the circus arena hosts private celebrations: anniversaries, children's birthday parties, and corporate events. For Residents of Nizhny Novgorod and visitors to the city, there is the circus café "13 Meters" and the social hotel "Dom Artista" (superior room — €100, standard single — 1,500 rubles per night).
Layout and facilities
The auditorium of the Nizhny Novgorod Circus is designed as an amphitheater with 18 rows (2,000 seats). Special spaces are provided for wheelchair users. The most sought-after seats have traditionally been those in the lower rows of the central sections — category "A" and "B" seats located opposite the performers' entrance.
The lighting, sound, film projection, laser projection, and video surveillance systems meet the most up-to-date standards. One of the most impressive technical features of the circus is a retractable staircase that connects the stage to the main arena.
The circus occupies an area of 30,000 square meters. On its grounds there are stables for 37 horses, separate enclosures for marine animals, predators, elephants, dogs, and monkeys, a large modern veterinary clinic, and a utility yard for vehicles, where animals can be unloaded under cover regardless of weather conditions.
Nature of the institution
The Nizhny Novgorod Circus is an institution whose purpose is to maintain and service the circus building complex and to provide an auditorium and arena for circus performances, rehearsal spaces, animal housing, and accommodation for performers.
All circus programs are touring productions. They perform under contract, which specifies a fixed fee paid to the circus; the remainder goes to the program's touring operators. The terms of the contract are set by order of the parent organization, Rosgostsirk.
The circus itself barely makes ends meet. The largest circus complex in Europe demands enormous utility costs. The cream is skimmed by the touring operators and Rosgostsirk.
History
In 1883, the Nikitin brothers built a permanent wooden circus in Nizhny Novgorod.
Extract from the newspaper Nizhegorodskaya Yarmarka, No. 15, dated July 29, 1883: "Yesterday, the 28th of July, the Nikitin brothers' circus opened; its construction and décor, given the brevity of the season, are quite decent; the circus is fairly spacious and the seats are comfortable. As for the performers, they leave nothing to be desired for a fairground circus: there are excellent male and female equestrians, superbly trained horses, and passable clowns."
Extract from the newspaper Nizhegorodskaya Yarmarka, No. 6, dated July 20, 1887: "The grand, luxuriously appointed stone circus of the Nikitin brothers. Today, the 19th of July, the circus opens.
The first grand performance featuring a troupe of first-class performers and a corps de ballet; the company numbers up to 100 persons and 80 horses. The circus building is, for the first time in Russia, illuminated by electric incandescent lamps and large lanterns. Stage director: V. Sur; directors: the Nikitin brothers."
On May 27, 1984, the old circus hosted a performance marking the centenary of the Gorky–Nizhny Novgorod circus.
The director of the anniversary performance, who also closed it with his act "Elephants and Tigers," was People's Artist of the RSFSR Mstislav Zapashny. He handed the symbolic key to the new circus to circus director Marinin I. P. with the words "We will open it soon." For that final performance — the closing of the old circus — the residents of Gorky gathered with a special sense of hope for a reunion in the not-too-distant future.
On September 1, 2007, Nizhny Novgorod became one of the first cities in Russia to open the largest circus complex in Europe. The residents of Nizhny Novgorod waited 23 years for this momentous event, which came to pass thanks to the determination and resolute will of our Governor, Valery Shantsev.
Community activities
The "Friends of the Circus" Club
The "Friends of the Circus" Club brings together volunteers dedicated to promoting a creative and healthy lifestyle — values that circus art embodies. Circus art truly knows no boundaries: it delights children, mothers, fathers, grandmothers, and grandfathers alike. It is one of those art forms that appeals to and is understood by everyone, regardless of age or social standing. Its range of genres is wonderfully varied: merry clowning, beautiful and thrilling acrobatics, the magical tricks of illusionists, the virtuosity of jugglers, and, of course, trained animals. Something for every taste.
The circus is a unique temple of culture that fosters the spiritual development of every individual. Today circus art has earned worldwide recognition as one of the most spectacular art forms! The goals and objectives of the "Friends of the Circus" Club are to attract the attention of government representatives, society, business, and youth organizations to the idea of developing the Nizhny Novgorod Circus and promoting circus art throughout Nizhny Novgorod Region.
We count on your interest and mutual cooperation in bringing our ideas to life.
