ROME, ITALY – The ancient Roman Colosseum is once again going to have a floor thanks to a new, renovation project unveiled on May 2.
The floor of the ancient Flavian Amphitheatre will be made out of wood fitted with “super technological and green” devices to allow the underground parts of the iconic monument to be seen.
The floor will give a clearer idea of how the arena would have looked when gladiators fought to the death there. Furthermore the tourist will be able to walk on it and go to the centre of the Colosseum, seeing it in the same way as visitors used to up to the end of the 19th century.
The new carbon fibre panels will also enable the underground chambers, where gladiators and wild animals awaited their ascension to the killing floor, to be properly ventilated for the first time.
The last floor was removed by archaeologists to get a better glimpse of the labyrinth of rooms and corridors that lay below the arena. It was never fully replaced.
The renovation project will run until 2023.
“It is an ambitious project that will help better conserve and safeguard the archaeological structures,” said Culture Minister Dario Franceschini.
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.