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Florida State University Ringling Center for the Cultural Arts Review

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Florida State University Ringling Center for the Cultural Arts

Address: U.S. 41, ½ mi west of Sarasota-Bradenton Airport, Sarasota, FL, 34236 | Map It
Phone: 941/359-5700
www.ringling.org

Category: Museums/Galleries
Location: Sarasota

Write a review | Avg. member rating: 5.0/5

Fodor's Review:

Along Sarasota Bay, Ringling built a grand home that was patterned after the Palace of the Doges in Venice. This exquisite mansion of 32 rooms, 15 bathrooms, and a 61-foot Belvedere Tower was completed in 1925, and is a must-visit today. Its 8,000-square-foot terrace overlooks the dock where Ringling's wife, Mable, moored her gondola. The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art is the state art museum of Florida and houses 500 years of art, including a world-renowned collection of Rubens paintings and tapestries. The Ringling Circus Museum displays circus memorabilia from its ancient roots to modern day. The Tibbals Learning Center, which opened in early 2006, focuses on the American circus and the collection of Howard Tibbals, master model builder, who spent 40 years building the world's largest miniature circus. This impressive to-scale replica of the circa 1920s and '30s Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus is authentic from the number of pancakes the circus cooks are flipping, to the exact likenesses and costumes of the performers (painstakingly re-created from photography and written accounts), to the correct names of the animals marked on the miniature mess buckets. Tibbals's passion to re-create every exact detail continues in his on-site workshop, where kids can ask him questions and watch him carving animals and intricate wagons.

Cost: $19; free Mon.
Open: Daily 10-5:30

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Member Reviews and Ratings

Reviewed by swisshiker from Austin, Texas on 2/17/09
We drove here as a daytrip from Orlando (2+ hours).

One of our favorite rooms in the Louvre is the Rubens room, so when we read that the Michelin Guide had rated this museum as a 3 star, we knew we were in for a treat.

And what a treat it was! To stand in front of two rooms of Rubens right here in Florida -- well, it was unbelievable.

The outdoor sculpture garden, with its reproductions of many Italian sculptures (including Michelangelo's David), was beautifully landscaped and designed.

The estate grounds are impressive. Following the trail through the rose gardens and huge banyan trees, you find the mansion, directly overlooking the bay. The inside is is beautifully decorated. There is a sign next to the elevator that states it was the first indoor elevator in Florida!