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Subscribe to RSSAuthorities are investigating whether Rome's Colosseum is in need of repair because it is slanting. TODAY.com's Dara Brown reports.
ROME – The ancient amphitheater has lasted as an iconic landmark of Rome for almost 2,000 years. It survived the fall of the Roman Empire, countless invasions, World War II bombings and hordes of tourists, who regularly try to nip off pieces of it to take home as souvenirs.
The Colosseum, it has seemed, was just like the city of Rome: eternal.
But a careful and lengthy examination of its structural stability, carried out by Italian geologists, provided a damning verdict: the Colosseum is in fact slanting on one side by 16 inches, and might need urgent repairs before it starts leaning like the Tower of Pisa.
Researchers at Rome's La Sapienza University and the environmental geology institute IGAG first noticed the anomaly one year ago. They now fear there may be a crack in the base below the amphitheater.
"The slab of concrete on which the Colosseum rests, which is like a 13 meter (42 foot) thick oval doughnut, may have a fracture inside it," Giorgio Monti, from La Sapienza's construction technology department, told Italy’s daily newspaper Corriere della Sera.
The study will continue for another year, but critics are already taking note of the unruly and busy traffic that flows by just a few feet from the Colosseum on a daily basis.
The Colosseum sits in the middle of an important artery that connects the Roman Forum to the Circus Maximus. Tourists and Romans use it heavily, and have turned it into the biggest and most glorified roundabout in the world.
Fabio Fumagalli, a research coordinator at La Sapienza University, said cars produce more damage than the nearby subway.
Alessandro Bianchi / Reuters
Tourists walk in front of Rome's ancient Colosseum on Monday. The ancient Colosseum of Rome, where gladiators fought for their lives, is slanting about 16 inches lower on the south side than on the north, and authorities are investigating whether it needs urgent repairs.
“Cars subject the monument to constant vibrations, and speed up its decay, while subway trains at least pass by with intervals of many minutes.”
News of the slanting monument re-ignited criticism over delays in long-planned renovation. There hasn’t been an overall refurbishing of the Colosseum in 73 years, and recent attempts by private sponsors to pay for its re-styling have been met with fierce resistance by government officials, who fought their bid as fiercely as the lions that once roamed in the arena.
Diego della Valle, the Italian designer behind the shoe brand Tod’s, offered to pay $34 million for a face-lift of the Colosseum in exchange for exclusive rights to its image for 15 years.
Despite the initial reluctance by the officials, who felt that selling off the monument to a shoemaker would make gladiators turn in their graves, the deal was finally granted for the sake of the monument.
Since the beginning of the year, several stones have fallen off the Colosseum, proving it is in urgent need of repair. Following many delays the restoration works were set to start on July 31, but the date has already been moved once, this time to December.
If the Colosseum has been standing there for 2,080 years almost 2,000 years*, officials seem to reason, it can survive another few months.
Correction: Thanks for your comments. We stand corrected. The Colosseum was built around 70-80 AD (not B.C.) so it is almost 2,000 years old - not 2,080 years old.
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It should be destroyed and turned into a memorial for the victims due to The horrific and sadistic things it was used for. It was not used for just gladiators that was the Early years of its existence it was used for sadism and public torture and horrific things we don't even show in horror films. I hope the earth opens up and swallows it
Betcha the Colossal is leaning EXTREMELY HARD LEFT.
I've got news for you johngis. The Colosseum was once clad in marble that was since recycled to decorate the Vatican.
What a piece of junk...Can't anyone build a quality product that lasts anymore?
@John,
You are badly misinformed.
1) There is a great deal of debate on whether any Christians were ever killed in the Colosseum. Christians were executed by the boatload at various points in time, but the Colosseum was too important a venue to waste on something so minor as Christians. Most Christians were executed by sword thrust as were most other criminals. Some were thrown to dogs and a large number crucified, but all the accounts of Christians in the Colosseum come from early Christian sources and appear a bid for sumpathy starting in the 15th century.
