23 Facts About Colosseum

Colosseum is an oval amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy, just east of the Roman Forum.

Colosseum is built of travertine limestone, tuff, and brick-faced concrete.

The Colosseum is depicted on the Italian version of the five-cent euro coin.

Name Colosseum is believed to be derived from a colossal statue of Nero on the model of the Colossus of Rhodes.

Colosseum built the grandiose Domus Aurea on the site, in front of which he created an artificial lake surrounded by pavilions, gardens and porticoes.

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In contrast to many other amphitheatres, which were on the outskirts of a city, the Colosseum was constructed in the city centre, in effect, placing it both symbolically and precisely at the heart of Rome.

The Colosseum was constructed with several different materials: wood, limestone, tuff, tiles, cement, and mortar.

The Colosseum had been completed up to the third story by the time of Vespasian's death in 79.

Colosseum added a gallery to the top of the Colosseum to increase its seating capacity.

In 217, the Colosseum was badly damaged by a major fire, which destroyed the wooden upper levels of the amphitheatre's interior.

In 1749, Pope Benedict XIV endorsed the view that the Colosseum was a sacred site where early Christians had been martyred.

Colosseum forbade the use of the Colosseum as a quarry and consecrated the building to the Passion of Christ and installed Stations of the Cross, declaring it sanctified by the blood of the Christian martyrs who perished there .

Colosseum is today one of Rome's most popular tourist attractions, receiving millions of visitors annually.

In recent years, the Colosseum has become a symbol of the international campaign against capital punishment, which was abolished in Italy in 1948.

Unlike Roman theatres that were built into hillsides, the Colosseum is an entirely free-standing structure.

Colosseum was used to host gladiatorial shows as well as a variety of other events.

Colosseum today is a major tourist attraction in Rome with thousands of tourists each year entering to view the interior arena.

Colosseum is the site of Roman Catholic ceremonies in the 20th and 21st centuries.

Colosseum is generally regarded by Christians as a site of the martyrdom of large numbers of believers during the persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire, as evidenced by Church history and tradition.

Pope Pius V is said to have recommended that pilgrims gather sand from the arena of the Colosseum to serve as a relic, on the grounds that it was impregnated with the blood of martyrs, although some of his contemporaries did not share his conviction.

At the insistence of St Leonard of Port Maurice, Pope Benedict XIV forbade the quarrying of the Colosseum and erected Stations of the Cross around the arena, which remained until February 1874.

Colosseum has a wide and well-documented history of flora ever since Domenico Panaroli made the first catalogue of its plants in 1643.

Additionally, bird migration, flower blooming, and the growth of Rome that caused the Colosseum to become embedded within the modern city centre rather than on the outskirts of the ancient city, as well as deliberate transport of species, are contributing causes.