Establishment of a circus studio at the Nizhny Novgorod Circus
The circus is one of childhood's fondest memories — an irresistible atmosphere of festivity and fun, funny clowns, and incredible, spectacular stunts. "Circus art lessons" make a magical and captivating gift. It is not merely a chance to peek behind the "circus curtain," but an opportunity to learn how to perform complex tricks, to become king of the air or master of objects. This extraordinary adventure will deliver a cascade of unforgettable impressions, and the result will be the admiration of friends and family for the tricks you perform.
The creation and development of a circus studio at the Nizhny Novgorod Circus is the first step toward establishing a professional training college — or at least a branch campus or a separate department.
There are, after all, a great many circus dynasties and independent circus companies that need to be brought together, giving them the foundation for professional growth and raising the quality of circus performances and events in Nizhny Novgorod.
Charity performances for fire victims in Vyksunsky District
The Nizhny Novgorod Circus did not remain indifferent to the state of emergency that had developed in the region.
On August 12, 2010, at the initiative of the administration of the Nizhny Novgorod State Circus and the performers of the touring program "The Splendor of the Chinese Circus," a charity performance was organized.
A group of Chinese circus performers traveled to Vyksunsky District, where an open-air performance was held for those affected by the fires. The event was held with the support of the Ministry of Culture of Nizhny Novgorod Region and Rossiyskaya Gazeta.
Creation of the Nizhny Novgorod Circus Arts Museum
The museum serves to preserve the traditions that connect generations of performers and audiences alike; it takes pride in its first playbills, rare autographed photographs, and performers' costumes. This is a wonderful initiative! It will allow us to preserve and immortalize the memory of circus masters and dynasties, and most importantly to pass on to future generations the most beautiful and democratic of art forms — the circus.
The history of circus art on Nizhny Novgorod soil stretches back 123 years.
Earlier than in Moscow, the Nikitin brothers opened a permanent — though still wooden — circus right here in Nizhny Novgorod. We have more than enough exhibits: photographs, old programs, performers' costumes, props and equipment from old circus acts, mementos and gifts — all of which tell the story of our circus's glorious history and the trends of contemporary art. A space for the museum already exists. Admission to the museum will be open to anyone who comes to the circus.
Organization of festivals and competitions among children's performing groups in Nizhny Novgorod Region
Today circus art has earned worldwide recognition as one of the most spectacular art forms! And our goal is to draw young people toward the idea of developing the Nizhny Novgorod Circus and promoting circus art throughout Nizhny Novgorod Region.
Organizing and holding celebrations for children from orphanages and boarding schools Celebrations for children from orphanages and boarding schools differ greatly from ordinary children's parties. Preparing for such events is a serious and labor-intensive undertaking, aimed at giving children a festive mood and making them believe in fairy tales! And the circus is already a miracle in itself! Throughout the entire event, the children will be entertained by professional clowns. Oversized character costumes are enormously popular at children's parties — a giant toy that can sing, dance, and talk is every child's dream. A festive mood will be the faithful companion of every child from the first minute to the last.
All these events are an additional element in nurturing the audience's love for a very interesting and original art form. We count on your interest and mutual cooperation in developing the art of the circus. We welcome any suggestions for its development. We look forward to seeing you!
You can meet with us at the public reception office of the "Friends of the Circus" club at: Kommunisticheskaya Street., 42, "Dom Artista" hotel, office 103.
Phone: 246-72-12, 413-28-28, Email: pr@circus.r52.ru
Booking a birthday, anniversary, or corporate celebration at the circus
Now you have a unique opportunity to make your celebrations unforgettable!
By entrusting the organization of your event — a banquet, anniversary, wedding, corporate evening, or any other celebration — to us, you can be confident that your celebration is in the hands of professionals.
For a long time in our country, there has been a tradition of celebrating all significant events in a close family circle. But now the Nizhny Novgorod Circus opens its doors to everyone! Give yourself and your loved ones a unique opportunity: a fun show with fairy-tale characters, circus programs, and individual or corporate greetings — at our venue or at your office — all so that you will remember this magical celebration!
The Nizhny Novgorod Circus will arrange an unforgettable birthday, anniversary, corporate evening, or New Year celebration featuring circus and variety performers. We will create an atmosphere of magical fairy tale, festivity, and dreams — not only for children, but for adults as well.
Come to our fun shows and give yourself an unforgettable celebration!
The program of celebration events may include:
- performances by circus and variety artists
- banquets and buffets
- musical accompaniment
- oversized character costumes
- animal performances
- other activities in accordance with the client's wishes and the type of celebration
To learn more about event organization services and to place an order for your event, please call: 415-7-415.
