The Colosseum
The Colosseum
WALKING IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF GLADIATORS
The Colosseum
Think of Rome and the Colosseum immediately springs to mind! This iconic building has been drawing crowds to the Eternal City since ancient times and remains as big an attraction as ever. The wild animals and gladiators may be long gone, but the sense of drama remains.
Current Notes May 2023:
The Colosseum has a special attraction – everyone, really everyone, wants to go there. This year (April/May 2023) it is particularly “bad”. Susi is on site right now and says it’s chaotic conditions. The tickets on the official site have been sold out for a long time, the tickets from the ticket agencies are also coming to an end.
Therefore:
- Buy your tickets well in advance or
- Hope for tickets on site.
Yes, you heard right, the box offices on site, which have been closed since Covid, have reopened! Due to the many requests, remaining tickets are being sold daily. So, since 15 May (until further notice), the box offices will be open for the sale of single tickets. As long as stocks last… (opening hours: 9.00 – 18.15).
But: If you can get a ticket after queuing for a long time – it could be an hour later or even several hours later in the day. So, you can’t plan ahead. If you already have other tickets for the day, this would be quite inconvenient.
The official Colosseum site is fully booked until 16 June. The dates after that have not yet been released.
Last-minute tickets are still available here! Don’t miss the Colosseum and Roman Forum!
My Rating:
The positives:
It’s the most spectacular ancient ruin in Rome. The architecture is stunning, the scale breathtaking and the brutality of the contests astonishing. No visit to Rome would be complete without it! There’s also now a free audio guide app that you can download to your phone when you purchase your tickets through Tiqets. I think it’s great!
The negatives:
It’s a tourist hotspot, so unsurprisingly there are long queues.
Top tip:
Even if you’ve bought tickets online, there can still be long queues to get through the security checks. That said, once you’re through security, you can head straight into the Colosseum and avoid the second queue at the ticket office.
Last Modified: 19.05.2023 | Céline
Colosseum
Tickets
My Tip
The ROME TOURIST CARD
Do you want to book the most important sights conveniently with one click? Colosseum, St. Peter’s Basilica and the Vatican Museums?
Then this pass is just right for you!
You can visit all of this with just one purchase! Choose your desired date – so that you can discover Rome for yourself without stress.
- Colosseum + Roman Forum + Mamertine Prison
- Vatican Museums + Sistine Chapel -> Skip the line (Official Page: Ticket sold out until June 20th 2023: this is your way in!)
- St. Peter’s Basilica guided tour (EN) + Visit the DOME
- Pantheon audio guide
- Audio guide app for Rome
- 10% on all further purchases from Tiqets
The details
at a glance
What is there
to see?
Just as Saint Peter’s Basilica is the symbol of Christianity in Rome, so the Colosseum is the emblem of the ancient world. Everyone who comes to Rome wants to see this ancient arena – and who wouldn’t!
Standing in the largest amphitheatre in the Roman Empire, you are transported back to 100 A.D. when thousands of spectators packed the stands to cheer on their chosen gladiators. It’s easy to paint a glorified picture, but in reality these gladiatorial contests and other spectacles were gruesome affairs and many performers lost their lives. Yet, despite the brutality, there is something fascinating about the Colosseum.
The original wooden floor is, of course, long gone, so you can clearly see the network of tunnels that ran underneath the arena and imagine the gladiators and animals waiting there. The museum on the first floor also paints a really good picture of the Colosseum in action, as does the audio guide.
The Colosseum, or Amphitheatrum Novum or Amphitheatrum Flavium as the Ancient Romans called it, was commissioned by Emperor Vespasian in 72 A.D. and completed in 80 A.D.
The previous amphitheatre, built in 29 B.C., had been destroyed during the Great Fire of Rome in 64 A.D., which is rumoured to have been started by Vespasian’s predecessor, Emperor Nero.
Following Nero’s downfall in 68 A.D., Vespasian saw an opportunity to assume power and was declared Emperor in 69 A.D. He ordered the construction of a new amphitheatre in 72 A.D. as a symbol of his allegiance to the people of Rome. The Colosseum was to be the largest arena in the Roman world and bring glory to the new Flavian dynasty.
40,000 slaves are said to have built the Colosseum in just seven years, using only the most basic of tools.
The arcaded façade
Vespasian’s vision was for a three-storey building. The façade was therefore originally created with three rows of superimposed arcades, each containing 80 arches. On the ground floor, the arches are framed by columns of the Doric order, on the next level the columns are Ionic, and on the third Corinthian. This architectural style, known as the superposed order, was widely used in the architecture of Ancient Rome. When Vespasian died in 79 A.D, the Colosseum was almost complete. He was succeeded by his son Titus who added a fourth storey constructed with flat panels and punctuated with small rectangular windows.
Official website of the Colosseum: www.parcocolosseo.it
Text and image rights: © Céline Mülich, 2016 – 2023