THE HOUSE THAT CIRCUS BUILT

"The Greatest Show on Earth" transformed Sarasota into the cultural center it is today.

"The Greatest Show on Earth" transformed this once sleepy beach town into a center of culture.

When John Ringling relocated the winter headquarters of his world-famous Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus to Sarasota in 1927, he set off a chain of events that would transform the physical and cultural landscape of what was then just another quiet southwest Florida town.

"Bringing the circus to town put Sarasota on the map," says Kim Cool, author of Circus Days in Sarasota & Venice. "But it was opening the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art that turned Sarasota into the cultural center of Florida."

According to Cool, Sarasota boasts more than 100 historic and cultural sites and organizations whose origins can be traced to the Ringling legacy. Most prominent is the 66-acre Ringling Estate (www.ringling.org), home of the 21-gallery John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art. The museum has an impressive array of European, American and Asian art, including the Ringlings' personal collection of works by such masters as Rubens, Poussin, Hals and Van Dyck, as well as an extensive art library.

Cà d'Zan (House of John), the Ringling's opulent 41-room Mediterranean Revival mansion, is the centerpiece of the estate and includes a massive terrace and dock overlooking Sarasota Bay.

The Ringling Circus Museum rounds out the estate's off erings, with exhibits of personal memorabilia from famous circus artists, thousands of antique circus posters, circus props, parade wagons and the largest miniature circus in the world.

In the 1950s, the museum acquired an 18th-century theater in Asolo, Italy, which it moved to the Ringling Estate and reassembled piece-by-piece.

It became home to Florida State University's Asolo Theatre Festival, and later to the university's graduate school theater program. Today, the Asolo Repertory Theatre (www.asolo.org) performs in three theaters, including the original.

The Edwards Theatre in downtown Sarasota was the city's first performing arts house when it opened in 1926. Renamed the Florida Theatre in 1936, a high point was its 1952 screening of Cecil B. DeMille's Academy Award-winning film, The Greatest Show on Earth, set in the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus and filmed on location in Sarasota. It is now home to the Sarasota Opera (www.sarasotaopera.org), whose winter season begins in February with Tosca.

Ringling's influence continued when he established a college for the arts in 1931 in an They fly through the air with the greatest of ease. They juggle flaming torches, and traverse the high wire with death-defying grace. In between acts, they do their homework.

Each day after school, 125 fourth- through 12th-graders gather in the PAL Sailor Circus tent to practice the routines that have made the nation's oldest youth circus a mainstay of Sarasota society since 1949.

"The kids have a lot of fun getting ready to perform, but they also help out with the rigging, costume design, concessions and props," says Jim Shirley, spokesman for Sarasota County's Police Athletic League, which took over the nonprofit after-school program in 2004. "It's a great way to have fun while learning about responsibility and teamwork."

Sailor Circus, which has appeared on "Today" and in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, performs in Sarasota twice a year; catch them Dec. 27-29.

LITTLE BIG TOP

Find out why the all-children's PAL Sailor Circus is called "The Greatest 'Little' Show on Earth."

They fly through the air with the greatest of ease. They juggle flaming torches, and traverse the high wire with death-defying grace. In between acts, they do their homework.

Each day after school, 125 fourth- through 12th-graders gather in the PAL Sailor Circus tent to practice the routines that have made the nation's oldest youth circus a mainstay of Sarasota society since 1949.

"The kids have a lot of fun getting ready to perform, but they also help out with the rigging, costume design, concessions and props," says Jim Shirley, spokesman for Sarasota County's Police Athletic League, which took over the nonprofit after-school program in 2004. "It's a great way to have fun while learning about responsibility and teamwork."

Sailor Circus, which has appeared on "Today" and in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, performs in Sarasota twice a year; catch them Dec. 27-29.