Cirque d'hiver

The Cirque d'Hiver shows a twenty-sided polygon of stone, topped by a rounded roof that sits like a flat cap over the street. Napoleon the third opened this building in eighteen fifty-two to house the equestrian shows of Louis Dejean. Dejean hired an architect to craft a space where every seat offered a clear view of the ring. During the winter of eighteen seventy, the Prussians besieged Paris, and the circus floor served as a temporary weapons workshop for the national guard.