2) There was no thumbs up or down sign. Gladiators were simply too valuable to allow them to die in combat. There were occasional deaths, but it made no more sense for a gladiator to be killed at the whim of the people of emperor than it would make today for a baseball player to be executed for a losing game. The thumbs up/down thing came from a late Medieval painting.
3) There were mass executions of animals that could number as many as 10,000 and came mostly from Africa and were quite exotic. Girraffes and Rhinos were very popular, but boars, bears and other local animals were also killed. There were large movable sets to simulate the wilds. Lions were mostly used in movies.
Most of the mythology around the Colosseum and its used came from early Christian writers and from 15th and 16th century attempts to preserve the building by making it a Christian shrine. The Romans were no nearly so barbaric as Christians like to portray them. The big issue of the times was that Romans, unlike later Christians, found "compassion" and "empathy" to be weaknesses rather than strengths. The discinction is precisely what caused early Christianity to flourish.
Johngis: It's quite silly of you to impose your 'morality' in favor of obliterating history. The colloseum is a unique architectural work that, despite the terrible things that happened there 1000's of years ago, stands as as reminder of a previous culture and people. It's also more important that future generations learn about what happened there so as not to repeat. You might want to join the Taliban. I hear they 'erased' ancient Budhist monuments in Afghanistan. That seems to be the kind of approach you condone. Just 'forget-a-bout-it'.
You are an idiot, a fool and a menace to education.
BTW, interesting that the authors do not mention that the colloseum was constructed over what was originally an artificial lake, constructed by Nero for his Domus Aurea. It makes one wonder if the former lake bed has anything to do with the settlement of the foundations.
If need be, it should be jacked up and repaired.
And the Marble should be ripped from the Vatican due to the horrific and sadistic things that went on / go on there and put back on the Colosseum where it belongs.
Doing anything other than fixing the structure would be a disgrace to all those people who the building has been a part of their lives in one form or another since it was built. It would be as disgraceful as if we tore down the White House because of all the things our government has been responsible for since that building was constructed. Do we rip down the White House because this country had slaves? Be serious, fix the monument to history.
Unfortunately, I know Italy, and things will move at a snails pace because of all the delays due to bribes and other stuff that need to be paid.
Tell the guy with the camera to quit trying to look up womens dresses. Your line "I work for the news" will only work so long.
Sure. History should be destroyed and replaced with politically correct dribble. The Colosseum has survived for well over 2000 years, but should now be destroyed because you can't cope with history, Johngis?
The fact that "johngis" would actually suggest the destruction of a historical monument because it insults his view of humanity and morality is beyond comprehension! By that same token,we might as well then demolish the Egyptian pyramids,the Mayan, Incan,and Aztec ruins. While we are at it lets do away with places like Stonehenge,the great wall of China, all the Grecian monuments,all those in the Middle east,Russia,Japan,Northern Africa...hell lets just do away with every survivng historical artifact of Mankind period! Then "johngis" there can deny his own humanity and pretend that he was born in a cabbagepatch full of fairies and gnomes and cherubs flitting around playing peaceful melodies on their reed flutes. LOL. Lets do away with all historical records of mankind in general,just completely erase the past and thus have absolutely no insight into the future and then all run out to the desert and stick our heads in the sand like a bunch of ostrich's and pretend it never happened.LOL.
ClownsWillKillYou,
"What a piece of junk...Can't anyone build a quality product that lasts anymore?"
LOL! Less than 2,000 years is just not long enough. They should have let Maytag build it, then they could turn it over to the now unemployed Maytag repairman for repairs. The problem, I think, is that the concrete foundation was made of Roman concrete ("opus claementicium", as the Romans called it) which had a different composition from modern concrete. It was also not reinforced with steel rebar, as is the practice nowadays. Still, I think you have to admire the fact that it has lasted so long. The Romans were great engineers; lousy philosophers, but great engineers.
