anyone been to the Colosseum in Rome?
 

I was just thinking about the place this morning... it's weird that no developer has torn the damn thing down for real-estate development in last 1933 years... :2 cents:

We were there about 2 years ago and it was still standing. Pretty amazing place actually.

My son was not interested in the broken buildings but we loved it.

I went there in 2010, it's amazing. Funny you are surprised it hasn't been torn down, it is almost 2000 years old, you don't just tear that kind of thing down. Not to mention it makes quite a considerable amount of money as a tourist destination.

I've been. Pretty amazing to think that the ancient Romans actually flooded the place and re-enacted naval battles.

:1orglaugh:1orglaugh why would they tear it down? its part of their history

unlike us Americans, they care about their history and where they came from. Romans are very proud people. I've been there twice in the last few years, the city is "clean," for it being a major city.

If this was in the US, it would be full of graffiti and trash. There is also hardly any security around it, but mainly to stop idiots form jumping over to grab a piece of the building to take home.

Last time I was there, about two years ago I asked someone when we were at a cafe what its like to live here. They told us (in their broken English) that they wouldn't trade it for the world. the only downside is the US tourists who come in and think they own the town :1orglaugh

Been there done that.

don't think it a tourist attraction 1200 years ago ... more like a public health hazard :2 cents:

I was there in umm.. 1995 or something lol

oh... okay I hadn't realized there was no graffiti in eruo land ...thanks :thumbsup

there was a pretty good water system... some of it 'extremely well engineered for sure... :2 cents:

I remember seeing a documentary on it. It's a marvel of engineering really. As someone pointed out above, they flooded it for re-enacting naval battles, it had elevators for moving large pieces of equipment and animals, a system of tunnels to move and house people underneath the arena floor.

I think his point was more that there have been multiple crusades, several dozen wars, so on and so forth, and over the years nobody completely tore it down. 1700 years ago I'm sure they did not care as much about preserving history as we do now. ;-)

when i went, it was smaller than i pictured/thought it would be. still pretty sick. all of rome is pretty awesome. you can walk down the street, see a brand new office building, next block a 2000 year old column

yes even the stones from some of the Henges' in Europe were taken for building projects... it's bit odd that a city with constant growth and building projects didn't need the space and material, guess they couldn't figure out how to recycle concrete.... because plenty of the 'stone' building have been taken down and the material reused ...

check this out, carved into solid rock...

http://irisharchaeology.ie/wp-conten...Ethiopia-2.jpg

Been there.

It's smaller than I imagined.

That was what I was amazed by looking at the art. What we see today is only that which survived.

it's been torn down quite a bit.

when we toured it several years ago, our guide said it used to be completely covered in marble, most of all that was taken by the church to build churhes elsewhere, she said the church also took the wall that is not there but realized at some point they should prolly not destroy it entirely so they stopped.

the remaining marble and the copper used to hook it all was pilfered by others, not a lot of concrete in there. it's built of very big stones, like pyramid type and size, that also has something to do with why it was difficult to pillage. also, not enough ww2 action around that neck of the woods to wipe it out like so many other great structures throughout europe.

That's what she said.

makes sense, like the pyramids were covered with smooth 'white' limestone with gold caps... must have been amazing for sure

Yes, but you must hit a cirtin level of intellect before you can understand that. :2 cents:

I think aliens built that

People have had the same brains for thousands of years. They weren't a bunch of knuckle daggers and much of Rome was highly educated. I'm pretty sure they understood about preservation of their history and culture just as we do today. Even still it's likely the biggest reason is due to the size of many of the stones and the difficultly it would have taken to reclaim that space.

I was talking about the merr idea of questioning why it wasnt torn down was a incredibling unintellegent thing to ask.



We may have the same brains but a completely different consonances/culture .

Those wacky Romans sure knew how to party!

I all for feeding Christians to lions any day!

too much other stuff was taken down to think that rome had an historical society that preserved buildings. if they had been that keen on preserving old stuff why didn't rome rebuild or maintain the aqueducts which were much more useful and needed much more than a fucked up old sport arena.... because basically that's all the coliseum is, and ever was... and if they had been all that concerned why wasn't it rebuilt?

think about stuff in a practical way instead of romanticized :2 cents:

Not to mention, there is always an issue of lack of resources. Obviously as mentioned above that marble was sought after, I'm sure other items were as well. The need for resources trump just about anything else.

:stoned

ADG

even the rain forest :winkwink:

I have and it was awesome!!!

I was there in April. It's incredible.

Took you long enough. :winkwink:

There is tons of graffiti in Europe, I almost created a gallery of their graffiti as I had photographed much of it.

https://scontent-b-pao.xx.fbcdn.net/..._2808064_n.jpg


https://scontent-a-pao.xx.fbcdn.net/...62_97817_n.jpg


http://www.gotbaddog.com/galleries/6...pain12_big.jpg

I took a leak on it as a 13 year old smart ass. There were A LOT of wild cats too.

like wow! who would have ever thought that, obviously not bossku69 :2 cents:

I've been around at the time it was closed :pimp

Serious question, do you know what "exposure" and "white balance" are?

Tear it down? It is like a roman icon

Was just there two weeks ago. It is an amazing place to visit. I recommend getting a private tour, worth the extra $$$. Italy is a beautiful to visit, but you better save up. It can get expensive.
http://i915.photobucket.com/albums/a...e-coloseum.jpg

Tear it down? How stupid are ppl on gfy

you do realize that the arena has only been a roman icon for a couple hundred years while the area is 1933 years old???

probably like stupid enough to think history was created when they were born?????