Not a Klimt, but a Kimba: When Elephants Paint...

There is no Gustav Klimt hanging in our museum – but we do own an original “Kimba”: a painting that the African elephant cow Kimba created at the Casselly family’s Kimba Elephant Park for the Circus- & Clownmuseum. The colorful brushstrokes remind us how closely circus history and animal work were intertwined over the decades, and at the same time they represent a very concrete piece of contemporary culture.

The Kimba Elephant Park is located near Töltéstava close to Győr in Hungary, roughly halfway between Vienna and Budapest. After many years of guest performances with elephants in renowned circuses – including Busch-Roland, Arena, and the Hungarian National Circus Richter – the Casselly family built an adventure park there, named after Kimba, who has been part of the family for over 30 years.

The park is home to several former circus elephants and other animals that visitors can experience in the open enclosure and during presentations. The program includes elephant shows, sea lion performances, and a Wild West production; the park is designed as a destination especially for families with an interest in circus history and animal performances.

At the helm of the company is René Casselly Jr., a seventh-generation performer and winner of shows such as Ninja Warrior and Let’s Dance, who has combined his circus experience with building the park. At the same time, the Casselly family’s animal work and individual deaths of elephants and giraffes have been the subject of public animal welfare debates; these discussions are covered extensively in the trade press and by organizations such as PETA.

From the perspective of the Circus- & Clownmuseum Wien, the Kimba Elephant Park is a place where an important aspect of European circus history – the long-standing coexistence of humans and elephants in the circus – can now be observed in a different form. For anyone interested in this history and planning a trip from Vienna towards Hungary, we can recommend a visit to the Kimba Elephant Park as a worthwhile excursion to be viewed with awareness – and afterward, our “Original Kimba” painting in the museum is well worth a second look.