Les Arenes de Nimes

The Arena, Nimes. Image published under the GNU Free Documentation License, verison 1.2 or later

The arena at Nimes, a Roman amphitheatre constructed during the first century, was inspired by the Coliseum in Rome.

The elliptical arena measures 130 metres by 100 metres. It is encircled by thirty-four rows of seats and a twenty-one metre high double arcade of sixty arches.

The arena seated twenty-five thousand, approximately half the population of Nimes, at the height of the Roman Empire.

The Arena, Nimes

The arena was converted into a fort by the Visigoths who occupied Nimes after the fall of the Roman Empire.

Incessant warfare between the Franks and Visigoths, and the Moorish invasion, caused the remaining citizens of Nimes to take refuge in the arena which became a fortified village with two churches, two hundred and twenty houses, and a population of seven hundred.

The arena continued as a fortified village until the 19th century when Nimes, having at last emerged from the ravages of the religious wars, acquired a new sense of pride in its classical heritage.

The arena, converted into a bullfighting ring in 1863, has possessed a retractable cover and heating system since 1989. It now seats sixteen thousand and hosts concerts and other public events in addition to bullfights.

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