Circus shows in nineteenth-century Poland as pseudo-Olympics

Abstract

ABSTRACT The so-called pseudo-Olympics include all kinds of events organised before 1896 that referred in varying degrees to the traditions of the ancient Olympic Games. Sports historians who have studied the subject of pseudo-Olympics focus mainly on the sports games and cultural festivals initiated in the seventeenth century, which, in terms of their organisation, programme and nomenclature, imitated the games held in ancient Olympia. At the same time they often ignore various circus performances, many of which used Olympic themes and can also be classified as pseudo-Olympics. The forerunner of such performances in Europe was the English circus, which became a pattern to follow for French and German circuses. The latter had the greatest impact on the development of circus art in nineteenth-century Polish territories. Staged circus productions were examples of performance forms that popularised the Olympic tradition in a more or less conscious manner.