He still didn't give up his project yet. The following year, the desire to own a circus comes back. Thanks to his previous experience, he won't do the same mistakes again. He still needs to earn some money prior: in order to do so, he travels around fun fairs and sets up shows for companies. During the 1978 summer, work starts at the new Roncalli circus. Bernhard Paul starts looking for employees and enthusiast artists.They then design the ring decoration and set up a brand new way of working for the circus, which is supposed to be even better than the previous one. In a former chocolate factory in Cologne, several persons work night an day to make this project happen. But money is still lacking: Bernhard Paul manages to convince new partners thanks to his ideas and his speech. Every step took a lot of time, and most of all, it's rather risky for Bernhard Paul. During his Roncalli circus premiere speech of June 4^th 1980, he'll even say: “If this project doesn't turn out well, I may go to jail.” He won't...

In 1982, he bought the heritage of the clown Grock and his wax statue formerly located in the Grévin Museum. These two objects are among the nicest jewels of the collection that Bernhard Paul gathered in years. At the end of 1984, Roncalli installs itself in its brand new winter quarters in Cologne. The following year, a six-episode TV show about the life of the Roncalli Circus is broadcasted on Germany's first TV channel. In 1986, the circus celebrates its tenth birthday as it should be, with a really big party. Now looked upon as the biggest circus in Germany, the Roncalli circus travels to Moscow. Summit of the season, the circus is putted in the cultural program of the exhibition dedicated to the fortieth anniversary of the North-Rhineland-Westphalia region. On May 20^th 1987, it's the turn of Bernhard Paul to celebrate his 40^th birthday. In order to honour him, all the artists set up a unique show, a performance that includes too… 40 cooks, 40 musicians and 40 circus directors.

In 1988, during the new cultural show of Cologne, a big open-air festival is going to take place on the Roncalli circus' square. Bernhard Paul takes advantage of this opportunity to introduce his fun fair and his showroom. In 1989, Kim & Sum, two contortionists, become the first artists from Mongolia to perform in a German circus. Roncalli also opens itself to the theatre field while hosting the Mummenschanz pantomime group and to variety while hosting the Frankfurt opera. Roncalli evolved from the track to the scene. After the German reunification, the circus is on tour in Berlin. Despite the competition with other shows (Tina Turner, the Rolling Stones…), the circus sells out every day. In order to reward his merit and his creativity, the Cologne Roman-germanic Museum gives Bernhard Paul the Cultural Award. In 1991, the circus' most successful year to date, the circus celebrates its 15^th birthday. A big show is set up and a 90 minute prime time show about it is broadcasted by the ARD (a german TV channel). Several former Roncalli artists are involved.

In 1992, Roncalli is the ambassador of the North-Rhineland-Westphalia region during the world famous Universal Exposition of Sevilla. At the end of the year, Bernhard Paul, along with André Heller and Peter Schwenkov, creates the Wintergarten variety theater in Berlin. In 1993, They introduce their new big top, designed a bit like La Scala de Milan. On October 15^th 1995, Bernhard Paul marries Eliana in Vienna. For its 20 years of existence, Roncalli doesn't perform a nostalgic show, but a rather creative and innovative one, without fade away from its tradition. The circus also performs in Copenhague during the festivities dedicated to the Danish Capital, chosen as the European cultural capital city in 1996.

Some artists who starred in Roncalli

Joseph Bouglione: He's from the famous French circus family, usually famous because his grandfather bought back the Paris Winter Circus. As a genuine circus kid, Joseph spent all his childhood on the track. He started at 8 with a really personal show: a pony rider. He's also in love with the tightrope and does have self-mastering skill that just a few great tightrope walker possess. He does just have a steel wire under his feet, but he dances on it as if it was a track.

Yasmine Smart & Hans Ludwig Suppmeier: As a child, Yasmine spent most of her time in the Smart family Circus' stables. But her parents just banned her from horse working since they wanted her to focus on the trapeze. Still, horse love won when she got one from her grandfather for her birthday, and her fate was then clear… Hans Ludwig' love for horses is even easier to understand: his mother was actually a squire. Since he was a child, he could assist Fredy Knie during his winter tours in Germany. However, he once left the horse field for a while to focus on the flying trapeze. After a tour with the Ringling Bros, Barnum & Bailey Circus, he came back to Europe and to its first passion.

Sergej Maslenikov: While 12, he already worked in a kids circus in Gorki, his native town. Among other artists form the State Circus, he then learned acrobatics, juggling and clowning. This polyvalence allowed him to set up a rich and varied show: pantomime, dance, music... are added to his juggling performance. His show denotes a humouristic touch that may remind the spectator of the music hall. He actually rather likes to perform open-air shows. During two years, he travelled through Spain, France and Belgium with some friends before joining Roncalli. The circus, its big tops and its ring were then new for him.

DuoTaëkini: Flying is what makes men dream… Flying is what the Taëkini duo does daily ! They dance at the top of the big top and embrace each other to give an either strong and poetic touch to the show. Both from well-to-do families, they met at a ballet and acrobatics school, formerly the Moscow circus school. After a few years of practice, they performed this show for the first time at the Paris circus festival in 1995. And they got the gold medal. They then left for Switzerland and Denmark before joining Germany and the Roncalli Circus.

Francesco, Fumagalli & Zippo: Bernhard Paul isn't only the circus director. Far from the stress of that management job, he can express his talent thanks to his role as the Zippo clown. His partner, Fumagalli (Giovanni Huesca), belongs to an Italian artists family (his father actually worked with Fellini). With Darix, his brother, he travelled in Italy and France. The last one is Francesco, the white clown, the one who's supposed to bring the two others back to reason… He belongs to the Caroli family, a family rather famous for its horse riders. But in the eighties, with his brothers Enrico and Ernesto, they formed during 30 years one of the most famous clown trio ever and the performed on Europe's best tracks. The trio unfortunately had to be broken when one of the brothers died and Bernhard Paul then quickly hired Francesco, one of the clowns he used to be a big fan of as a kid.

In order to contact the Circus
Circus Roncalli
7, Neurather weg
51063 Köln
Germany
You'll find other information on their web site : http://www.roncalli.de/