Last time I showed you Colosseum by Night. Here are some rainy DAY shots.
An ambivalent feeling of excitement and anxiety crept over me as I entered this historical construction. Naturally, I was very curious to see all the details inside, but knowing what had ones taken place here sent chills down my spine.
When stepping inside I tried to imagine what kind of people entered this building and walked these passage ways. What was it that brought them here?
This view reminded me of the terrible persecution of early Christians, how some of them might have suffered in this arena, their bodies torn apart by hungry beasts.
50 000 spectators sat above ground while others were kept below the huge wooden floor.
Here in the dark, animals, gladiators, convicts and Christians waited for their dreadful fate.
Being trapped in these gloomy passage ways must have been a nightmare, especially as you heard the shouts above from a hungry crowd, mixed with tormented cries of fellow prisoners, tortured and dying.
Before leaving I was trying to understand what I felt. In truth, I felt like the time I visited a Second World War concentration camp in Austria. These places were built for one purpose only: to take lives – in the most gruesome of ways. I stood in awe just seeing such a monument, that it actually could exist. And add to that the grandeur of the Colosseum, as it stands as one of history’s greatest constructions. It was truly a bizarre feeling…
… to stand impressed in front of such a wonderfully dreadful place.