€15M Colosseum Restoration Design Leaves Less To Be Desired For History Experts
Image via Shutterstock
Italy recently unveiled the winning design for the renovation of the Colosseum’s 32,300-square-foot floor. However, the project has now drawn some criticism from renowned archaeologists and historians in Rome.
According to The Art Newspaper, several experts, including the former director of the Colosseum Rossella Rea, have raised objections to the project’s hefty €15 million (US$18 million) price tag.
Furthermore, it’s suggested that the new floor would block the view of the labyrinth of rooms and corridors that lay below the arena.
“The underground space is unique in the world, so why should it be covered?” Sergio Rinaldi Tufi, the former director of Archaeology at the University of Urbino, told The Art Newspaper.
The proposed design, made of a lattice of wooden slats that rotate to allow natural light to reveal the chambers beneath, would allow visitors to walk on the Colosseum’s floor and experience it the same way visitors used to back in the day.
Experts such as Rea feel the funds would be better spent elsewhere, such as restoration work on the Colosseum’s exterior face. It does seem Dario Franceschini, Italy’s Culture Minister, had expected the backlash.
“I know that controversy will not be lacking,” he said. “The Colosseum is our monument, and it is right that we discuss it.”
[via The Art Newspaper, cover image via Shutterstock]
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