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Arenes Review
Read our Provence sights reviews. Or post your own.
Arènes
- Address: Bd. Victor-Hugo, Nîmes
- Phone: 04-66-76-72-95
- www.arenedenimes.com
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Arena
- Category: Archaeological Sites
- Location: Nimes
Fodor's Review:
The Arènes (Arena) is considered the world's best-preserved Roman amphitheater. A miniature of the Colosseum in Rome, it stands more than 520 feet long and 330 feet wide, with a seating capacity of 23,000. Bloody gladiator battles and theatrical wild-boar hunts drew crowds to its bleachers. As barbarian invasions closed in on Nîmes, the structure was transformed into a fortress by the Visigoths. Later, medieval residents found comfort and protection for tightly packed thatch-and-timber houses (as well as a small château and chapel). Nowadays the amphitheater has been restored almost to its original look, including exit signs marked vomitorium. An inflatable roof covers it in winter, when various exhibits and shows occupy the space, and concerts and tennis tournaments are held here in summer. Its most colorful event is the corrida, the bullfight that transforms the Arena (and all of Nîmes) into a sangria-flushed homage to Spain.
- Cost: EUR 4.65; joint ticket to Arènes and Tour Magne EUR 5.65
- Open: May-Sept., daily 9-7; Oct.-Apr., daily 10-noon and 2-5
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