The Colosseum’s 15,000-square-metre hypogea has been restored and is now open to visitors for the first time. Courtesy Tod’s Group
The Colosseum’s 15,000-square-metre hypogea has been restored and is now open to visitors for the first time. Courtesy Tod’s Group
The hypogea is home to the underground passages, cages and rooms where prisoners, animals and gladiators waited, or were kept, before they entered the arena above. Courtesy Tod’s Group
The hypogea is home to the underground passages, cages and rooms where prisoners, animals and gladiators waited, or were kept, before they entered the arena above. Courtesy Tod’s Group
The hypogea is home to the underground passages, cages and rooms where prisoners, animals and gladiators waited, or were kept, before they entered the arena above. Courtesy Tod’s Group
The hypogea is home to the underground passages, cages and rooms where prisoners, animals and gladiators waited, or were kept, before they entered the arena above. Courtesy Tod’s Group
The restoration involved more than 80 people, including archaeologists, restorers, architects, engineers, surveyors and construction workers. Courtesy Tod’s Group
The restoration involved more than 80 people, including archaeologists, restorers, architects, engineers, surveyors and construction workers. Courtesy Tod’s Group
The restoration took more than 55,000 man hours. Courtesy Tod’s Group
The restoration took more than 55,000 man hours. Courtesy Tod’s Group
The restoration involved more than 80 people, including archaeologists, restorers, architects, engineers, surveyors and construction workers. Courtesy Tod’s Group
The restoration involved more than 80 people, including archaeologists, restorers, architects, engineers, surveyors and construction workers. Courtesy Tod’s Group
The hypogea is home to the underground passages, cages and rooms where prisoners, animals and gladiators waited, or were kept, before they entered the arena above. Courtesy Tod’s Group
The hypogea is home to the underground passages, cages and rooms where prisoners, animals and gladiators waited, or were kept, before they entered the arena above. Courtesy Tod’s Group
The Colosseum’s 15,000-square-metre hypogea has been restored and is now open to visitors for the first time. Courtesy Tod’s Group
The Colosseum’s 15,000-square-metre hypogea has been restored and is now open to visitors for the first time. Courtesy Tod’s Group
The project took 781 days of construction. Courtesy Tod’s Group
The project took 781 days of construction. Courtesy Tod’s Group
This is the second phase of a wider $30 million restoration project that started in 2013 and is funded by Italian fashion house Tod’s Group. Courtesy Tod’s Group
This is the second phase of a wider $30 million restoration project that started in 2013 and is funded by Italian fashion house Tod’s Group. Courtesy Tod’s Group
The Colosseum’s 15,000-square-metre hypogea has been restored and is now open to visitors for the first time. Courtesy Tod’s Group
The Colosseum’s 15,000-square-metre hypogea has been restored and is now open to visitors for the first time. Courtesy Tod’s Group
The restoration involved more than 80 people, including archaeologists, restorers, architects, engineers, surveyors and construction workers. Courtesy Tod’s Group
The restoration involved more than 80 people, including archaeologists, restorers, architects, engineers, surveyors and construction workers. Courtesy Tod’s Group
The restoration involved more than 80 people, including archaeologists, restorers, architects, engineers, surveyors and construction workers. Courtesy Tod’s Group
The restoration involved more than 80 people, including archaeologists, restorers, architects, engineers, surveyors and construction workers. Courtesy Tod’s Group
This is the second phase of a wider $30 million restoration project that started in 2013 and is funded by Italian fashion house Tod’s Group. Courtesy Tod’s Group
This is the second phase of a wider $30 million restoration project that started in 2013 and is funded by Italian fashion house Tod’s Group. Courtesy Tod’s Group
The restoration involved more than 80 people, including archaeologists, restorers, architects, engineers, surveyors and construction workers. Courtesy Tod’s Group
The restoration involved more than 80 people, including archaeologists, restorers, architects, engineers, surveyors and construction workers. Courtesy Tod’s Group
The Colosseum’s 15,000-square-metre hypogea has been restored and is now open to visitors for the first time. Courtesy Tod’s Group
The Colosseum’s 15,000-square-metre hypogea has been restored and is now open to visitors for the first time. Courtesy Tod’s Group

Rome's Colosseum reopens after extensive restoration - in pictures

The project funded by Italian fashion house Tod's has made the amphitheatre's underground hypogea accessible to visitors for the first time

Selina Denman
Selina Denman

June 28, 2021

  • English
  • Arabic

Rome’s famed Colosseum reopened today, after an expansive restoration project that has brought new parts of the 2,000-year-old structure to light for the first time.

