Pula Arena — amphitheatre
Image by alexman89 from Pixabay

Pula Arena

Amfiteatar u Puli

  • 2 min read
  • 44.873° N 13.850° E

Interesting facts

  • Pula's is considered the only surviving Roman amphitheatre whose entire outer ring wall still stands.
  • The word arena comes from the Latin harena, the sand that once covered the fighting floor of buildings like this one.
  • The fighting floor measured about 68 by 42 metres and was reached through 15 gates, with passages beneath for animals and fighters.
  • Spectators were shaded by velaria, huge cloth awnings hung on wooden masts that passed through openings in the stone cornice.
  • Each of the two lower storeys has 72 arches, while the top storey is pierced by 64 rectangular openings.
  • Rainwater and waste were carried away by a system of channels under the arena that drained straight into the sea.
  • By the 13th century the Patriarch of Aquileia had forbidden any further removal of stone from the arena.
  • Its last use as a quarry came in 1789, when stone was taken for the foundations of Pula Cathedral's bell tower.
  • Restoration began under the French general Auguste de Marmont, governor of the Illyrian Provinces, and was continued from 1816 by the architect Pietro Nobile.
  • The arena appeared on Croatia's 10-kuna banknote and has hosted professional ice hockey games, played inside it in September 2012.

Why it is worth it

The amphitheatre at Pula is the great surprise of the Istrian coast: a Roman arena whose outer ring survives almost complete, its arches opening onto the harbour and the sky. Built in stages from the reign of Augustus onward, enlarged under Vespasian for gladiatorial games and completed by around AD 81 under Titus, it is an ellipse about 132 by 105 metres and more than 32 metres tall at its highest point. In its heyday it could hold on the order of twenty thousand spectators.

Look closely at the shell and you can read how the builders handled the site. The arena stands on a slope, so the side facing the sea rises in three storeys of arches while the uphill side needs only two. The walls are of local limestone, pale and warm in the late afternoon. Four towers are set into the outer ring, and each once held cisterns: water, reportedly perfumed, fed fountains or was sprayed over the crowd. What is missing is almost everything inside — the stone seating was carried off over the centuries, and after the Middle Ages the interior served for grazing, fairs and tournaments, while its stone went into other buildings in the town.

The arena very nearly left Pula altogether. In 1583 the Venetian Senate considered taking it apart and rebuilding it in Venice; the senator Gabriele Emo opposed the plan, and a plaque honouring him is still set into one of the towers. Today the underground passages beneath the arena floor hold a display on the ancient production of olive oil and wine in Istria, and the arena itself is alive again in summer, with the Pula Film Festival, concerts and performances filling the bowl.

Pula itself is a port city at the southern tip of the Istrian peninsula, whose Roman past is still unusually visible: the Arch of the Sergii from around the 20s BC, and the Temple of Augustus on the forum, which remains the town's main square. Seen at dusk, when the arches are lit against the sky, the arena is the image the city is remembered by.

Getting there

The amphitheatre stands at the edge of Pula's centre, about half a kilometre from the heart of town. Pula Airport (PUY) is about 6 km away.

On these lists

The Most Beautiful Places in Croatia 22The Most Impressive Amphitheatres 10The Greatest Ancient Archaeological Wonders 52The Most Remarkable Ancient Places 78The Greatest Archaeological Wonders 306

From the encyclopaedia

The Amphitheatre in Pula, better known as the Pula Arena, is a Roman amphitheatre located in Pula, Istria, Croatia. Constructed between 27 BC and AD 14, during the reign of Augustus and later expanded under Vespasian, the arena is one of the best-preserved ancient Roman amphitheatres in the world and the only remaining example to retain its entire circular wall structure. Originally built outside the city walls, the arena once accommodated up to 23,000 spectators and served as the main venue for gladiatorial contests, animal hunts, and other forms of public entertainment typical of the Roman Empire.

Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

44.87300, 13.85000per Wikidata