Exhibition Circus by Rail

On Thursday, June 27, a unique exhibition will be opened at the Model Railway Museum by Alderman Petra van den Akker and circus expert Simon Visser. Sander Balk of Circus Salto will also be there with his barrel organ. The exhibition "Circus by Rail", will be open to the public from June 29 until the end of December.
Part of this exhibition are; a lifelike miniature of circus Krone (scale 1:87) and of Sarrasani (scale 1:43). Miniature circus Sarrasani will leave for England in mid-September and will thus be on display until the end of August.

The exhibition "Circus by Rail" uses many pictures, posters and a real circus display to show how various circuses over the years were transported by train to and from their destinations. The preparation and accomplishment of this exhibition is thanks in part to many circus connoisseurs and enthusiasts.

Late in the 19th century, circuses became too large and complex to travel by road to their next destination. People came up with the idea of using a specialized circus train. A train on which wagons, animals, performers and tents could be efficiently loaded and unloaded. This made it possible, after the evening performance, to break up, drive to the next location and rebuild before the matinee performance. P.T. Barnum's circus was the first circus in America to move by train, and soon European circuses were transporting themselves by train. The last circus train to visit the Friesland region was from Circus American in Leeuwarden in 1993.

The museum is open: Wednesday through Friday, Sunday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.