A lot of the horrors at the Colosseum were fabricated by the church so it would be justified in taking all the marble for its cathedrals during the Renaissance, convicted Christians were most likely executed in the streets or at the Circus Maximus.
johngis - Taliban much?
David B.
Johngis= Troll
@Chris-749391, How exactly do you know all this?
@chris, nice write up. As I understand it the Romans did actually have a thumbs up/down but it was different then what the common thought is today. If they held their hand out in a fist with the thumb pointed horizontal to the ground that was the Thumbs up signal, if they pointed the thumbs up position the was the death signal. Not like we have come to know it to be by the movies we like.
The Romans sacked the Second Temple in Jerusalem in 70 AD, stealing all it's treasures to finance the building of the Colosseum. They used their Jewish captives as slaves to build it.
Chris,
"There is a great deal of debate on whether any Christians were ever killed in the Colosseum."
Your post is going to ruin George Bernard Shaw's great play, Androcles and the Lion, the prologue of which begins:
"Overture; forest sounds, roaring of lions, Christian hymn faintly"
Millions have enjoyed that humorous play, but now it is ruined forever thanks to your revelations.
Maybe it just needs a V-8!
Las Vegas saved the Mandalay Bay Casino/Hotel from tipping over soon after it was built. Surely the Colosseum can be saved too....
Personally I think Earth should be destroyed and turned into a monument for all the horrible things that happened there!
Any one who disagrees might as well be a mass murderer, so start demolishing.
Hunter Hutchins,
"Personally I think Earth should be destroyed and turned into a monument for all the horrible things that happened there!"
There? Are you a space alien then?
@MQ1968, It is called reading and research.
Why do you people give johngis the time of day by replying a quarter page for his clearly moronic and uneducated view on this subject matter? A simple delete or ignore would have sufficed.
@The lot of you jumping on the "you got your dates wrong" bandwagon, lighten up, it was pointed out and caught by a couple people a bit more intelligent than you already. The rest of you sound like a bunch of kids standing behind the smart ass on the play ground going "yeah, yeah, what he said." I can't wait for some of you to trip over your d!cks in the future and have 1 person and 50 imbecilic disciples point it out to you over and over in a loud and obnoxious manner.
@JMarine0811,
Why johngis is given the time of day is to insure other idiots don't believe the same crap. :)
@johngis,
I always think I will never again be surprised by the ignorance shown in these forums, but I always am. That drivel you posted is utterly ridiculous. Please do some real research rather than go by what the church and movies tell you.
Did horrific things happen there? Of course, but not as many as you believe. Too, the Colosseum is only one of countless places where bad things have occurred. Grow up.
I'll put it in terms you can understand, johngis.
You are a @!$%#ing moron and I am very surprised you know how to breathe.
The Colosseum was completed around 80 AD so it isn't even 2000 years old yet. Do
you research, then write your article.
Exactly! 1940 years since construction started. But, still quite an accomplishment for the Romans! I once lived in a house that was initially built in the mid sixteenth century, and I thought that was fairly old - try to find something two or three centuries old here in the States! We tear it down and build something new in its place. In other words, no sense of, nor respect for History!
Nevermind that the so-called Leaning Tower of Pisa leans due to poor engineering, not actual leaning...
Pretty soon they'll be touting that "shovel ready" jobs will save their economy.
They do enough shovelling in Washington, usually in the faces of the Voters. Are you suggesting that we outsource our Congress to Italy, Poet? Remember that which way the Colliseum is leaning depends on the perspective of where you are standing; this also governs where you place the support. *Snigger*
diatribe,
"Leaning Tower of Pisa leans due to poor engineering, not actual leaning..."
The Leaning Tower of Pisa does not lean from actual leaning. What does that mean? Isn't that like saying that we don't eat from actual eating or sleep from actual sleeping?
quoth the blogger jonjojon:
I don't know. Can Italy make a better Congress?? :)
Referee - Amen. It's sad that we have no regard for culture or history here. When something looks "old" we tear it down and put some gaudy hotel or new condo building in its place. It's a shame.
