The Colosseum today at dusk, its outer wall broken on one side

The Colosseum as it stood in 80 AD, complete, with statues and an awning

The Colosseum, Rome

Two thousand years, one scroll.

Only the north side of the outer wall still stands. The rest you see is the inner wall. Scroll, and the ring closes again.

The Flavian amphitheatre

The ring is whole.

Titus opened it in 80 AD with more than 100 days of games, for around fifty thousand people. His brother Domitian later added the gilded shields and the tunnels below.

Today

2026AD

Scroll to rebuild

Under the sand

Keep scrolling. The floor opens.

2levels of tunnels under the arena floor

80vertical shafts, with lifts to raise animals and fighters

Domitianadded the tunnels after the arena opened

Above

Sailors closed the sky.

Sailors from the Roman naval base at Misenum worked the velarium, a canvas awning rigged from 240 masts around the top of the wall.

0%of the arena under canvas

Your seat

Seventy-six gates. One token.

Every public arch carried a red number, and your clay token matched one. Where you sat depended on who you were. Choose, and take your place.

A clay entry token engraved with a Roman numeral

Your gateXXIII

The scars

Every hole tells on someone.

The pockmarks all over the walls are not decay. They are where people came for the metal, and then for the stone. Point at a fact to see it.

Close-up of the travertine wall, pitted with holes where iron clamps were removed — The clamp holes

The broken south side after the 1349 earthquake, with fallen blocks — The clamp holes

300 t

of iron clamps held the stone together. Later they were pried or hacked out for the metal, leaving the pockmarks you still see.

1349

An earthquake brought down the south side. The ground there was softer, and the wall never came back.

1749

For centuries its fallen stone built palaces, churches and hospitals across Rome. In 1749 Pope Benedict XIV finally forbade using it as a quarry.

The fighters

Four ways to enter the sand.

Gladiators were matched by type, so every fight paired different weapons, armour and speed. Tap a fighter to see the kit.

Murmillo

Usually faced the thraex

A helmet with a fish on its crest, a tall oblong shield, a short gladius, an arm guard and a short greave.

Retiarius

Usually faced the secutor

Almost no armour: a net and a trident, a large arm guard, and sometimes a metal shield on the shoulder. Speed was the armour.

Secutor

Built to chase the retiarius

A smooth, round helmet that covered the face except two small eye holes, with the murmillo's tall shield and gladius.

Thraex

Usually faced the murmillo

A broad-rimmed helmet with a griffin crest, a small square shield, two tall greaves and a short curved sword, the sica.

Visit

Come back after dark.

Small groups walk the arena floor and the tunnels after dark, when the arches glow like this.

Tuesdays and Thursdays
8 to 11 pm
Arena floor and tunnels
Small groups

Plan your visit Concept only. For tickets, use the Colosseum's official website.