The Colosseum brings back the gladiator's wooden stage

▲ Rendering of the proposed new Colosseum arena floor by Milan Ingegneria [Captured from Dario Franceschini's Tweeter]

SEOUL, May 3 (Yonhap) -- The Colosseum in Rome, Italy, a world-renowned site, will be revived as a stage where gladiators stood 1,500 years ago by rebuilding the now-disappeared stadium floor with wooden plates.

According to the British daily The Times and BBC on the 2nd (local time), the Italian government will start laying wooden plates on an area of 3,000 square meters on the floor of the Colosseum. 

It will cost 18.5 million euros (about 24.9 billion won) and will be completed in 2023.

Currently, the Colosseum has no stadium floor, and the basement has been exposed since archaeologists lifted the floor in the 19th century.

Accordingly, one can see the underground passages where gladiators and beasts were waiting or moving, but the stadium where they stood was reproduced only in movies.

In order not to touch the existing structure as much as possible, hundreds of wooden boards will be connected to rebuild the floor.

In particular, the wooden plates can be folded and unfolded one by one, allowing them to return to their original state even later, and ensuring that ventilation and mining of underground floors are not disrupted.

Culture Minister Dario Franceschini said, "It's another step forward toward rebuilding the arena, an ambitious project that will aid the conservation of the archaeological structures while getting back to the original image of the Colosseum." 

An Italian engineering firm, Milan Ingegneria, won the 18.5 million euro ($22.2 million) contract to design the new flooring.

Completed in 79 A.D., the Colosseum boasts the largest amphitheatre in ancient Rome, and is a tourist attraction with about 6.4 million visitors every year.

It is known that the Colosseum Gladiator Competition has not been held for more than 1,500 years since it was banned by Emperor Honorius of the Western Roman Empire.

The Colosseum was temporarily closed in the aftermath of Covid-19, but opened on February 1 in about two months.

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