Ticket booking
Contacts
Address
Official website
Phone
- General inquiries, tickets 415-7-415.
- Event organization at the circus 246-72-12.
- Dom Artista 246-72-12, 413-28-28.
In the comments of Nizhny Novgorod residents
Svirsky's Show
Here is what the advertisement on the circus's official website says: "The Moscow Circus presents the GRAND SHOW 'LIONS OF AFRICA' under the direction of People's Artist of Russia Nikolai Svirsky. The program features the best acts of the Russian circus with the participation of prize-winners and diploma recipients of circus competitions. Unforgettable encounters await you with numerous animals: free-roaming horses, an unusual act featuring a llama and a cat together, a dog ballet, an aerial gymnast on silks, trick riding on ponies, trick cyclists, jugglers, eccentric acrobats on a board, and of course, jolly clowns. No one will be left indifferent by the attraction 'Lions of Africa,' under the direction of People's Artist of Russia Nikolai Svirsky. His lions are true and kind friends. He has found a common language with them and they understand each other perfectly. Don't miss the grand spectacle! Come and see the unseen!"
I didn't miss it, I saw it, and I can tell you — it's a grand con! Truly unseen. They weren't lying about that. And I'll be happy to explain in detail, why.
From the very start, everything going on resembled some kind of Belladonna's circus right after the little pig Funtik made his escape. A nervous sort of atmosphere, and constant aggressive peddling of everything imaginable in the aisles. And everything imaginable consisted exclusively of cheap Chinese trinkets that either spin, light up, or squawk at children enticingly. Oh, and balloons... The usual repertoire of the guys who sell stuff to passers-by in underpasses. And now also at the Nizhny Novgorod Circus.
Throughout the entire time before the show starts, the loudspeakers repeatedly urge you "not to forget to buy cotton candy, popcorn, and calendars for those who love the circus." Makes you think. And the vendors' faces were unsettling too.
The most wretched face belonged to a visitor. I spotted him near the trained llama, which was standing against a wall and staring with bewilderment at those wishing to photograph themselves with it for 200 rubles. And the person who had paid those 200 rubles looked as though he was doing something for the sake of future generations. Well, to hell with it, I thought. After all, everyone needs to make money, so if there are suckers around — milking them is no sin. It's a shame it's so blatant, but maybe the show itself is good.
Having taken my seat, I took one single shot and began watching what was happening. Taking photos inside the auditorium was out of the question: they had packed in so many attendant women it was unbelievable. During the intermission they sell calendars and balloons, and the rest of the time they stare into the auditorium without a break. The thought did cross my mind — "what would they do?" — but I just wanted to relax rather than experiment.
The outright scam began the moment the lights in the auditorium went down. Because every single act — and they came before the audience without pause — looked more like amateur entertainment. First of all: there was not a single (!!!) act without some kind of blunder. The jugglers dropped their clubs, a gymnast fell off someone's shoulders, some other piece of equipment came apart and the act had to start over. The only exceptions were two aerial gymnasts — one on silks, the other on a simple rope — but their acts so suspiciously resembled pole dancers spinning on a tall pole that you couldn't help wondering about the backstory of their joining the troupe. And those wing tattoos on their lower backs do kind of hint at something...
Second of all: everything advertised about the animals is complete and utter nonsense. The "unusual llama act" consisted of absolutely no training whatsoever — the llama simply walked in a circle for a couple of minutes and occasionally placed its front legs on the edge of the ring and looked at the audience. For the record, this same trick was performed by the little dogs, the clowns, and the acrobatic jumpers. So it's more of a signature move for this particular troupe than any kind of trained act.
The ponies, advertised alongside the word "trick riding," could barely trot around the ring at all. One of them periodically gave the whole proceedings the cold shoulder and wandered off to nibble something at the edge of the ring. They only led her away after she grabbed the edge of the carpet with her teeth. The trainer simply stared into the audience with an expression that said "well, what do you expect, it's an animal."
The gymnasts who couldn't climb on top of each other, the jugglers who kept dropping everything, and the cat trainer — who experienced a particularly amusing incident — all wore the same look. The cat act was simple and straightforward: they set up a bridge the cats were supposed to run up, walk across, and then descend back into their cage. The first two managed it fine, since there was food waiting at the bottom.
But the third cat lost its due portion and stopped to pick it up. The cats behind it sped up slightly, with the same goal in mind. A minor cat pile-up ensued at the bottom of the ramp. It didn't look great, especially combined with the fact that the cat who caused the jam had to be hit a few times with a stick to get her paws moving faster.