Absolutely! It was built in the first century and is not yet two thousand years old. MSN hasn't a clue about history. The Christian persecution, which seems so important to religionists today, was unimportant to the Romans and probably didn't take place in the Colosseum at all. The building is a rotting shell, and most items of architectural interest were removed long ago. The Romans during the Middle Ages used it for a quarry.
It's a useless ruin that the Romans/Italians never cared about. And it's prime real estate in the city of Rome that could be put to much better use. It should be razed to the ground.
Excuse me here but they didn't run on todays calender at that time. Our calender started after that time.
@6dogs
Excuse me, but are you brain dead? One year is determined by the length of time it takes the earth to go around the sun, by whatever calendar is in use at any one time. And this hasn't in fact happened 2,000 times since the Colosseum was built.
But you think that since the Romans did not use the same calendar we do, that we can't determine how many years have passed since that time? Excuse me, but you're an idiot.
Lost Poet? Doubtfully but at least they'll be somewhere out of the Halls of Congress; OH, wait a minute they don't spend much time there anyhow, do they.
Gee, imagine if they were paid by the hour or on Piece-Work delivered as completed Bills and Decisions? They'd save the USA Billions.... speaking of Government Cuts.
I was just about to say the same thing: the author has his dates or math wrong.
@ janemoore
Yes, the author is wrong some way or another. The construction was begun by the Emperor Vespasian about 70 AD. Wiki gives the years of construction as 70-80 AD. Taking 80 AD as the year of completion, it is 1,932 years old.
But a guy above thinks this calculation of years is not possible because the Romans didn't use the same calendar we do. Hard to know what to say to that....except GEEEZE!
Clarence24,
"But a guy above thinks this calculation of years is not possible because the Romans didn't use the same calendar we do"
The Romans did not use the same calendar that we do. We use the Gregorian calendar, supposedly developed by Pope Gregory. Our calendar dates from the supposed birth of Christ as it starting year. The Romans used a number of different calendars such as the calendar of Romulus, the calendar of Numa, the Julian calendar etc. They generally began dating things not from the birth of Christ, but from the year they believed the city of Rome to have been founded, which was supposed to have been in 700 something or other B.C. How that might affect the dating of the Colosseum, however, is beyond me. All that chronology stuff gets to be too complicated for me. Mathematics has never been my strong subject.
Correction: That should be 753 B.C. when the city of Rome was founded; not 700 something or other.
It essentialy means nothing. It's like the difference between a 1 foot and 0.3048 meter, same length but different measurement.
That like saying the Titanic has been speeding for 3 days, one more day will not hurt
still waiting for the permit approval filed by Diocletian in 299 AD.
Interesting that we have someone on here who thinks that the Colosseum is 2,080 years old.
Now lets do the arithmetic. If, as Wikipedia tells us, it was finished by the year 80 of the modern calendar, and this is 2012, then it's about 1,932 years old. In 148 years, it will be 2,080 years old.
Take some of the money we've been flushing down the toilets called Pakistan and Afghanistan and use it to save the Colosseum.
It's not our responsibility to fix their stuff. But yeah, it amazes me we rebuild Iraq at the expense of our own infrastructure.
Collect Euros and Drachma from the kiddies of Europe to pay for the rennovation just as they did to re-do the support for the Statue of Liberty many years ago.
What about the children?! won't somebody please think of the children?!!!
???? + ?
Nice Phil! All ahead full. It survived WWII, and countless pillages over the centuries so Dec aint gonna hurt it. People got to realize that these things even with face lifts, etc that they will not last forever and eventually we'll have to say goodbye! Still a good testiment to human engenuity though!
If it could be restored to a usable condition, funds from events staged there could provide enough income for perpetual upkeep.
@bruce, all due respect you do realize the when you look at the colosseum and look at the floor area you are looking into the basement so to speak. This is the area where Gladiators and animals were kept and there were several trap doors that would open and animals and men were sent up through to the arena floor. The audiance never knew from where something would appear.
