Coliseum of Nîmes / Amphitheater / Colosseum – Nimes France – ECTV

Coliseum of Nîmes / Amphitheater / Colosseum – Nimes France – ECTV

Hey everybody, this is Eric Clark’s travel videos and I’m in Nim France and behind me is the arena, the coliseum type of building and it’s pretty amazing and it’s one of the top like three things to see here. Let’s go take a look. And so this is it over here and I know they still do shows and stuff in it and uh you know all that kind of stuff and it’s pretty amazing. Certainly crazy amazing. And I think they do bull fighting here, too. And just for the record, when there’s bull fighting happening, I I tend to root for the bull. You know, I think it’s pretty crazy. You get into a a bull ring with a a 3,000lb monster with horns and hope for the best. And I’ve seen lots of videos where the hoping for the best didn’t pay off. And so, I think it is bull fighting. You can see the bull right here. But, uh, imagine that chasing you down. Yeah. Not even close. So, here’s the coliseum arena thing. And it kind of reminds me of the Arless one, but I think this one’s actually even better. Um, yeah. I don’t know. Is that incredible? And again, this is 2,000 years old. Wow. Wow. Well, let’s go see if we can find a ticket. I’ll walk around and you guys can come with. Wow. Get out of here. That’s pretty amazing. Can you imagine building that 2,000 years ago? Wow. Uh, well, there’s stairs up that way. I just got to find an entrance. Viesta. Oops, I dropped my lens. I’ll be right back. All right, everybody. Here’s the prices. And it looks like this is a multi- ticketed thing. So they have the arinus arena and then the temple and then the tour whatever that is. You can get a three pass and then they have the museum. But the three pass might be the best. I don’t know. I guess it depends on how long this ticket allows you to visit. Three Roman monuments, the arena, Mexico and take advantage of the opportunity. Immerse yourself in the history and admire the architecture. Okay. Um this is the only vestage of dims Roman walls which includes 80 towers of this type. Both a prestigious building. Okay. And that’s that thing. And then this one listed UNESCO World Heritage site. The Mason carry is the only perfectly preserved temple from antiquity built in the early 1st century. And then uh yeah, I don’t know this one. Visit the well preserved empathare first century. Soak up the unique. Okay. All right. I just want to give you the prices so everybody knows. Okay. Very cool. Bye, everybody. All right, everybody. You buy a ticket and then you get to go inside. And that’s the insides. But I’m going to go this way. Um start guided tour here. But look at the tunnel. Again, imagine 2,000 years ago how this is, you know, and people used to come here for shows and acting and bull fights and everything else. So, it’s pretty pretty amazing. And it looks like they have that thing blocked off for pigeons and stuff. And then uh so this is the one number 204 that’ll get you outside. And you can’t really tell very well, but um yeah, there you go. That’s better for you. Um but I think I want to walk around a little bit more and see um more of it this way. Oh, and this one will take you up higher, I think. I don’t know. Access to the arena floor. So, you can go to the floor of the arena. Oh, and that’s It doesn’t let you go all the way around. Oh, and there’s bathrooms. All right. Well, you can’t go any further. So, I’m going to I’m going to peek up here just to see. No, it’s just a basic. Okay, cool. So, I think this is 2011. Wow. Oh, you can get to the floor. Get out of here. Is that amazing? Wow. Let’s go get over in the shade. And it’s big. You can see how high those people are way up there. Wow. Ah, that lady’s sitting on that one. I guess I’ll go up an extra one. I’d like to get in the shade so that Oh, you can’t go any further this way. That’s better. Wow. 2,000 years old. Amazing. And I’m trying to figure out how to get up a level. Uh maybe over there. Not this way for sure. Maybe there. I don’t know. This looks like a major walkway. Let’s go this way. No, that’s just a down. And that’s just a down. How do you go up? All right. Well, I got to find an up, everybody. Very cool, though. All right, let me go do some looking around. I’ll be back. Okay, I found another set. So, this is the second level. So, this first level is the one I showed you down there. And then this is the second level, which is pretty amazing. Um, but this is the way up. So, let’s go up. There’s always stairs involved, aren’t there? Oh, and it has a thing for seats. Wow. Okay. Pretty amazing. And what’s this way? Well, let’s look out here real quick. That’s the town. Amazing. But we want to go up. Oh, here it is. Right here. More up. Wow. Very cool. And if you’re willing to take the big jump, you can Oh, there’s another set of stairs over there. How do I get to that? Um, let’s see. I mean, I can cheat and hop, skip, and a jump up these things, but that seems like a pain in the butt, actually. Uh, how do I get over there? Maybe let’s go back down. It’s like a puzzle, everybody. Let’s go over here. No, that’s a down. That’s a long down. What’s this one? Is this a long Oh, it has a turnoff. So, that’s where I went earlier. Aha. 9 and 10. More stairs. He better be in good shape. Oh, and more stairs. Oh my gosh. And more stairs. Look at that. That’s amazing, huh? Pretty incredible. But you know, it wouldn’t be enough if you didn’t go up these big huge hurricane stones to the very Oh, god. Top and the city. Look how thick the walls are. 10 feet, 12 feet. Wow. Amazing. Wow. I can’t even imagine. Huh. You can walk around this whole top part here. They don’t want you up there. I bet people get up there though, which would be terrifying. Wow. All right, everybody. Well, I won’t uh drain on unless I find something that’s incredible to see. I think I’m going to go see if I can walk all the way down to the bottom down there and get into the floor and then film it looking up. But it’s going to be some work. Wow. Can you see over there very well? It’s probably not, huh? All right. Well, let me go do some walking. And there’s another one of the top three things way over there. There’s a tower, which was one of the original Roman Roman towers from however long ago. So, pretty incredible. Okay, I’ll be back. Bye, everybody. Phew. Okay, I found it. This is how you get to the floor. So, you have to imagine that this is how they probably bring in a bowl. This is probably how they’d bring in, you know, things that people had to fight and, you know, all the Roman warriors and the people. Wow. I love that they bring the kids here. Wow. Is that amazing? Wow. Wow. Certainly incredible, huh? Wow, look at those people way up there. And that’s not even the highest part. That’s a long way up there. Wow. Pretty amazing. It looks like an alligator above the door, doesn’t it? I wonder why the alligator. Huh? Okay, everybody. That’s it from me. Doesn’t that look like an alligator? I think it is an alligator. Okay. Shoot. That’s it for me everybody. Bye-bye.