There were no trick cyclists at all, and the "dog ballet" amounted to some pathetic semblance of a dogs' wedding featuring poodles of various sizes. The only thing stopping the dogs from having their way with each other in the ring were their costumes and some sequin-adorned ponchos. Full marks, then, for the first half.
As soon as the intermission was announced, the loudspeakers once again reminded everyone of the need to buy cotton candy and popcorn for the kids, to get photos taken with the animals, and also invited anyone interested to go backstage to see the future performers — the lion cubs. Particular emphasis was placed on the fact that this trip would allow you to see a wonder — a white lion.
Any idiot could tell there would be yet another cash shake-down waiting there. But that was precisely why I went. The absurdity had to be complete, otherwise the gestalt wouldn't close. But to close it, I had to queue up again.
This is a good moment to say a few words about the local Nizhny Novgorod public. You may recall me writing somewhere that keeping quiet is the signature style of the city's residents. Sometimes it seems like you could assault someone in broad daylight and the Nizhny Novgorod native would just look on with sullen reproach but wouldn't say a word. It's just not done. Here in the crowd surging backstage, I got to observe yet another quality: the hope that maybe something is free.
A crowd of around two hundred people drifts toward the backstage entrance, and in dead silence a few isolated voices cry out "What do you mean, a hundred rubles per person?!" After which those unwilling to pay — who have suddenly fallen out of love with the little lion cubs — begin squeezing back through the crowd in no time flat. All of this with small children in tow. Now that's a circus!
Those who paid run into the first bottleneck. This isn't a poor-quality photograph — it is a highly accurate depiction of the scene: a handful of grim-faced Nizhny Novgorod residents of various ages stand and wait for permission to proceed to the lion cubs. Some silently turn and leave, while one circus employee tries to sell a balloon in the meantime. But inside the room, a surprise awaits everyone...
...because there are no lion cubs inside. There are only the little dogs from that very same poodle "ballet" that nearly ended in a canine orgy.
Characteristically, not a single soul coming out of that room will say a word about the fact that there are no lion cubs inside. Everyone stays silent, because if you've been conned but your neighbor hasn't, then you're not a real Nizhny Novgorod native — you're a sucker. But if everyone's been conned, then no one is a sucker. It's just an unlucky day in Nizhny Novgorod for its residents.
I chose not to stay silent and said on my way out, straight out: "The lion cubs aren't here, there are dogs here." The crowd started grumbling and dispersing, and the circus guy with the balloon, if he tried to say anything, shut up the moment I looked at him.
The lion cubs were in the next room. Dazed by the sheer number of fools. And in yet another room, labeled "Dog Room," were cats — but they couldn't care less. They weren't even looking at the people squeezing past each other and sniffing all manner of filth that fills backstage rooms, all trying to get maximum value out of their hundred rubles.
The second half consisted of the promised lions. Pathetic, somehow dazed-looking creatures that spent the entire time sitting on pedestals. Only one lion — Surik, or something like that — performed any kind of unhurried movements. They all had names like vendors of samsa from the little stalls near markets. The circus is from Moscow, after all, and that's fashionable there right now — Caucasian names, I mean. Trendy. A lioness did something too, but then she refused to get up and the trainers simply lay down on top of her, as if that had been the plan all along. Their faces, though heavily made up, gave away the fact that this was an unplanned mishap. Surik got a beating too, inevitably.
In closing, let me note three more things that struck me.
- №1 Throughout the entire lion act inside the cage, a guy stood at the edge of the ring holding some kind of pneumatic rifle (two air tanks were connected to it). I watched them and thought: if the lions start misbehaving, who exactly is he going to shoot with that rifle? Just in the general direction of the trouble? That way the children will witness not only the trainer being eaten, but also being blown apart by compressed air — hitting any specific target in a chaos like that would be virtually impossible.
- №2 When during the intermission and after the show the very same performers who were just contorting themselves in the ring sell that same popcorn and Chinese toys and balloons in the corridors at prices "from 250 rubles and up" — that is pornography. And a gypsy hustle. Because it completely discredits the whole idea of the circus as a fairy tale. People like that should be thrown out on their ear.
- №3 I didn't understand a single clown act: they were either about booze or about money. And the only ones laughing at any of it were the clowns themselves and a few of the usherettes. It seems that money and alcohol are somehow painful subjects within this troupe.
LiveJournal, "fima_psuchopadt," January 30, 11:08