John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art

Built by the circus impresario on 20 acres of waterfront property, in the Venetian Gothic style, the 36,000 square foot bay-front mansion, Ca’ d’Zan,  has 32 rooms and 15 bathrooms. The mansion houses the Ringling collection of decorative arts and furniture.

John Ringling built a 21-gallery museum on the property, modeled on the Florentine Uffizi Gallery, to house his collection of paintings and art objects, including works by Velazquez, Poussin, van Dyke, and Rubens. and rplicas of Greek and Roman sculpture. The historical, modern and contemporary collection comprises Asian, European and American art.

The Ringling is also an accredited arboretum in the Morton Register of Arboreta, a database of the world’s arboreta and gardens. To be accredited, an arboretum is required to have a minimum of 100 species, varieties or cultivars of trees or woody plants. 

A Circus Museum is located on one edge of the extensive gardens. The Ringling is the State Art Museum of Florida and is administered by Florida State University.

Click here for a map of the museum campus 

Read our review of the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art in Art Things Considered - An Art Geek Travel Blog, and our article about the extraordinary man and patron of the arts, John Ringling himself.