The Colosseum remained in service for 450 years. Major repairs were carried out after 217 AD, when the amphitheater was hit by lighting and a fire broke out. For five years the gladiator games had to be held at the circus and the Colosseum was not fully repaired until about 240. Repairs were also carried out after several earthquakes, most notable in 443 and 484.
Gladiatorial games began to disappear from public life during the 3rd century, due to economic pressure and opposition by the increasingly predominant new religion of Christianity. Gladiatorial fights are last mentioned around 435 while animal hunts continued a century longer. Romans start taking the iron clamps that held blocks together and looting stone from the Colosseum. Pope Alexander VI even leased it out as a quarry, collecting one-third of the profits.
It was not until 1749 that Pope Benedict XIV forbade the removal of stone from the structure, consecrating the arena to the Christian martyrs who died there and erecting a cross in the center. Later popes initiated various restoration projects, reinforcing the façade and removing the extensive vegetation which had overgrown the structure and threatened to damage it further.
Today the Colosseum is one of Rome’s most popular tourist attraction attracting millions of visitors every year.
The Colosseum remained in service for 450 years. Major repairs were carried out after 217 AD, when the amphitheater was hit by lighting and a fire broke out. For five years the gladiator games had to be held at the circus and the Colosseum was not fully repaired until about 240. Repairs were also carried out after several earthquakes, most notable in 443 and 484.Gladiatorial games began to disappear from public life during the 3rd century, due to economic pressure and opposition by the increasingly predominant new religion of Christianity. Gladiatorial fights are last mentioned around 435 while animal hunts continued a century longer. Romans start taking the iron clamps that held blocks together and looting stone from the Colosseum. Pope Alexander VI even leased it out as a quarry, collecting one-third of the profits.It was not until 1749 that Pope Benedict XIV forbade the removal of stone from the structure, consecrating the arena to the Christian martyrs who died there and erecting a cross in the center. Later popes initiated various restoration projects, reinforcing the façade and removing the extensive vegetation which had overgrown the structure and threatened to damage it further.Today the Colosseum is one of Rome’s most popular tourist attraction attracting millions of visitors every year.
การแปล กรุณารอสักครู่..