Colosseum

Inside the Roman Colosseum

Almost 2000 years old and they are still charging admission to this broken down theatre. Repairs were not started until 2013 and were reported as the first cleaning in the history of the Colosseum. Although they were scheduled to have been completed by 2016, these pictures taken in May 2016 show the progress.

Colosseum – Flavian Amphitheatre in Rome.

Some of the items inside do not look like they are part of the original plan. These columns are not like the others and can you explain the forerunner to the mechanical bull?

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scaffolding still in place

Different construction techniques were used.

old construction, irregular bricks.
later construction with regular brick.

A plaster facade was applied over the rough work.

The entrance arch is in good shape.
Impressive, metal bands hold the top of the arch together.
The arch makes a nice frame for the brighter scene outside.

Look at the size of the people in these pictures. They are regular tourists, not miniatures. The ones in the foreground with umbrellas at lower right appear so much larger than those halfway up on the right. The ones at the far side of the upper level are only noticeable by a pixel of color.

relative size of people show the expanse of the structure.

There were two levels below the arena floor. That space was used to cage the animals and gladiators. The current repair work is adding a wooden floor over that space. The original wooden floor was covered with sand. (Latin for sand is harena or arena.)

was there a roof?

It is believed there once was a fabric strung over the seating area to provide shade and shelter from the rain.

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freestanding backdrop

– Where do you want to go today? –

https://www.pri.org/stories/2012-08-02/italy-turns-shoe-company-billionaire-pay-colosseum-rennovations

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colosseum#Modern

3 thoughts on “Colosseum

  1. It is indeed enormous- more so than I imagined. The picture of the people touring there really puts the size of the Colosseum into perspective.

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