Moscow Circus on Tsvetnoi Boulevard was the only circus

Circus

A circus is commonly a travelling company of performers that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, unicyclists and other stunt-oriented artists...

 in Moscow

Moscow

Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

 between 1926 and 1971 and still remains the most popular one. The circus building was opened on 20 October 1880 as the Solomonsky Circus. Known by a variety of names during the Soviet period, the troupe was awarded the Order of Lenin

Order of Lenin

The Order of Lenin , named after the leader of the Russian October Revolution, was the highest decoration bestowed by the Soviet Union...

 in 1939. Among the famous performers who worked there were the clowns Karandash

Karandash

Mikhail Nikolayevich Rumyantsev , better known under his stage name Karandash , was a famous Soviet clown....

, Oleg Popov

Oleg Popov

Oleg Konstantinovich Popov is a famous Soviet and Russian clown and circus artist. Popov is also called the "Sunshine clown".He was born on 31 July 1930 in Moscow, the son of a clock-maker. He studied elements of acrobatics, juggling, and other circus skills in his youth...

, and Yury Nikulin, who managed the company for fifteen years and whose name it has borne since his passing in 1997. In front of the building is a remarkable statue of Nikulin, whose son has been in charge of the circus ever since his death.

See also

• Bolshoi Moscow State Circus
  Moscow State Circus
  The title “Moscow State Circus” is used for a variety of circuses. Most commonly, it refers to one of the two circus buildings in Moscow, the “” and the “Bolshoi Circus” , or to traveling shows which may or may not be directly related to Russia.The Russian Circus rose to world acclaim during the...
  
   on Vernadsky Prospekt
• Ciniselli Circus in Saint Petersburg
  Saint Petersburg
  Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
  
  
• Valentin Gneushev
  Valentin Gneushev
  Valentin Gneushev is a Russian circus director and choreographer.Gneushev was born in the city of Nizhny Tagil in the Serdlovsk region....
  
   - the artistic director and choreographer of Nikulin's circus in the late 1990s