Cirque d'Hiver Bouglione

The Cirque d'Hiver features a twenty-sided polygon structure topped by an oval dome, a design that sets it apart from the surrounding rectangular limestone buildings of the eleventh arrondissement. Napoleon the Third laid the cornerstone in eighteen fifty-two for what was then the Cirque Napoleon. When the director Louis Dejean commissioned the building, he demanded a permanent venue for equestrian acts that could withstand the chill of winter. The horses often shivered during performances in temporary tents, so he built this stone home.