Ancient Amphitheatre Takes Shelter at Sofia's Coliseum Hotel

Society | May 20, 2004, Thursday // 00:00
Ancient Amphitheatre Takes Shelter at Sofia's Coliseum Hotel The ancient gladiator arena unearthed in the heart of Sofia is likely to take shelter in the Coliseum Hotel that is currently under construction on the site. Photo by Yuliana Nikolova (novinite.com)

The ancient amphitheatre recently unearthed in center Sofia will coexist with the Coliseum hotel, which is under construction on the site.

An excavator machine dragged on the ancient ruins, while digging up for the fundamentals of an eight-storey hotel last month.

Thus Sofia becomes the third European capital to host an amphitheatric building, along with Madrid and Rome.

Initially, archaeologists assumed it was part of the Roman wall surrounding the ancient city of Serdika, but it was soon evident the ruins belonged to a Roman gladiator arena.

The excavations are still under active research, but archaeologists are sure that the ancient site had seen many gladiators' blood, as well as lions and bears fighting with slaves doomed to death.

No exact dating has been communicated yet, but archaeologists have presumed the arena was destroyed at some time around 4th century.

The existence of the amphitheatre was presupposed, as some 85 years ago a stone image was found among Serdika's artifacts depicting gladiator-fighting scenes.

The hotel, being built by the company Fairplay International, has urgently redrafted the construction project with the aim to preserve the excavations and, quite likely, to include it in the hotel's design.

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