Rome’s Colosseum to get hi-tech arena floor
The Colosseum is Italy's most popular tourist attraction, drawing some 7.6 million visitors in 2019, before the coronavirus struck.
The ancient Roman Colosseum is once again going to have a floor thanks to a new, hi-tech project announced by the culture ministry on Sunday. A new hi-tech floor for the Colisseum will give visitors a clearer idea of how the arena would have looked when gladiators fought there. The Colosseum is Italy’s most popular tourist attraction, drawing some 7.6 million visitors in 2019.
An Italian engineering firm, Milan Ingegneria, won the 18.5 million euro ($22.2 million) contract to design the new flooring. The project is expected to be completed within the next two years.
The wooden platform will be made up of hundreds of slats that can be rotated to bring natural light into the underground chambers that once used to house the gladiators and animals before their deadly combat.
The new, hi-tech stage will be able to quickly cover or uncover the underground networks below, allowing them to be protected from the rain or to be aired out.
Popular tourist attraction
The Colosseum is Italy’s most popular tourist attraction, drawing some 7.6 million visitors in 2019, before the coronavirus struck.
Built 2,000 years ago, the stone arena was the biggest amphitheatre in the Roman empire. It used to have up to 70,000 seats and hosted gladiator fights, executions and animal hunts. It could also be filled with water to re-enact sea battles.
Magnificent monument
- The Colosseum was built between 72 AD and 80 AD under the Emperor Vespasian, in the heart of Ancient Rome.
- Made from stone and concrete, this magnificent monument was built with the man power of tens of thousands of slaves.
- It is the largest amphitheater in the world! Oval in shape, it measures 189m long, 156m wide and 50m high (about the height of a 12 storey building).
- The building had 80 entrances
- At the Colosseum’s major events – often those organised and paid for by the emperors themselves – there was no entry fee. And free food was sometimes served, too.
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