There are three separate museums on the Ringling Museum Complex, plus a rose garden, a secret garden, art library, learning center, labeled collection of local trees, and beautiful grounds for viewing the bay. There is also a rep theater adjacent to the property. Our favorite museum on the campus, which we visit every time we are in Sarasota, is the Ringling Museum of Art, consisting mostly of European art but also now some Asian and contemporary American art. Usually the weather is fine and we spend some time in the open courtyard among the sculpture. The museum building surrounds the courtyard on three sides and is ringed on the roof perimeter with dozens of large statues - all different.
We visit the Circus Museum occasionally. This is lots of fun, with old posters, costumes, circus equipment, scale models of circuses, and John Ringling's restored circus railroad car.
Sometimes we visit when there are many roses in bloom in the formal rose garden. I really like the whimsical sculptures - there are dozens.
Of course there are many banyan trees.
These two beast/humans surround the entrance to Ca'd'Zan, John and Mabel Ringling'a mansion. I don't remember noticing the before. We've taken the tour of the house a few times. It's worth a trip. I hear there are special house tours that take visitors to parts of the house not on the standard tour.
This is the back (bay side) of Ca'd'Zan. It's a nice place to sit or walk along the water. I think the public can visit the grounds, including this courtyard, without paying admission.
This is a shot of a new addition - a 1952 replica of the Walker Guest House, designed by Paul Rudolph. The large shutters are managed by weights. With the shutters open, the screen walls are revealed. The original is on Sanibel Island.
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