News
Now, visiting the Colosseum in Rome, you can visit the dungeon, the so-called hypogea - a room where gladiators and animals were preparing to enter the arena.
Visitors will be able to walk the underground corridors of the Colosseum, admire the corridors and arches that connected the hypogeum rooms and then take a special elevator to the arena.
For the first time in 2000 years during the entire history of the monument, the public will be allowed into the dungeons of the Colosseum.
Previously, the hypogea was illuminated by candles. However, the destruction of the ground level around allows sunlight to lighten it now.
Restoration of the Colosseum lasted since 2011. Hypogea began to be restored in 2018. The work was carried out jointly with the Italian fashion brand Tod's, which granted 25 million euros for this.
Restoration had three stages, starting with the cleaning of the facade of the monument and moving to the underground zones.
To reproduce the hypogeum, the team used photographic studies, surface mapping, and it used slow and thorough cleaning of dirt, microorganisms (algae, lichens, etc.). In some places, they even had to remove traces of previous restorations and replace them with more authentic ones.
According to the director of the Archaeological Park of the Colosseum, Alfonsin Rousseau, now visitors will be able to better understand how the Colosseum functioned.
Completion of restoration of the dungeon does not mean the completion of restoration of entire Colosseum. There are also plans to build a wooden arena, which will host cultural events.
The Colosseum is the most popular historical landmark in the world. Before the pandemic, it has attracted 5,000,000 tourists a year.
Source, photos: CNN