Recently, it was decided to begin the restoration of the Colosseum, a famous arena where gladiator fights were organized.
Not everyone knows that under the Colosseum there is a hypogeum - a city underground, where animals, gladiators and a huge number of slaves were kept. The structure, consisting of tunnels, hatches and other engineering solutions, made it possible to raise fighters and animals in different places of the arena, and quite unexpectedly. So the Romans could put on a real show.
Construction history
However, hypogeum did not appear immediately. It took 8 years to create the Colosseum itself, and 11 years have passed since the lake was drained, where the legendary amphitheater was later erected.
The Colosseum was invented by Emperor Vespasian. It is believed that such a place was chosen for a specific purpose: they wanted to close the view of the palace of the previous ruler - Nero. The only suitable place was the lake, which was located in front of the very palace, which was called the Golden House .
Draining the lake was considered a great achievement for that time. Special bends were made from it so that rainwater would not collect at the bottom during the construction process.
However, Vespasian did not live to see the opening of the stadium, but the Emperor Titus, his son, did it. The opening holiday lasted for 100 days, and the Colosseum gave glory to the Flavian dynasty. After 5 years, Titus decided to reconstruct the stadium - then the hypogeum appeared.
The emergence of hypogeum and its features
On the site of the giant arena, everything old was removed and a two-story brick labyrinth was built. The maze included a large number of corridors, rooms, entrances and exits, even outside the Colosseum.
At first, it was planned that the emperor was to enter through the southern gate of the building, but then they made a passage underground through which it was possible to leave the stadium without the crowd noticing.
According to some reports, there was no ventilation in the labyrinth, although there could be thousands of people and many animals.
Reconstruction today
It is not entirely clear why they undertook the reconstruction of the Colosseum, which required an investment of 18.5 million euros. Of course, the place will become a popular tourist destination - however, the Colosseum is already highly attended ...
The main part of the work will be aimed at creating a retractable arena. It is unclear what will be done directly in the hypogeum, but they promise to install elevators to access the arena, and even a retractable floor. Such a reconstruction will create the possibility of viewing not only from the stands, but also from angles, from where the dying gladiators beheld curious and excited spectators.
At the same time, the local administration claims that a new arena will be used for various events, because the people still demand bread and circuses.
