Barcelona

We understand “sideshows” as the travelling shows that used to exhibit circus skills and eccentric attractions outside the usual circuits, from the 18th century to the first third of the 20th century. We can trace their origins back to the Middle Ages, to the markets that attracted acrobats, tight-rope walkers, strongmen, jugglers, fakirs, animal tamers, illusionists and puppets, along with minstrels, clowns, actors, musicians, bear-dancing gypsies and predictors of the future. In some cases these side shows were accompanied by others exhibiting dwarves, giants, obese men and women and other individuals with physical peculiarities: bearded women, Siamese twins and hermaphrodites, regarded as “human phenomena” in those times. These are the central characters of this history, together with fakirs, collections of animals that were wild, monstrous or from strange species, wax museums and anatomy museums. This history of sideshows and fair phenomena also tells us about Barcelona's urban development, from its historical centre to beyond its ancient walls and the towns of the Plain.