The Arena of Nîmes (French: Arènes de Nîmes; Occitan: Arena de Nimes) is a Roman amphitheatre in Nîmes, Southern France.[1] Built around 100 AD, shortly after the Colosseum of Rome, it is one of the best-preserved Roman amphitheatres in the world.[1] It is 133 metres (436 ft) long and 101 metres (331 ft) wide, with an arena measuring 68 by 38 metres (223 by 125 ft).[1] The outer facade is 21 metres (69 ft) high with two storeys of 60 arcades.[1] 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.[1]

During Roman times, the Arena of Nîmes functioned as an arena where gladiators battled each other and wild animals. The advent of early medieval Christianity marked the end of these events, prompting the transformation of the amphitheater into a fortress and subsequently a walled town. The 19th century saw the restoration of the arena, accompanied by the removal of houses that had been constructed inside it.[2]

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.

Roman amphitheatres first appeared in Southern Italy in the second century BC and were specifically designed for putting on spectacular combats between gladiators or animal fights. This new type where of construction took the form of two theatres set face to face with an oval arena which allowed everyone, wherever they were sitting, to see the spectacles being acted out in the sand covering below, without danger of missing anything.

At its high point, in the first and second centuries, the Roman Empire was a prosperous, urbanized society. In the third century AD, this stability was shattered by crisis. The empire was torn apart by civil wars, the barbarians became more frightening and epidemics made the whole situation worse. As gladiatorial fighting was an urban phenomenon, it declined at the same time as the cities.

The Arena in the 19th century
From the fourth century, the city of Nîmes began to retract and strengthen its defenses. The arcades of the amphitheatre were blocked up and the monument became an important part of the defence of Nîmes. A large number of people from the town took refuge inside the former amphitheatre that had now become a fortified castle. It suffered several sieges, but the amphitheatre has proved its very effective defence. In 725, Arabs from Spain annihilated the Visigoth kingdom by taking control of Nîmes. Thirty years later, they, in turn, were driven out by the Franks, who themselves finally settled in Nîmes. However, the city was now only a shadow of its former Roman self.

It was not until the 12th century that a new expansion was to occur. As a sign of this renewal, in 1194, the Count of Toulouse authorized its vassals in Nîmes to build a new city wall, whose layout corresponded more or less to the boulevards of the town that we see today. At that time, the amphitheatre was still an important element in the town defense system. A real little neighborhood grew up there, with its own churches of St Peter and St Martin. Gradually, over the course of the 14th century, the amphitheatre lost its military value but remained a residential quarter.

Influenced by the ideas of the Renaissance, King Francis I wanted to get the amphitheatre back its ancient appearance, but all that was done at that time was to clear away the buildings from the first floor gallery. By the 18th century, there were still 150 houses inside the arena with hundreds of people living in them. The clearing of the monument began in 1786 when the houses cluttering it were demolished. Only two walled arcades with their medieval windows have been preserved, opposite the Palace of Justice, providing us with a reminder of that period. In the middle of the 19th century, the architect Henri Revoil completed the restoration of the monument. Since 1853, when the first bullfight took place, the public has once again been able to watch festivities, sporting events, entertainments and bullfights at regular intervals.

In 1853, balloonist M. Louis Deschamps was killed during his 120th flight from the Arena of Nîmes. Bad weather had already forced the mayor to call off a parachute performance, but the balloon took off as planned and got caught in the bad weather. Deschamps was thrown from the basket and the balloon came down about half a mile further along.[3]

My name is Eric Clark and I am a world traveler. I have been around the world a few times and decided to help fund my travels by sharing my videos and pictures. I have been to almost every country and would be glad to give tips and pointers. Drop me a note. = )