The story
Circus performances in the territory of present-day Latvia are recorded from the early 19th century. A temporary wooden circus building was erected in Riga around 1864 near Vērmane Garden. Around 1878, the Prussian-born circus artist and horse trainer Albert Salamonsky arrived in Riga with the intention of building a permanent circus. Before Riga, Salamonsky had established permanent winter circuses in Moscow in 1880 and Odesa in 1888.
The Riga building was completed in 1888 and opened on 29 December of that year. The new venue had capacity for about 1,700 spectators, and the National Encyclopedia describes it as Riga's first building intended for mass leisure. Besides circus performances, it was used for choir concerts, cinema screenings and public meetings. In its early years the programme consisted mainly of performances by foreign circus artists, while local circus professionals began to appear at the end of the 19th century.
After the Soviet occupation of Latvia in 1940, Salamonsky's Circus was nationalised. From 1944 to 1990, the work of circus artists in Latvia was administered within the Soviet circus system, and programmes included both local performers and guest artists. After the restoration of Latvia's independence, the institution continued as Riga Circus. The National Encyclopedia records that it operated as a state enterprise after independence and, from 2014, as a state limited-liability company under the Ministry of Culture.
From Wikipedia’s article on Riga Circus, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4