Arena of Nîmes facade

Arena of Nîmes facade:

The Arena of Nîmes is a Roman amphitheatre, situated in the French city of Nîmes, knowed as the French Rome. Built around 100 CE, shortly after the Colosseum of Rome, it is one of the best-preserved Roman amphitheatres in the world.

It is 133 meters long (145 yards) and 101 meters wide (110 yards), with an arena measuring 68 meters (74 yards) by 38 meters (42 yards).

The outer facade is 21 meters high (69 feet) with two stories of 60 arcades.

It is among the 20 largest Roman amphitheatres of the 400 in existence. In Roman times, the building could hold 24,000 spectators, who were spread over 34 tiers of terraces divided into four self-contained zones or maeniana.

The arena served as a public event theatre built by the Romans as well as a gladiator fighting arena.

Today, the Arena of Nîmes is the site of two annual bullfights during the Feria de Nîmes, and it is also used for other public events like the reenactment of antiquity “The great Roman Games” and for concerts.