My favorite piece of Roman architecture was the Colosseum. I have wanted to see it even before I knew I wanted to travel to Italy and I like it for multiple reasons. These reasons include how it was built, what the purpose of it was, and why there is parts missing from it.

It measures 620 feet by 513 feet and was built differently than most other Roman architecture of the time. Instead of being built on a hillside or mountain, it was built as a freestanding structure with no hills or mountains as support. It was made of stone and concrete and had marble and various metals as decorations.

There are three stories of arched entrances totaling to about 80 arcs. The first story utilizes Doric style columns, the second utilized the ionic column style, and the third story utilizes the Corinthian style columns. There also used to be an awning at the top to protect those attending games there from harsh or unfavorable weather. Looking at the Colosseum today, we see that a large part of it is missing or damaged. There are many factors as to why the Colosseum is this way. Once it was being used less, part of it were used to build St. Peter’ss Cathedral, palazzo Venezia, and fortifications along the Tiber river. Other things such as water, natural disasters, neglect, and vandalism have also led to the destruction and damage to the Colosseum. The Colosseum also used to have marble seats as well as decorations made of marble and various metals. The marble was used to build other things and the metal was removed, melted down, and used for other purposes. The removal of the metal from the Colosseum is why there are little holes all over the structure. The purpose of the Colosseum was to make people forget about Nero and distract them from what he had done. It was used for entertainment in the form of gladiator fights, animal fights, gladiator and animal fights, and sometimes even naval reenactments. The Colosseum is also in the process of restoration and has been since the 90’s.

By Ashley Whitman