Pula Arena Croatia

Legendary

Completed in AD 68, the arena held up to 23,000 spectators.

Photo by César González Palomo

In 1583, the Venetian Senate had a plan for this arena: take it apart, ship it across the Adriatic, and rebuild it in Venice. A senator named Gabriele Emo argued against it and won.

The people of Pula were grateful. They carved his name into a stone tablet on one of the towers, where it still is today.

The arena sits on the coast of Istria, in what is now Croatia. In Roman times the city was called Pietas Julia, a busy port on the road between Rome and the eastern provinces.

Construction started in 27 BC, during the reign of the first emperor, Augustus. That first version was made of wood.

Emperor Claudius replaced it with a small stone arena a few decades later. Then, between 79 and 81 AD, Emperor Vespasian, the same man who built the Colosseum in Rome, enlarged it into the giant structure that stands now.

The outer walls are made of local white limestone. They rise about 32 meters on the side facing the sea, where the ground is lower, and the arena stretches 132 meters long and 105 meters wide.

Inside, the seating held up to 23,000 people. The floor was covered in sand, called harena in Latin, which is where the word arena comes from.

The main event was gladiator fighting. Under the floor, a maze of tunnels held fighters and wild animals before they were sent up into the ring.

Gladiator combat was banned in the 5th century, and locals started hauling away the stones for building. In the Middle Ages, knights held tournaments inside, and farmers grazed animals on the floor.

Pula is one of the six largest Roman arenas left in the world. It's the only one where all four corner towers still stand, and its outer wall has never fallen down.

Walk the full circle of the outer wall, then go inside and climb into the seating. Explore the underground passages, which now hold an exhibit on ancient wine and olive oil making. Come back in summer, when the arena hosts concerts and the Pula Film Festival under the stars.