As the owner of the Museum of Juggling History, I share information and photos of items on display in that museum in my eJuggle articles quite often. However, other museums around the world contain important juggling treasures as well. In Part 1 of this series, we examined the Vienna Circus and Clown Museum, the Garst Museum, the Museum of Circus Art, the Circus Museum of Hvideovre, Denmark, the Swedish Circus Museum, and Kelvin Hall. Let’s take a look at some more museums that display juggling props.
Circusland
Circusland is a museum in Besalú, Spain devoted to preserving circus history. On display in the museum are some important juggling props, costumes, and posters. Props from Evgeni Biljauer, Bela Kremo, and Valentin Chrenov are among those on exhibit.
Evgeni Biljauer props
Bela Kremo props on the right, unknown props on the left
Valenin Chrenov balls and prop stand, a traditional bamboo diabolo, and a Rastelli trophy
Musee Bouglione
Musee Bouglione is a semi-private museum located at Cirque d’Hiver in Paris, France. It houses the collection of the Bouglione Family, one of the oldest and best-known families in the circus world.
I’m only aware of props from one juggler on display there, but that juggler is quite important. The museum has 5 toss juggling sticks and two mouth sticks from Enrico Rastelli. You can see these below.
Enrico Rastelli props
Stadtmuseum Berlin
Stadtmuseum (City Museum) Berlin houses juggling props from the Joseph Blank Company (umbrellas) and Dieter Tasso (cigar boxes).
Joseph Blank juggling umbrellas
Dieter Tasso cigar boxes
Musée du Cirque du Dr. Alain Frère
One of the best-known circus collections in the world has been amassed by Dr. Alain Frère, a physician and long time mayor of the French town of Tourrette-Levens. He is also the co-founder of the Monte Carlo Circus Festival. His Musée du Cirque has an amazing collection of costumes, props, posters, and memorabilia relating to circus history. His collection contains props and/or costumes from jugglers such as Anthony Gatto, Francis Brunn, Tony Fercos, El Gran Picaso, Nino Frediani, Italo Medini, Francoise Rochais, Pepito Alvarez, Ugo Garrido, Dick Franco, Little John Seidel, Boum Boum, Ty Tojo, the Mongadors, and others.
Dr. Alain Frère with a ball and costume from Francis Brunn
Dr. Alain Frère with a costume and rings from Anthony Gatto
Dr. Alain Frère with a costume and props from Pepito Alvarez
Nino Frediani costume
Mongador clubs and twelve candlestick flip set
Dr. Alain Frère holding Ty Tojo cigar boxes
Dr. Alain Frère with props and costume from Little John Seidel
Dr. Alain Frère with a Dick Franco costume
Dr. Alain Frère with a Tony Fercos costume
Costumes from Ugo Garrido and another juggler
StadtMuseum Einbeck
The StadtMuseum (City Museum) of Einbeck, Germany has an exhibit of props from the 3 Morles. You can see this in the following photo.
3 Morles props, unicycle, and costume
If you know of some other museum displays around the world that feature juggling props, please feel free to email me.
David Cain
David Cain is a professional juggler, juggling historian, and the owner of the world's only juggling museum, the Museum of Juggling History. He is a Guinness world record holder and 16 time IJA gold medalist. In addition to his juggling pursuits, David is a successful composer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and singer as well as the author of twenty-six books. He and his children live in Middletown, OH (USA).