To John above, get over yourself. It was a different time and mindset back then. Not saying it was ok but you can't compare society back then to society now and make direct accusations without taking other things into account. We still do some pretty screwed up things if you haven't forgotten.
Regardless of what went on, it is an amazing look into human history and shows how advanced we were technologically at the time. Makes you wonder what we could've achieved had Rome not collapsed. The Colosseum is important historical landmark that needs to be saved. Hopefully these guys can get their heads out of their @sses and get to work saving it. It would appear that like it or not traffic may need to be limited in this area. I also remember seeing something once that said all of the iron bars that used to hold the building together had been removed over the years, standing on good design alone, I know this is a foundation issue, but I wonder if replacing them would help any? Again either-way hope they save it. This is a treasure and important part of humanities past.
I'll also add that is would be nice for a company to setup and offer monies to preserve it just because it is the right thing to do and not need major compensation in return. Sure rather they fix it in the end, but still would be nice for several companies to come together and put up the funds without having to expect something major in return other than the notoriety that these are the companies helping to save it.
It is time
I wish my homes foundation would last that long.
Yeah, but paying for a 42 foot deep concrete footer would be a b*tch tho.
I wonder which structures our culture has built recently, will still be around in 2000 years.
I can think of only one...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waste_Isolation_Pilot_Plant
The only thing we've made that will still be around in 2000 years are the endless piles of Styrofoam and plastic bags. Yay for us.
I would like to see one slice of the Colosseum restored to "like new" condition so that people could see how grand it was when it was built. Most people do not realize that it was a covered stadium that a massive waxed linen roof protected the people from sun and rain while they watched. The traffic flows for people to get to and fron their seats are still done exaclty the same way in modern stadiums.
Just about every modern stadium has so much in common with the Colosseum that just going to Citi Field should do the trick.
...of course, building Citi Field with 2000 year old tech would have been more challenging, but OTOH the world of that era didn't waste time on the Internet. (LOL!)
dont forget about the slaves they wrapped and dipped and burned as torches to light up the stadium. actually i overheard this while in rome but have never found anything to back it up. anyone?...
So now that Diego della Valle owns the rights to the Colleseum's image, does that mean that tourists will no longer be able to take pictures of it (like the Sistine Chapel)? While that may put the fake gladiators who charge an arm and a leg to have their picture taken with you out of business, it seems unfair to the general public, if that is the case.
I fully agree that it's unfair to the public. The corporate takeover is highly offensive to anyone who appreciates history in any way, and should be the real headline.
I'd rather let it collapse at the hands of nature and tourist piece-nippers, that we may keep the loads of pictures and general data we have on the Colosseum public knowledge, than let it live as a restricted zombie that we may have to call the Tod's Colosseum and might not even be able to look at, enter, or photograph without some shoemaker's well-bribed-for permission.
At least Nike didn't buy it off, I guess.
No, he only wanted to be the only company to be able to use it for product ads. Meaning the if you wanted to use picture it for your Roman Sandles ad you couldn't do it.
Maybe they could raise money by staging an "Ancient Times" weekend. Italy could provide the lions and we could give them the Westboro Baptists.
+1 Arnold I would have given a +2 if we can send our politicians too. :-)
Unfortunately I can't agree with you Julie, feeding our Congress to the lions would be animal cruelty.
But it would be so cool if a politician were to say "I feel like I got ate by a bear and sh!t off a bluff" knowing it really happened!
okay..i know a guy with a learjet....stuff the baptists in the cargo area and we'll be set to go. make it ppv.. america could pay off the nat'l debt.
I wonder why the company that will fund the restoration couldn't have done it out of pride for their country and history? Using it for advertising purposes seems rather tawdry.
San Diego has Qualcomm & Petco fields, Seattle has Safeco, etc. How about Wal-Mart field? Fiat Colosseum?
