The
Cirque d'Été (Summer Circus), a former Parisian equestrian theatre (and a type of indoor
hippodrome), was built in 1841 to designs by the architect
Jacques Hittorff. It was used as the summer home of the Théâtre Franconi, the equestrian troupe of the Cirque Olympique, the license for which had been sold in 1836 to Louis Dejean by Adolphe Franconi, the grandson of its founder,
Antonio Franconi. The new theatre was located on the north-east side of the present Rond-Point of the
Champs-Élysées. At first called the
Cirque national, it also became known as the
Cirque des Champs-Élysées and the
Cirque Olympique des Champs-Élysées. In 1853 it was renamed
Cirque de l'Impératrice (in honor of the new
Empress Eugénie), a name which it retained until the fall of the empire in 1870. Initially devoted exclusively to equestrian performances, it was later also used for other purposes, including grand concerts conducted by
Hector Berlioz. The theatre on the Champs-Élysées should not be confused with the same company's winter theatre, the Cirque Olympique on the
boulevard du Temple, which had opened in 1827, or with the company's later winter theatre, the Cirque Napoléon (on the rue des Filles Calvaires), also built for Louis Dejean and opened in 1852. The latter theatre dropped the name Cirque Napoléon in 1870 and became primarily known as the
Cirque d'Hiver (Winter Circus). The theatre on the Champs-Élysées was demolished in 1902.