In the Roman Colosseum – one of the New 7 Wonders of the World, which in 2025 received more than 9 million tourists, the restoration of the outdoor square with original travertine was carried out, which allows visitors to perceive the 50-meter arches that disappeared centuries ago.
The Associated Press (AP) agency, published that the project led by the architect Stefano Boeri in the Roman Colosseum, has consisted of digging one meter deep to the original level to install stone blocks that function as “footrugs” of the lost pillars. This technical intervention seeks that the public recovers the perception of the proportion and volume of the access vasts, allowing tourists to sit in these new structures where columns up to 50 meters high used to rise.
The optional management has decided that the eroded ruin is not enough to explain the monument alone. For this reason, the stands were covered to restore their function and geometric shape, in Rome they have opted for a “reconstruction of the footprint”. In the Colosseum, the same Tivoli quarries that supplied the material 2,000 years ago have been used, seeking absolute geological continuity.
As the AP agency details, the objective is that the current visitor can physically “read” the space, even identifying the reproductions of the Roman numerals engraved on the new marble that organized access to the seating sections.
The rehabilitation process has not only had an architectural component, but also an archaeological component. During the excavations to establish the new travertine, coins, statues, animal bones and a gold ring have been recovered, in addition to clearing the access to the underground passage that Emperor Commodus used to avoid the crowds.
This intervention was financed with funds from the works of the Rome metro, which recently inaugurated a station under the Colosseum.