All images are copyrighted © and may not be used or reproduced without
consent.
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Photographed:
april 2003
Web: july 2003
Last known status: abandoned but cleaned up.
Once
there was this circus in the city centre of Gent known as
the Wintercircus, next to the entrance there’s now a
bronze plaque with the history of the circus in short: The
New Circus. Built in 1894. Burnt down in 1920. Rebuilt in
1923. Last performance 28-5-1944. Donated to the city of Gent
by circus Bouglione 16-11-1971. After that it was used as
a garage and it housed a collection of old-timer cars owned
by a Mr. Mahy. A few years ago Mahy had to move his collection
of cars because the circus was going to be demolished to make
room for a cinema and other cultural purposes. As so many
ambitious plans it didn't happen and the circus is still there,
abandoned, beautiful, asking to be photographed.
Start with N°1 to take the tour, or click on any thumbnail
to view larger picture in new window
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Photographed:
September 2004
Web:
March 2005
Despite the fact that this is one of the last concrete circuses
in Europe the future of the circus is still uncertain. There are
plans to demolish the site but these plans encounter great opposition
from the public. Unfortunately not everyone is convinced that the
circus is worth the investment to restore and preserve it. The circus
is cleaned up now, it was cleaned for the recordings of a Belgian
TV show called "Man bijt hond" or "Man bites dog".
One day before the cleanup of the circus I was given the chance
to photograph the circus again. Now the place is too clean and doesn't
even look abandoned anymore, the atmosphere has changed, but you
can feel that the spirit of the circus is still there. The circus
lives on, at least for now...
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These
unique images from the circus are from the collection of Guy Puttevils.
My thanks go to Guy Puttevils and "het huis van Alijn"
for their kind permission to use this pictures on my website.
More
information about the circus can be found at the site of Victoria
Deluxe (in Dutch)
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