Cirque Fernando

Moderate Aktualizováno: 2025-01-23

Research Status: Moderate Last Updated: 2025-01-23 Diary Coverage: Up to 1880-10-20

The Cirque Fernando was a popular circus and entertainment venue in Paris, located in the Montmartre district at 63 boulevard Rochechouart. Built in 1875, it became known for both circus performances and as a venue for political meetings and gatherings.

In October 1880, the Cirque Fernando hosted a controversial Bonapartist political meeting where "several hundred men" gathered, exchanged blows, and decided to send twelve delegates to demand that Prince Napoleon ("Plon-Plon") submit to Prince Victor or abdicate.

Marie notes the hypocrisy of Cassagnac and Amigues, who claimed to be "absolutely foreign to the reunion" while simultaneously celebrating in their newspapers "the great act of the people of Paris."

Cultural significance:

Famous venue immortalized by Impressionist painters
Toulouse-Lautrec painted circus scenes there
Renoir painted "At the Cirque Fernando" (1879)
Served dual purpose: entertainment venue and meeting space
Located in bohemian Montmartre district

The circus's use for political meetings reflects how public gathering spaces in Paris served multiple functions during the Third Republic.