Sarasota
Sarasota, city, seat of Sarasota County, western Florida, on Sarasota Bay (an arm of the Gulf of Mexico); settled about 1884, incorporated 1902. A popular resort, it is a residential and commercial center and contains some industry. Citrus fruit, livestock, and vegetables are raised in the area. A marine research center and a botanical garden are here.
Ringling museums
In 1927 the circus impresario John
Ringling chose Sarasota as the winter base for the Ringling Brothers and Barnum
& Bailey Circus, and it retained that function until the 1960s. The city's
complex of Ringling museums includes the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art,
featuring a noted collection of works by the Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens
and other paintings of the 14th to the 18th century; the , Asolo Theatera late
18th-century theater transported from Venice; a circus museum; and the John
Ringling residence, Ca'd'Zan, a large mansion completed in the 1920s. The
University of Sarasota (1974) and the Ringling School of Art and Design (1931)
also are here.
Text from Microsoft Encarta
John Ringling residence, Ca'd'Zan
John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art
Asolo Theater, a late 18th-century theater transported from Venice
