The first theatricalised circus performances were held in temporary buildings (circus tents). The first memories of circus performances in the city of Aleksandrovsk (as Zaporizhia used to be known) refer to the 1920s.
During the Second World War, the summer circus was destroyed.
In 1948, the circus was restored using the "people's construction work" method. The main workforce was students of the 19th and 23th vocational high schools, who did more than 10,000 hours of earthwork and other work. Workers of the following city's enterprises took an active part in the restoration works: Zaporozhstroy, Zaporozhalyuminbud, Kommunar, Dneprostroy, Vodokanal and others.
Based on a decree by the Committee for Culture at the USSR Council of Ministers (the USSR government) (decree no. 303, as of 26 May 1948), a summer circus was founded in Zaporizhia; the circus was situated in the city's Park of Metallurgists and was open in summer only. Being of a summer type, the building of the circus was made of wood; its auditorium seated 1,785 people.
December 1966 marked the start of construction works on a new building that would seat 2,000.
On 20 April 1972, the Zaporizhia State Circus (the Zaporizhia Circus or the Circus, for short), a resident circus, was opened in the new building at 41 Rekordnaya Street.
In 2004, major repairs were done in the Circus.
Today, the Zaporizhia Circus is one of the central organisers of entertainment events for children and adults alike, in city of Zaporizhia and in the entire Zaporizhia Region. The Zaporizhia Circus always strives to increase the artistic quality of its circus performances and to improve spectator service culture. Thanks to this, the Zaporizhia Circus is attended by increasingly many people, over 125,000 people a year.
The Zaporizhia Circus is very much involved in charity activities. Its charity performances have been attended by over 60,000 orphan children, disabled children, children from low-income families, children from those families that suffered from the accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station as well as by other types of people who require social protection.
The arena of the Zaporizhia Circus has seen such outstanding people of circus art as Yury Nikulin, Igor and Emil Kio, the Durovs, the Filatovs, the Zapashnys and a great many others.
The Dovzhenko Cinema (the Cinema, for short) is the main and oldest cinema of the city of Zaporizhia.
The Cinema was opened on 24 April 1964. The first film shown in the Cinema was The Serf Actress (directed by Roman Tikhomirov).
The good work of the Cinema's staff was many times acknowledged with certificates of Ukraine's Ministry of Culture...
A building of the Shchors Theatre (the Theatre, for short) was inaugurated in 1951. Before the 1941-1945 Great Patriotic War (the term used in Russia to describe the portion of World War II), the Theatre was assigned to Zhytomir and was named the Zhytomir Drama Theatre. Officially the Theatre was established on 5 March, 1929.
In 2003, the Theatr...
The Zaporizhia Youth Theatre (or the Young Spectator's Theatre) has been opened since 1979. Its rise fell on the 1990s when the Theatre was one of the most popular institutions of Zaporizhia. However, it did not have a permanent address for very long time. The company performed at different stages and did not have its own building. In July 2005, th...