Maybe they could even put in a Score Board. I can see it now... Christians 0 Lions 40
It's as if Donald Trump paid to fix the Washington Monument, and demanded exclusive use of the image for X years.
This is all Obama's fault!
;)
"Everything put together
sooner or later falls apart"
-Paul Simon
I was always amazed that they have an insane traffic circle going around the Colosseum. As gruesome as its history may be, the building itself is awesome and I hope efforts are made to shore it up.
Tear it down and build a Chick-Fil-A-Parmigiana.
The Coliseum should be into a monument in tribute to victims of the Crusaders.
The Crusaders? Wrong continent and wrong milennia.
Crusades had nothing to do with the Coliseum. Ditto Jeff D
I know, but they were Christians on a rampage to kill everyone (nonchristians) not in line with their beliefs. So, wouldn't it be ironic to christen the coliseum to the murderous christians who said christians were murdered in the coliseum by nonchristians?
Round-a-bouts claim another victim. Stop the madness.
Truly, state governments giddy to spend the 'stimulus' money are now building more medieval roundabouts on public roads.
Apparently they theorize that getting more people killed will be good for the undertaker business and presumably an increase of personal property taxes for the dearly departed will pay for new golf courses.
for more than 2,000 years. It survived the fall of the Roman Empire, countless invasions, World War II bombings and hordes of tourists, who regularly try to nip off pieces of it to take home as souvenirs.
Forgot to mention that nearly all of the damage it has suffered was from one earthquake.
Can we all say DUH to the reporter?
Tear it down and use the rubble to build new homes for the poor. Rome, like Nazi Germany, was an evil empire that is best remembered by tearing down every last remaining shred of its existence.
All right, but apart from the sanitation, medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the fresh water system and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?
Yes, brilliant idea tear it down, but lets go even further by destroying any other ancient buildings or sites that have something negative attached to them. That would be all of them from the Egyptians to the Incas. I guess we will have to get rid of the remnants of all ancient cultures since none of them meet the standards of our current civilization in your eyes. Your suggestion also would work wonders for their economy, since tourism is a major part of it.
By that logic -- "an evil empire that is best remembered by tearing down every last remaining shred of its existence" -- we should start tearing down everything in Washington DC, Hollywood, and every church of any denomination or tendency.
We won't have anything left!
pAnDoRa-241
Don't feed the Trolls.
I would hardly liken Ancient Rome to the Nazis. In almost all cases, Romans gave conquered peoples Roman citizenship and allowed them to live by their own laws.
Hopefully it will be there long after you're dead and gone.
Shandril, the poor are barking horse turds who can have a house for themselves if they just get a job. We should tear down a thousands of years old piece of history for the morons who prefer to sit on their asses instead of become productive members of society? Italy won't do that. No country in the world will do that.
Shadril is either a troll or stupid. Or both. Ignore her/him.
Never saw so many ignorant people on one sight in my life. First, the marble was never taken to build the Vatican. It was taken by rich romans who were using it to build their estates with. Second, here's what we can say with reasonable certainty:
1. During the early Christian era, the Romans executed some prisoners using animals, sentencing them ad bestias, "to the beasts." The beasts in question included dogs, bears, boars, and lions.
Some of you people need to read and study a little history before you shoot off your mouths and sound like the idiots that you really are and that goes for Shandril.
@Shandril
"best remembered by tearing down". That would be called forgetting. Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it. Those who don't forget think you aren't very funny.
I think we are repeating history only this time the Romans aren't the ones in the Middle East.
Time wins again... Let it fall...
Run a contest to find the correct guess as to when it will fall.... People will come...!!
What they should do is build an exact working replica and stage those ship battles, plays, mock fights etc.. in it. That would be far more interesting than looking at a rotting building that most people don't understand and can't visualize in its full glory. And it would, no doubt, attract far more tourists. They could build the new one close by and allow the old one to continue to rot away, while the new one brings new glory to Rome.
Don't we already have that in Las Vegas? City motto--If its tacky they will come.
No not even close