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(Abridged) With infrared interferometry it is possible to resolve the nucleardust distributions that are commonly associated with the dusty torus in activegalactic nuclei (AGN). The Circinus galaxy hosts the closest Seyfert 2 nucleusand previous interferometric observations have shown that its nuclear dustemission is well resolved.  To better constrain the dust morphology in this active nucleus, extensive newobservations were carried out with MIDI at the Very Large TelescopeInterferometer.  The emission is distributed in two distinct components: a disk-like emissioncomponent with a size of ~ 0.2 $\times$ 1.1 pc and an extended component with asize of ~ 0.8 $\times$ 1.9 pc. The disk-like component is elongated along PA ~46{\deg} and oriented perpendicular to the ionisation cone and outflow. Theextended component is elongated along PA ~ 107{\deg}, roughly perpendicular tothe disk component and thus in polar direction. It is interpreted as emissionfrom the inner funnel of an extended dust distribution and shows a strongincrease in the extinction towards the south-east. We find no evidence of anincrease in the temperature of the dust towards the centre. From this we inferthat most of the near-infrared emission probably comes from parsec scales aswell. We further argue that the disk component alone is not sufficient toprovide the necessary obscuration and collimation of the ionising radiation andoutflow. The material responsible for this must instead be located on scales of~ 1 pc, surrounding the disk.  The clear separation of the dust emission into a disk-like emitter and apolar elongated source will require an adaptation of our current understandingof the dust emission in AGN. The lack of any evidence of an increase in thedust temperature towards the centre poses a challenge for the picture of acentrally heated dust distribution.

The dusty torus in the Circinus galaxy: a dense disk and the torus funnel