What is the secret that makes the Colosseum, despite being partially missing and damaged, still stands 'stiff'?

Specifically, one side of the old stand is much taller than the other, but the remaining walls and roofs look very straight and smooth, making many people think that maybe people deliberately designed it to have an unbalanced structure. deserve it.

The truth is different. When it was first built, this ancient empire's largest structure was once round and intact, with the stands and pillars identical at one height. So why does it have the defective shape it is today?

Still knowing that time can erode all traces of civilization, but wind and weather alone are not enough to knock down and destroy this 20-century wonder.

This arena has been around for about 500 years as a place to "play and enjoy" of the ruling class.

Although it now receives more visitors annually than the Trevi Fountain and the Sistine Chapel combined, the symbol of the Roman Empire's "Bread and Circus" has been severely neglected for a millennium and a half. after it was used as an arena. Built in 80 AD, the Colosseum has had about 500 years as a place to "play and enjoy" of the ruling class.

According to archaeologists, this most important building in Rome was abandoned for 1,500 years later and reused for dozens of different purposes. Notably, it was also requisitioned as a "quarry" from the 14th to the 17th centuries. During that time, human impact destroyed quite a bit.

During the Middle Ages, pieces of materials including marble, chairs or statues were gradually "stripped" for the construction of other buildings. The most serious is the removal of the iron clamps that stabilize the dome-shaped facade of the whole building. During this period, about 300 tons of iron were carried away, leaving the entire rock structure weakened and susceptible to earthquakes.

Italy is a country that is particularly sensitive to earthquakes. And although the Colosseum has been destroyed by various calamities even since its heyday, the most devastating occurred in 1349. This earthquake brought down the entire outer ring. South of the arena whose vestiges remain to this day.

During the following centuries, tons of stone material of the building continued to be excavated and "requisitioned" for many tombs and churches throughout the Vatican and Rome.

Photo simulation of the Colosseum past and present.

Finally, in the 18th century, Pope Benedict XIV put an end to the looting of the arena when the monument was declared a public church. From this point on, successive popes restored the sites and two architects were hired to fortify the near-collapsed outer rings.

In 1820, architect Raffaele Stern finished reinforcing the remaining domes in the northwest. In 1826, Giuseppe Valadier continued to build a more aesthetically mounted pier on the opposite side, near the present-day main entrance. Renovations and repairs took place many years later, restoring the building to its present-day form.

Nearly 2,000 years after it was built, the Colosseum still stands the test of time. Destroyed by wind, frost, earthquake, fire, looting and vandalism; Fortunately, mankind still has a powerful testimony to the structural and architectural genius of one of the greatest ancient civilizations.