Sarasota Jungle Gardens, 3701 Bay Shore Road, Phone: 941-355-5305, . Daily 9AM-5PM. There are 5 shows at the gardens in addition to the grounds themselves which are filled with many interesting plants. As with most early attractions, they offer some animal shows and a chance to see some rare plants, many of which are of extraordinary size. This attraction is a rare opportunity to see what Florida was like in the tourist boom of the early 1900's.
The Ringling Estate, 5401 Bay Shore Road, Phone: 941-359-5700, . Daily 10AM-5:30PM. The Ringling Estate has recently finished a six-year restoration and expansion phase that restored all of the existing buildings and added four new buildings to the estate. Features of the 66-acre estate include the lush grounds and landscaping including Mable’s Rose Garden, the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, the Circus Museum, the Cà d’Zan Mansion, the Tibbals Learning Center, and the Historic Asolo Theater located in the Visitor’s Pavilion.
The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, . The Museum of Art, built by John Ringling to house his personal collection of masterpieces, today features the great Old Masters including Rubens, van Dyck, Velàzquez, Titian, Tintoretto, Vernonese, El Greco, Gainsborough and more. Opened in October 1931, the Museum recently opened the Ulla R. and Arthur F. Searing Wing in 2007, adding an additional 30,000 square feet of exhibition space. The Museum’s 21 galleries feature internationally renowned European, American and Asian art with masterpieces from the Renaissance and Baroque periods. The Courtyard of the Museum of Art features casts of original statues including the towering David by Michelangelo. The Courtyard features two fountains - Fountain of Tortoises, one of three replicas from the Piazza Mattei in Rome, and the Oceanus Fountain, copied from the 16th century original by Giovanni Bologna in Florence’s Boboli Gardens.
Circus Museum, . Established in 1948, the Ringling Museum of the American Circus was the first museum of its kind to document the rich history of the circus. The Museum has a fine collection including rare handbills, posters and art prints, circus paper, business records, wardrobe, performing props, as well as all types of circus equipment, including beautifully carved parade wagons. Located in the Circus Museum’s Tibbals Learning Center, The Howard Bros. Circus Model is a replica of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus from 1919 – 1938. Complete with eight main tents, 152 wagons, 1,300 circus performers and workers, more than 800 animals and a 59-car train, the model is built in ¾-inch-to-the-foot scale replica and occupies 3,800 square feet.
Cà d’Zan, . The Ringlings' dazzling palatial mansion is a tribute to the American Dream and reflects the splendor and romance of Italy. Described as “the last of the Gilded Age mansions” to be built in America, Cà d’Zan has 56 incredible rooms filled with art and original furnishings. With its Venetian Gothic architecture, the mansion is a combination of the grandeur of Venice’s Doge’s Palace, combined with the gothic grace of Cà d’Oro and Sarasota Bay serves as the Grand Canal.
Museum Of Asian Art {. The 19th century travel photograph provides a singular historical record, cataloguing not only cultures and landscapes that have been radically altered by development and modernization, but also witnessing the immense creative effort of these early expeditionary and travel photographers. The images attest to the remarkable technical skills they formulated, coercing the nascent medium to fit their needs--whether braving the heat of the desert plains, the humidity of the tropical rain forest, or the bitter cold of the world's highest mountains. These artists also helped to generate the aesthetic standard in a world that had never before known photographs. Untethered by convention, they were free to develop their own vision, bound only by the dimensions of their camera's negative. Viewing these images now, we are privileged to experience through their eyes some of those magical initial moments when West encountered East. By producing images of uncommon beauty and depicting what was foreign with pathos, these photographers elevated what could have been a mundane record to an enduring artistic accomplishment. In their photographs, the incidental becomes consequential; and the commonplace, significant. And where we might have seen caricature, instead an individual meets our eye. These exceptional artists traveled to the other side of the globe in search of the unique. The grace with which they photographed allows us to appreciate the universal as well: the connections between people, between cultures and across time.
The Historic Asolo Theater, . An 18th-century treasure in a 21st-century venue, the Historic Asolo Theater is a work of art in its own right. The palace playhouse was created in Asolo, Italy to honor the 15th-century exiled Queen of Cyprus. In the late 1940s, the theater was brought to the Ringling Estate and served as the first stage for many of the community’s most recognized performance organizations. Today the theater features a diverse performance schedule including theatre, dance, film, music, and lectures.
The Mote Marine Lab Aquarium, Ken Thompson Pkwy, Phone: 941-388-4441, ext. 348, . Daily 10AM-5PM. Adults $15, ages 4-12 $10.
Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, 811 South Palm Avenue, Phone: 941-366-5731, . Daily 10AM-5PM. Adults $12, Children 6-11 $6.
Art Center Sarasota, 707 N Tamiami Trail, Phone: 941-365-2032, . Tu-Sa 10AM-4PM. Usually, 2 or 3 art exhibitions going on concurrently. Some pieces in gallery available for sale. Free, $3 Donation Requested.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Sarasota
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in Sarasota - updated May 2024
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Sarasota Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.
