The Italian government is planning to add a retractable floor to the Colosseum amphitheatre in Rome so that performances can be held within the arena.
Under the plans developed by the Colosseum Archaeological Park and Italy's Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism, the arena's long-disintegrated floor will be reinstated.
"The reconstruction of the Colosseum arena is a great idea which travelled around the world," said minister for cultural heritage and activities and tourism Dario Franceschini in a statement.
"It will be a great technological intervention which will give visitors the chance not only to see the basements but to admire the beauty of the Colosseum from the centre of the arena."
"Goal is to make the surface of the Colosseum arena floor usable again" The Italian government is looking for a design team to create a retractable floor that will be placed in the centre of the arena above the hypogeum ? an area under the arena's wooden floor.
At the Colosseum, the elaborate two-storey hypogeum, which contained eighty lifts to bring animals and gladiators directly into the arena, has been exposed since the wooden floor decayed.
A retractable floor will cover the hypogeum. Photo is by Mathew Schwartz via Unsplash
The current plans will see a retractable floor installed above the hypogeum so that this area can still be seen, but can be covered so that it is protected from bad weather and can be used for performances.
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