This is the second phase of a wider $30 million restoration project that started in 2013 and is funded by Italian fashion house Tod’s Group. The initiative began with a restoration of the external facade of the Colosseum, which was completed in 2016.

Phase two was initiated in 2018 and focused on the Colosseum’s hypogea – the underground passages, cages and rooms where prisoners, animals and gladiators waited, or were kept, before they entered the arena above.

The hypogea is home to the underground passages, cages and rooms where prisoners, animals and gladiators were kept. Courtesy Tod’s Group
The hypogea is home to the underground passages, cages and rooms where prisoners, animals and gladiators were kept. Courtesy Tod’s Group

The project involved more than 80 people, including archaeologists, restorers, architects, engineers, surveyors and construction workers, who renovated the 15,000-square-metre space and established a new 160-metre walkway that opens the hypogea up to visitors for the first time. After 781 days of construction and more than 55,000 hours of works, the hypogea, which was invisible to spectators even in the Colosseum’s hey day, is now on show.

The Colosseum, which could once accommodate between 50,000 and 75,000 spectators, was equipped with a series of technological devices that moved men, animals and stage equipment up to the arena. Among the devices dating back to the Flavian age, it is still possible to see where the elevators were housed in the corridors of the hypogea.

"This is about important pieces for Italy, monuments that are well-known all over the world, and tourism, which is not only entertainment but an important business in Italy which, if cared for properly, has no rival anywhere in the world," said Tod's chairman Diego Della Valle.

Della Valle, who also helps fund Milan's La Scala opera house, called on fellow entrepreneurs to "take a monument each, restore it, let’s be quick".

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Next on the agenda is the restoration of the galleries of the Colosseum’s “second order”. And, finally, the monument’s visitor centre will be relocated and moved to the outer area of the Colosseum, allowing visitors to access it more comfortably.

In a separate initiative, the Italian government decided to provide the ancient Roman landmark with new hi-tech flooring, which is expected to be in place by 2023.

The biggest amphitheatre in the Roman Empire, the Colosseum welcomed 7.6 million visitors in 2019, as per Statista data.

The specs
  • Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
  • Power: 640hp
  • Torque: 760nm
  • On sale: 2026
  • Price: Not announced yet
Company%20profile
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The%20specs
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Reform is a right-wing, populist party led by Nigel Farage, a former MEP who won a seat in the House of Commons last year at his eighth attempt and a prominent figure in the campaign for the UK to leave the European Union.

It was founded in 2018 and originally called the Brexit Party.

Many of its members previously belonged to UKIP or the mainstream Conservatives.

After Brexit took place, the party focused on the reformation of British democracy.

Former Tory deputy chairman Lee Anderson became its first MP after defecting in March 2024.

The party gained support from Elon Musk, and had hoped the tech billionaire would make a £100m donation. However, Mr Musk changed his mind and called for Mr Farage to step down as leader in a row involving the US tycoon's support for far-right figurehead Tommy Robinson who is in prison for contempt of court.

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Yahya Al Ghassani's bio

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Playing position: Winger

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Results

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Sunday January 12 – Oman v Namibia

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Rosewood and Transparent — heart issues

24: Legacy — PTSD;

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Photograph

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When: July 1
Where: Gelsenkirchen Stadium, Gelsenkirchen, Germany

Result:
England 0 Portugal 0
(Portugal win 3-1 on penalties)

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  • Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
  • Flexible payment plans from developers
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Global state-owned investor ranking by size

1.

United States

2.

China

3.

UAE

4.

Japan

5

Norway

6.

Canada

7.

Singapore

8.

Australia

9.

Saudi Arabia

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South Korea
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What can victims do?

Always use only regulated platforms

Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion

Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)

Report to local authorities

Warn others to prevent further harm

Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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